NUI LAC SON

As a proud member of West Point’s Long Gray Line, class of 1962; eight years of military service, including two years of combat during the Vietnam War; well trained—Airborne School, Ranger School, 4.2 Mortar School, Davy Crockett Nuclear Weapons School, Jumpmaster School, Infantry Officer Orientation and Advanced Courses—; and well decorated—Combat Infantry Badge, three Bronze Stars, two Air Medals, three Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses, Vietnamese Staff Medal of Honor, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with three stars, and Vietnam Service Medal with device—a dream two nights ago about a night on Nui Lac Son has rallied mind chatter and raised questions about President Trump and Elon Musk chaos, confusion, and destruction of America’s four pillars of democratic strength…Office of the President, Supreme Court, House, and Senate.

Sidelight information. Nui Lac Son is a mountain west of Danang, Vietnam and in 1965 was sitting astride the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As an Assistant Battalion Advisor to an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) infantry battalion, our unit had been ordered to proceed from a fire support base at Que Son to Nui Lac Son because of recent southern movement along the Ho Chi Minh Trail of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units. The intelligence was correct! On the first night of our arrival on Nui Lac Son the battalion was attacked by a North Vietnamese Army unit from the northeast by a diversionary attack and the south by a main attack. The battle raged all night…the dream…

The dream found the author with an M-2, folding stock carbine moving from 1) lying on the left side of an ARVN machine gunner deployed to defend against the northeast diversionary attack; 2) at the command post (CP) between two rocks on the radio directing ARVN artillery to the NVA attack on the south; and 3) to the east side of the mountain the morning after the NVA fled. A dead NVA soldier was lying adjacent to the CP, a wounded, wailing NVA soldier was on the mountainside—he was immediately shot—and on this overcast, 1965 Christmas, an L-19 pilot dropped from his aircraft a big, well stuffed box that had a fifth of whisky. During the day we tended to the wounded, and as the fog cleared, we loaded the dead and wounded on helicopters for evacuation. Noted as we left the mountain the next day were several graves for NVA soldiers killed during the Nui Lac Son battle along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

And the mind chatter rambles…Commander-in-Chief of the military service a convicted felon with no military service, Veterans Administration losing staff, Defense Department losing staff, Secretary of Defense unqualified, House and Senate are paralyzed, the Federal Court system is being attacked and overwhelmed, and the mind wonders to the President’s profile…

