From the news: “When asked Friday about his latest tweets about Mueller, Trump said tellingly: ‘I like to take everything personally, because you do better that way.’ “

This explains a lot.

This would be remarkably bad advice for anyone, but for the elected leader of the most powerful nation on earth, it is truly horrifying.

The President of the United States takes an oath to faithfully defend the Constitution of the United States.  His, or her, every act must be measured against the following standard: what action is in the best interest of the United States?

To take everything personally is to assume that your interests are paramount.  That the interests of the nation do not count.  As president, you are absolutely not ‘doing better’ that way.

Worse, taking everything personally pretty much guarantees that you will misinterpret the actions of others. Even as president, you are not the center of everybody else’s universe, and people and nations almost always act to further their own interests. If you believe that everyone’s actions are motivated by their feelings about you, you will be wrong nearly all the time. Worse, your ability to respond intelligently will be fatally compromised.

As if that’s not enough, taking things personally is psychologically and emotionally draining. In the end, taking everything personally is a recipe for inaccurate judgments, ineffective responses, and mental exhaustion.  A far cry from ‘doing better.’

Trump quote: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller/index.html

November 18, 2018