“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” ―E.B. White

I have been honestly surprised to hear a recurrent theme that Donald Trump is a tough guy, a macho guy. I know: He played one on TV for years, in a show that, though I never watched it, was very popular. But Trump himself? I don’t get it. These references to strength and manliness are heard from both the right, as something to be admired, and from the left, as something that may be a bit troubling.

The guy never served his country in uniform. That, in and of itself, does not disqualify him as a tough/macho guy (though having served in the military can be suggestive of courage or love of country). Trump went out of his way to avoid military service at a time when the United States was embroiled in the war in Vietnam. He claimed bone spurs in his left heel, then his right heel, and then both heels, in different years to win deferments. During this time, went on ski trips, but, alas, was never fit enough to serve his country.

He plays golf. Nothing wrong with that, but a sport sedate enough to not require jock straps doesn’t exactly score too many macho points. He admires guys that he considers strong leaders, and has made complimentary remarks about Putin, Duterte, Kim Jong-un, and others of that ilk.

Trump is a very wealthy man, but did he get that way by, as the Bible says, “the sweat of his brow”? Or did he begin in life from his daddy’s business contacts, and a “small loan” of $1 million to get started? How much of his wealth is tainted, for example his fraudulent Trump University? And other nefarious dealings? And what about the four bankruptcies; were they on the up and up?

As a patriotic American, did he pay his taxes? We don’t know, do we? He said he’d release his taxes, but I guess he wants to exercise her prerogative to change his mind. A man of his word – not so much.  

Bullying underlings does not make a man strong or tough. By the way, Andy Borowicz, of the “New Yorker,” reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is more than ready for Melania Trump to get started on her special project. She said she was going to fight against cyberbullying. Sessions anxiously awaits her special project to get rolling.

His recent encouragement of police to be rougher with suspects under arrest is un-American, ineffective, costly to municipalities, and neither strong nor tough. But it sounds macho, I guess, to some people.*

Sexually harassing women, as he boasted about on the Access Hollywood tapes – and girls, as he described in his interactions with Miss Teen USA contestants – sounds like an ill-behaved teen-aged boy, not a grown man.  

Humiliating one’s wife in public, as he did to then wife Ivana Trump, by boasting to the New York Post about the quality of the sex he was having with yet-to-be wife Marla Maples, does not demonstrate strength or character.

Donald selected Anthony “Mooch” Scaramucci as White House Communication Director. One might wonder why that pick was made. Scaramucci has supported women’s right to reproductive choice, gun control and gay rights.  He has opposed the death penalty. Mooch may be a poser, but he talks as if he is a tough guy. Trump admires tough guys.

Trump’s constant boasting, his constant need for approval, his deep insecurities, his obsession with appearance noted by his ridiculous hair and makeup, seem a little prissy.  

While Donald’s silly posturing might be amusing in another setting. We could laugh at the caricature he makes of himself. But he has a very important job to do, and he far too frequently gets off track.

The alarm bells on ringing on of both houses of congress. On both sides of the aisle.   

*I was spat upon by a guy under arrest one time. He was in handcuffs. I didn’t rough him up. I wiped my face with my handkerchief, helped him into the car. The matter was included in the court report. The guy probably wished I had roughed him up. The judge addressed the issue at sentencing, saying the guy had earned three years imprisonment, but the sentence was 3 ½ years. The extra six months was for his salivary assault.

Those last six months in prison must have been, dare I say, hard to swallow.