Wie geht's?
The Truman biography remains a fascinating experience, (I'm up to page 558) and it is inevitable that I would compare Henry S. Truman with the present incumbent in The White House.
Truman was an exemplary leader. He showed exceptional diligence in his job. He was, according to those who worked for him in The White House, 'an extremely thoughtful, courteous, considerate man' who 'spent virtually every waking moment working at being president'.
The staff was continually amazed by the President's knowledge of the country.
Truman would say sitting in the Oval Office, "It is ignorance that causes most mistakes. The man who sits here ought to know his American history, at least".
Check out this clip from Jimmy Fallon.
If ever there was a "clean break from all that had gone before," Truman would say, the result would be chaos.
That's certainly the reality of now. Screeds have been written about Donald Trump. A lot by him on social media. He thinks he's great. This is known as Figjam. He thinks he's the least racist President of all time. This is known as denial.
He has a pathological need to sow chaos and dominate the headlines. He is at the opposite end of the Presidential continuum to Harry S. Truman - who was a principled, hardworking man with integrity. Everyone who ever knew Truman said he was a man of great character.
In comparison, Trump is a Shakespearian villain like Edmund in King Lear. A bastard and a schemer, wreaking destruction upon virtually all of the other characters.
At the moment we all have to live through Trump's frippery and chaos, but, as George Harrison says: All things must pass away.
Pretty soon he will go the way of all things; history will have its say on the Trump Presidencies, and he will slip into the past like everyone else. No longer relevant. No longer a stain. His name will live in infamy, while Truman's will continue to grow in stature,
Back to the book. It really is a tonic!
Love and peace - Wozza