The events of the last few weeks indicate that someone told Donald Trump about Richard Nixon’s madman theory. But I don’t think he was told that it did NOT work. That wouldn’t have mattered because the Kaiser of Chaos hasn’t listened to anyone since Fred Trump died. It’s unclear how closely he listened to his father who was a ruthless business genius whereas the son is a ruthless idiot. Who goes bankrupt running a casino? Donald Trump, that’s who.

I found a swell piece about the madman theory by Cold War historian Zachary Jonathan Jacobson. I’ll let him clue you in on the alleged method to Tricky Dick’s madness, which became public when HR Haldeman published his memoirs in 1978:

“According to Haldeman, Nixon promised that he could end the Vietnam War by intimidating the North Vietnamese with seemingly reckless abandon. “I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war,” Nixon reportedly told his top aide. He would play a kind of latter-day ogre, in the president’s words, “obsessed,” “angry,” not able to be “restrained.” As his national security advisor Henry Kissinger remarked, Nixon’s strategy resembled a poker game in which he “push[ed] so many chips into the pot” that the United States’ foes would think the president had gone “crazy.”

Nixon liked to concoct names for such gambits. He called this one the madman theory. Yet the ploy pivoted on the idea that he did not consider himself to be mad. He considered himself crafty. It was not that he was suicidal, but that he would act as if he were willing to risk joint nuclear annihilation. The trick of the madman theory was how difficult it was for observers to decipher whether he would act on his threats for all-out war or if he were simply pretending. The more elusive the distinction, the more effective the bluff. The better the actor, the crazier he seemed, and if not first-rate, Nixon was a perpetual performer. Throughout his career, he transformed from Red-baiter to Average Joe to worldly diplomat to crafty pol to elder statesman. Haldeman called Nixon the Man of Many Facets. The part of the bullying ogre was another role to play.”

It was a dangerous gambit that did NOT work. The Vietnamese Communists continued the war despite Nixon’s savage bombing campaign. Bombing does not win wars. It also does not destroy civilizations. During World War II, Japan was nuked twice and Germany was “bombed back to the stone ages.” Both countries rebuilt and became economic powerhouses. We’ve known about the limitations of bombing since the Galbraith-Ball-Nitze study after World War II. That was 81 years ago. Team Trump are slow learners.

As always Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The stupid, it burns. If you don’t believe me read the epic NYT piece about how Trump puked up this war by trusting his gut and Bibi Netanyahu who’s a sort of human hair ball.

The problem with Trump using Nixon’s madman theory is that Nixon was a relatively sane and intelligent, if twisted, man. Trump is batshit crazy and dumber than a bag of hammers. If it didn’t work for the intelligent president why would it work for the stupid one? It has not and it will not.

During the 2016 campaign I wrote a post about the Insult Comedian concluding he was worse than Nixon. It turns out to have been a grotesque understatement. Nixon actually accomplished some good things in office. All Trump has done is disgrace the office and betray the marks who voted for him. He’s a lousy president but a world class con artist.

I was the least surprised person in the country when Trump TACO’d. My reasoning can be found in The Bluster & Bullshit War. He lied his way into the Iran War and now he’s hoping to lie his way out of it. It’s worked in the past, but in war, the enemy gets a vote and the cease fire is already imploding. Stay tuned.

Repeat after me: The Madman theory does NOT work.

Our national MAGA nightmare has been somewhat eased by NASA’s moon mission. The last word goes to Genesis: