Donald Trump Really is Captain Queeg

 

I was wrong.  Back in 2020 I wrote that a lot of Trump supporters admire him because they think he is Colonel Jessusp.  Their admiration will end only when they recognize that really he is Captain Queeg.

Colonel Jessup, warped as he is, is able to recognize that there are things larger than himself.  He expresses a coherent rightwing viewpoint that many in the audience applaud.  He is a dangerous loose cannon who thinks the military should be unaccountable, and that maintaining a base in Cuba is equivalent to waging a serious war.  But at least he can see beyond me, me, me.  And I thought that right wingers admired Trump because they saw him as an adherent to that viewpoint.

Captain Queeg, by contrast, is sunk into paranoid self-pity and makes everything about himself. Just like Donald Trump.  I assumed that would have to be off-putting.  But after looking at some of Trump's unscripted moments during his campaign rallies, I then ran Captain Queeg's courtroom scene and the resemblance is -- disturbing. 

See for yourself:

I tried to run the ship properly, by the book, but they fought me at every turn.  If the crew wanted to walk around with their shirt tails hanging out, that's all right.  Let them.  Take the tow line. Defective equipment, no more no, no less.  But they encouraged the crew to go around scoffing at me and spreading wild rumors about steaming in circles and then old yellowstain.  I was to blame for Lt. Maryk's incompetence and poor seamanship.  Lt. Maryk was the perfect officer, but not Captain Queeg.

Doesn't that sound exactly like something Donald Trump might say?  And yet somehow it hasn't hurt him with the party faithful.  (After that, I admit, Captain Queeg descends into a level of paranoia exceeding anything Trump has shown so far).

Compare that with Colonel Jessup:

We use words like honor, code, loyalty.  We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something.  You use them as a punchline.  I have neither the time or the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way.  Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post.

That might be General Flynn or Colonel North, or maybe even Steven Bannon or Roger Stone.  But I just can't imagine Donald Trump talking like that.