By Philip Yeung
On June 14, Trump turns 80, an age he disowns. He wants the world to forget his age, but not his birthday. In fact, he is choosing to celebrate it in the splashiest Trump way possible. Last year, he marked it with a high-budget, toe-curling, shuffling military parade. This year, the octogenarian is busy strutting around like an octopus on White House lawns in hosting martial-arts fights.
Trump loves the bizarre and the brutal. That's why he finds the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) his natural home. He loves the adrenaline rush that comes from combat sport. He may mistakenly believe that it is an elixir of youth, when in fact scientists warn that it is an aging accelerator.
In many ways, he displays the many symptoms of someone who suffers from ADHD, which is described as a disorder of executive function, characterized by attention-hogging, selfishness and an inability for sustained effort. That sets him apart from "Sleepy Joe". As Trump enters his 9th decade, he goes out of his way to prove that he is not "Dopey Don". But he will be the oldest president in US history by the time his term ends, and the world's most elderly leader.
In Trump, the world has a two-tier worry---his cognitive decline as his biological clock ticks down, and his inborn instability that may tilt the world into chaos.
Questions about his mental fitness have begun circulating, as no one can unsee some of the disturbing signs of his creeping old age—his slurred, incoherent speech, and dozing off mid-event. When he threatened Iran with the death of its entire civilization, the world is shell-shocked by the ravings of an unhinged leader.
"Sleepy Joe" by comparison seems harmless. A raving lunatic with his finger on the nuclear button is species-threatening. People are right to be jittery over his increasingly erratic behavior, or whether his on-again, off-again war with Iran is age-related.
The UFC bonanza is very in-character for Trump. This may be "human cockfighting" street theatre, but Trump stays true to his profit motive. He couldn't care less that he is hosting the UFC event on federal property. That doesn't stop him from charging his deep-pocket patrons up to US$1.5 million for a cage-side seat. What's more, fighters will be in Trump's crypto coins. If this is not naked money-grabbing, what is? With Trump, there is a price tag for everything, however sleazy.
The only missing jolt of excitement is that Trump refuses to get into the ring himself, unlike Teddy Roosevelt who lost his left eyesight in a boxing bout.
Trump, instead, turns his relationships into a combat sport, hitting his enemies hard as a daily exercise. With enemies from all corners, fighting them with venom keeps his warrior spirit alive. When it comes to payback, Trump has the memory of an elephant. Just ask former FBI director James Comey or his disenchanted one-time national security advisor John Bolton. "Forgive and forget" is not in his vocabulary. Othering people and avenging perceived past wrongs is what keeps his adrenaline flowing and his froth spitting.
Next year, if he survives the mid-terms and impeachment, Trump should try jiu-jitsu for his birthday bonanza, or sumo wrestling, if his body keeps ballooning. Just don't pay fighters in the nose-diving Japanese yen. Or, he can think big and cosmic by hitching a hike on Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket for a one-way trip to Mars.
The oldest US president deserves the world's first trillionaire as a birthday fellow traveler on a journey into eternity.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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