(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



The Trump Equation: Why Things Fail [1]

['Chitown Kev', 'Sabrina Haake']

Date: 2026-08-02  

What makes human enterprises fail? Marriage, family, states, nations, kingdoms, empires, civilizations, even democracies; they all fall apart. It’s true we as individuals fall apart as well, but does that mean our hopes and aspirations, our constructs and accomplishments must as well?

I can’t imagine a more apt failure to name this after than Trump, a man who proves over and over again that everything he touches fails. So this will be called henceforth and forever (until it falls apart), the Trump Equation.

When it is more important to be in charge than it is to be right, things fail.

Here’s a classic example from (fairly) recent history. Stalin vs Hitler.

Hitler listened to his generals during the first part of World War II and won western Europe, except Britian, as a consequence. He could take credit for the success even though he did not bother with tactics until Dunkirk, when he let a couple hundred thousand enemy troops escape. Portent of things to come.

When Hitler attacked Russia, Stalin micromanaged the military and got millions of Russian soldiers and civilians killed or captured. He continued to make the tactical decisions until it finally dawned on him to let the military professionals fight the battles while he decided strategy. Then the Russians started to win.

On the other side, once the German Army started to lose, Hitler became more and more involved in day to day decisions and failed badly at playing warlord, with the result that his country was ripped apart by some very pissed off opponents.

The point is, in both cases, when the men in charge made decisions neither were qualified to make, they caused death and destruction of a scale previously unimaginable.

So what’s up with this compelling desire to be the big shot no matter the cost, in particular, no matter the accuracy of your decisions?

The easy answer is testosterone, which afflicts women as much as men. Biologically, it centers around who gets to breed and with whom, and who doesn’t. Every living creature has a desire to reproduce. It’s what makes the world go round (thought it was money, didn’t you).

But blaming biology is being disingenuous. Yes, we are animals and breed until resources are all consumed just like brainless bacteria in a Petri Dish. But there is something more to being human, like we are an accident or miscalculation or careless error because we can see ourselves being stupid and not do a damn thing about it except make it worse by scrambling to be the top dog while the world burns.

We know the climate is getting hotter, we know we are to blame but we do nothing. That sort of cognitive culpability is strictly human.

Now we have a mentally disordered, stupid, vindictive and greedy asshole in the Presidency who simply refuses to drop dead.

All because it’s more important to be in charge than it is to right.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/2/800078684/community/the-trump-equation-why-things-fail/

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/