Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Comparing Trump and MacArthur

Trump was unanimously nominated today at the Republican National Convention.  The adulation shown him by the delegates remind me of General Douglas MacArthur's adulation from Congress upon his return to the continental U.S. in 1951 following his ouster from command by President Truman.  The Congress interrupted him fifty times with ovations.

However, MacArthur's star flamed out fast.  He gave campaign speeches leading up to the 1952 Republican Convention, but these got fewer and fewer as people realized he was more interested in pursuing his private squabble with President Truman than in being a constructive force in the civic life of the country.

MacArthur lived out his life in a New York apartment, and died 13 years later.  Trump's fate will surely be the same.

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