Amid starvation imposed by Israel on Gaza and deadly bombings in Ukraine, President Donald Trump’s narcissism is reaching new heights.
“I’ve done six wars, I’ve ended six wars,” he claimed on Monday in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, taking credit for settling conflicts that the US began or saw little to no American involvement in their resolutions. Elsewhere in the Oval Office meeting, Trump forced guests to a viewing of hats emblazoned with “4 more years.”
Such stunning self-regard was once again on display Tuesday as Trump praised accused war criminal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a “war hero” over his approval of Israel’s June airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and then gave some love to himself. “I guess I am, too,” Trump told the conservative radio host Mark Levin despite having never fought in combat. “Nobody cares. But I am [a war hero] too. I mean, I sent those planes.” Similar omissions abounded throughout the conversation, with no mention of bone spurs or Trump’s public denigration of the late Sen. John McCain and Gold Star families.
Earlier in the day, Trump’s ego took on a more spiritual bent as the president mulled over his chances at salvation. “I want to try to get to heaven, if possible,” he said, referring to personal motivations for trying to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. It was then, for a startling brief moment, that Trump seemed to consider his very long, very real record of sexual abuse, racism, ableism, and hatred.
“I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole,” Trump told Fox News. “But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
Trump’s impulse to see only himself in world events is neither surprising nor new. But it appears in overdrive in recent days as he seeks to convince the public that peace is within grasping reach because he specifically stepped in. Progress, of course, remains elusive; the president seems bored by the work involved in negotiating it. But, for now, he can at least relish in successfully elbowing the Jeffrey Epstein headlines out of the frame. Meanwhile, death rages on.
This post has been syndicated from Mother Jones, where it was published under this address.