Sandbox Rules? 

Editor:

Does the president think he rules from the sandbox?

Time magazine has devoted an issue to the words of President Trump. The cover features the question, "Is Truth Dead?" written in large red letters on a plain black background. Inside the magazine is an extensive interview with President Trump, much of which is a discussion concerning what many people think are his lies or half-truths. What seems apparent from my experience, however, is that his words really were presented as the truth by him, they just needed a bit of clarification to help us get to the meaning he actually intended in the first place.

In the article, Trump states that he is an "instinctual person," which allows him to make statements that may not be apparent to others at the time, but will eventually be proven to be right. For example, he claims to have predicted his own election victory even when most others felt he had no chance. He also claimed to have predicted the success of Brexit the day before the voters did indeed pass the referendum for Britain's separation from the European community. And of course, he now sees vindication in his Obama "wiretapping Trump Tower" tweet because his own interpretation of "wiretapping" allows him to substitute "general surveillance of his election team" in its place.

The article concludes with what I feel is a telling statement about Trump's state of mind. After once again repeating how he inherited a mess when he stepped into office, including a mess in the Middle East, a mess in North Korea, a mess with jobs and a mess on trade, he sums up how he's been doing by saying, "I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president, and you're not."

From where I stand, this is not the kind of statement that an adult, let alone the president, would make. Rather, it's the kind of response you might expect from a privileged second grader playing in the sandbox when asked about how he or she is doing in class. Just substitute the words "the teacher's pet" for "president." To me, his explanation clearly shows that Trump's personality matches that of a young spoiled child at play.

Sherman Schapiro, Blue Lake