The Two Most Powerful People in the World are Donald Trump and the Last Person who Spoke to Him
Yesterday, Zohran Mamdani, in anticipation to his inauguration as Mayor of New York City, attended a private meeting with President Donald Trump. And it seems this meeting went well, as when cameras flipped on with Trump seemingly totally charmed by Mamdani. Now, I am of course thrilled with this. New York elected a person who would be their zealous advocate, and who would make their lives better, and this goal will be best achieved without Washington putting its finger on the scale against him. The fact that Mamdani is such a talented negotiator and rhetorician than he is able to charm even his most stalwart opponents, means that I feel New York made the correct choice to elect its first socialist mayor. But Mamdani glazing is not the purpose of this particular article, rather this is an extreme version of a pattern all of us have noticed over the last 10 months. That the person with most influence over the presidency seems to always be the last person who spoke to the President.
When Trump spent most of his time around Musk: White Genocide Conspiracies of South Afrikaners becomes a much spoken about travesty. Trump has a meeting with Milei, Argentina's economic situation becomes America's priority to the tune of $40 Billion. After the Meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea last week, Trump breaks with his base over H1-B Visas to get tooling and die professionals in the US. After a meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince a murdered American Journalist is suddenly someone that not everyone liked, and who knows, maybe he had it coming, either way it's not the Crowned Prince's fault. It seems that in his old, enfeebled state, Trump has become pliable to anyone who speaks to him, especially if that person comes with flattery.
Increasingly it seems that the fate of our nation is not guided by the actions of Donald Trump, but rather the words of anyone who can convincingly kiss his ass. World leaders come bearing gifts like attending the court of a Grand Salton, offering him gifts of gold, prizes, and perfumes and walking away with seeming favor of the United States. For this I don't blame them. They represent their countries, and it is their prerogative to negotiate the best outcomes in that regard. And if Grandpa is giving away the farm to anyone who is nice to him, than they would be fools not fluff Grandpa's pillow and listen to his stories about how everyone used to be nicer and how homes used to cost a nickel.
But what might be a boon to the rest of the world or as the case may be: New York City, for the greater nation this seems like a massive liability. Our President has no principled stances and is famously susceptible to flattery. In the early 20th Century, just before the October Revolution there was a popular saying: The Two Most Powerful Men in Russia are Tsar Nicholas and the Last Man Who Spoke To Him. Welcome to Russia circa 1915.
Jack Shawhan, AKA The Terrier, is a writer and internet funny person with occasional observations on politics, media, and modern life. If you would like to support his continued writing consider subscribing to his Ghost or if you would like to buy him a coffee send to his CashApp $JackShawhan.
