The traits that JFK and Trump share

Faithful readers may have noticed I have been “off” for several days, more than my usual 2-3 day breaks.

Reason: Brief vacation in Bermuda. I like to read when I travel.

My travel companion, in addition to my beautiful and helpful wife, was “The President’s Club,” a 641-page heavyweight by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. (“Only” 527 pages are text, followed by acknowledgments, massive notes and index.)

I selected it at the recommendation of a friend, and was a good fit because of my interest in politics and history.

I knew there was a “club” of ex-presidents. I did not know it was a formal “thing,” with an actual government townhouse reserved for ex-presidents (but no secret handshake).

It began after President Harry S Truman brought back from exile vilified ex-president Herbert Hoover, whom most Americans blamed for the Depression. 

Hoover was retrieved to organize post-war aid for Europe, with almost 100 million on the verge of starvation. Hoover had organized such relief after World War I, and while Truman viewed Hoover as political poison, he also believed Hoover was the only person with the ability to succeed. Truman was humble enough to ask for help; Hoover was humane enough to accept.

The two working partners became friends, and recognizing the treasure of knowledge ex-presidents could offer, Truman proposed the club, with Hoover as president, and himself as secretary. It perhaps was a half joke, but only half, and the book details how later presidents leaned upon one another.

Which brings me to John F. Kennedy, at one time my favorite president (until I learned more about some others), and Donald J. Trump, who was never in danger of being in my top 10.

Here I wildly wave the yellow caution flag, because what you are about to read should not in any way be considered an endorsement of Trump.

It is not.

There is no arguing that Trump, as a construction titan, had far more executive experience than Kennedy, whose only executive stint was as the captain of PT-109 which got sunk. 

JFK had youth, and hubris.

The Kennedy team, the authors write, “behaved as though history began with them. They regarded both Eisenhower and Truman (and their own vice president) with something bordering on contempt.”

This struck some chimes in my aging memory banks. It made me think of Trump 45.

Kennedy wanted to reject Eisenhower’s conservative policies, and military hierarchy, with something more supple “reflecting his faith in personalities over protocol. . . He paid little attention to organization charts and chains of command.”

Personalities over protocol. Trump, again.

Ike had assembled “credentialed strangers to run the government;” which might have been Trump 45.

“Kennedy wanted a band of brothers to blow up the whole contraption.” That fits Trump 47 like a glove.

In time, Kennedy learned the guard rails were there for a reason.

I’m not sure that is a lesson Trump will ever learn, or would want to. Just like you can’t make a cat a vegetarian. It’s not in his wheelhouse. 

But I was struck by the common personality traits they shared, and I’m not even going to get into womanizing.

Just titillating from a historical perspective.