• The Trump brand is internationally recognized; and Commander in Cheat offers that Trump cheats at golf on his golf courses, revealing the true person: he is not able to hide on the golf course.
• Life’s goal has been to gain and maintain position power, at any cost. The track record includes personal business endeavors with several bankruptcies, a multitude of government failures, convicted felon, and two impeachment hearings with factual evidence and party sorted acquittal.
• A partial list of shortcomings while President is as follows: incited insurrection of United States Capital; puppet of Vladimir Putin; foreign policy bullying, badgering, and destroying; abandoned allies; withdrew from Paris Climate Accord, World Health Organization and Iran Nuclear Agreement; North Korean nuclear weapons stockpile has doubled; pandemic management and leadership was non-existent and passed the buck to governors who became blame targets; enlisted Russian and Chinese interference in elections; several obstruction of justice charges were noted in the Mueller Report; numerous lawsuits have been filed against him and unfolding lawsuits will be filed against him; accepted payoffs for positions; not able to lead projects large in scope; immigration policy was inhumane; tax cuts were a corporate “boondoggle;” and undermined integrity of voting system.
• Is a master at using neuroses—the dark side of the psyche: denied, repressed, disowned and projected subconscious aspects of the Self— to create stories— “fake news”—that strategically move the “lightning rod” from his Trump Party to others to trigger the psyche of perceived “enemies” and his base. Others simply become the personification of wrongs: Russian cyberwarfare, Ukraine quid pro quo, racism, nativism, Supreme Court justices, Democrats, et al. As Bernie Sanders has eloquently noted, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.”
• Staff selection of addicted surrogates has been a disaster and revolving door. The government needs to be efficient and live within its means; however, Elon Musk is not a good fit for DOGE. The government is a service business and should not be managed like a manufacturing business. President Trump’s folks are being directed to dismantle systems and processes that have taken 250 years to create. Safety and security of Americans is in serious jeopardy.
• Poor interpersonal relations skills.
• Surrounded by fixers and “yes men;” and encourages rivalries and thrives on personal attacks.
• Accepting 100% responsibility, apologizing, admitting a mistake, and helping others are not his cup of tea. Just take him Diet Coke and wash his dirty laundry.
• No vision for the country. Intent is more of the same and fixing what he has undermined, agitated, deconstructed, or destroyed. Examples: intelligence, FBI, CIA, U.S. Postal Service, voting integrity, and Centers for Disease Control.
• Repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members: Americans who die in war are “losers” and “suckers.” Twenty two of my West Point classmates were KIA in Vietnam…they certainly are not losers and suckers…simply proud members of the Long Gray Line.
• Legacy may be selection of judges, environmental deregulations, and deconstruction of institutions.
• Track record of complicating the story narrative, throwing sand in the eyes of the onlooker, claiming that transparently implausible stories were true unless proven otherwise, and denying the obvious truth.
• Does not understand duty, honor, and country.
• A cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a predator, a con man; and a stale, nasty breath of death, hate, narcissism, chaos, fear, conspiracy, norm erosion, “dark,” institutional deconstruction, and neo fascism.
• Incendiary, toxic, casts hate, disruptive, name caller, and divisive, and unfit for political office.
• Deny, deny, deny; blame, blame, blame; accuse, accuse, and accuse; denies, blames, and spins; egotistical and self-serving.
• Stokes fear, celebrity, and brand building; and publicity, show, and photo opportunity nurture his ego.
• Demands loyalty even if unethical: yes sir, no sir, no excuse sir; or you are fired.
• Conspiracist—example QAnon—and guilty of political cowardice, blaming, passing the buck, and dereliction of duty.
• Shirks constitutionally mandated duty and rewards misconduct.
• Sexist and multiple lawsuits and misconduct behaviors…34 counts of felony.
• Racist, i.e., shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
• In his eyes the members of the LGBTQ community are inferior.
• Dishonest, arrogant, and narcissist; uses position and financial power for personal gain.
• Creates martyr complex, irrelevance, and distractions; misleads, boasts, promotes blamelessness of self, never wrong, and anxious to criticize.
• Low-functioning: includes persons who “… do not exhibit polished and polite behaviors as a mask for their manipulations…may lack the education or interpersonal skills to control and deceive. Instead, they might use threats, coercion, or intimidation to achieve their desired outcome.” (Source: Dr. Timothy J. Legg, “What Is a High-Functioning Sociopath?”, 5-28-2019, https://www.healthline.com, 1-3.)
• Narcissistic sociopath: one form of antisocial personality disorder and is the result of environmental factors such as a child or teen’s upbringing in a negative household that resulted in physical abuse, emotional abuse, or childhood trauma. (Sources: Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough, 2020, Simon & Schuster; https://psychcentral.com, Dr. John M. Grohol, “Differences Between a Psychopath vs Sociopath,” 5-20-2020, 1-5; Dr. Tarra Bates-Duford, “Psychopath vs Sociopath: 16 Key Differences,” 9-7-2018, 1-3; https://www.health.com, Rosie McCall, “9 Ways to Spot a Sociopath,” 10-4-2019, 1-7.)
• Donald J. Trump is a genius at attacking, spinning, deflecting, networking, and using the media to recruit, retain, and fire, at will, addicted surrogates, circles of friends, admirers, celebrity hangers-on, and wannabes who savor and long for safety and security sought by bonding together and identifying with a tribe to persevere and protect against outsiders. Allegiance and admiration are given to the chief and clan. Mystical signs, conspiracy, and desires of powerful spirit beings must be followed for the continued safety and well-being of the tribe.

Partisan politics is a dangerous duel of limited and partial truths; and binds party sorted folks to fixed, literal or otherwise limiting beliefs and frames of minds. Political party-sorted, addicted surrogates make obvious excuses for candidates and excuse the inexcusable with respect to morality, judgment, intent, behavior, actions, ethics, and laws. W. Edwards Deming remarked, “If a person is not performing as expected, it is probably because they are miscast for the job.” Michael Cohen offers, “No one ever tells Trump the truth about his behavior and beliefs, or the consequences of his conduct and ignorance and arrogance, in business or in his personal life and now in politics. Trump is the boy in the bubble, impervious to the thoughts and feelings or others, entirely and utterly focused on his own desires and ambitions.”

Really! Quite a list. Donald J. Trump is an impetuous billionaire who stalks women, boasts of grabbing women by the genitals, mocks the disabled, encourages violence against the press and those who disagree with him, a reality television star prone to insulting anyone unlike himself, including LGBTQ Americans, and a power-hungry gangster who is unfit and transparently unqualified to lead the GOP and the country. America needs a leader who will lead the country, improve the country, and set the stage for future generations, not one who will continue to divide the country, to sow more division in the country, and to deconstruct the many institutions that are the foundation and pillars of the America Americans desire.