His own secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, in a meeting with military advisors last July 20, called, behind his back, US President Trump, a “moron.” When Trump’s camp questioned the report, NBC News corrected itself: no, Tillerson actually said “f**king moron.” Tillerson later said at a press-con Trump was “bright” but didn’t deny he said the president was a “moron.”
Yesterday, Trump complained that North Korea leader Kim Jong Un insulted him, asking in a tweet why Kim called him “old” when Trump “would NEVER CALL HIM short and fat.”
The facts: Trump is old and Kim is young but also short and fat. Kim fired his insult first while Trump, supposedly not retaliating, shot back. (He said he’d never say the slander but said it in the same breath.)
Swapping barbs
But the two world leaders have been swapping barbs for sometime now, pushing people to their seats’ edge, scaring them that the two might set off, by their brashness, a third world war.
Trump said in his tweet he “tried so hard” to be Kim’s friend. Not quite. Tweets against Kim are often incendiary, competing with Kim’s tough talk.
When old age starts
In the US, a Pew Research Center’s social and demographic trend survey said old age starts at 68. How about the “you’re-only-as-old-as-you-feel” theory? Trump may belong to the 60% adults (65 and above) who feel they’re younger than their age. He must feel he’s much younger than the 71 he actually is.
It’s often a matter of perception, a HuffPost article noted. Adults 65 or older put the threshold of old age close to 70.
Trump may have felt the annoyance, if not rage, of that Duke University professor who lashes at equating aging, “in our age and culture.” with “deterioration and impairment.” There are many old people who’re “getting smarter, richer and healthier as time goes on,” the professor said. Just as, in equal measure, there are many old people stuck in wheelchairs, rocking chairs or on beds.
Stereotyping
The stereotyping stings. Trump was insulted because with all his power as president and his self-advertised “prowess” over women, he must feel he’s not old yet.
Unlike our President Duterte who apparently gauges being old from the state of one’s health. “What do you expect of a 70-year-old?” he said some time ago, even before he disappeared from public view in two instances, each for four days straight, allegedly for health reasons.
Older, not wiser
John Shoven, a Stanford University economics professor, says one may be considered old if his chance of dying within the next year is 2% or more. Duterte and Trump obviously have different views on age and mortality.
That may explain why Trump thinks he was insulted by Kim’s reference to his age. But then the US president also fretted over Tillerson’s “moron” diatribe, even calling for an I.Q. test comparison. No wonder many people find it hard to resist the thought that one can get older but not necessarily wiser.