Watching 'Patton' through the prism of the Trump presidency

Donald Trump doesn't praise other people too often, but if you listen to his speeches and interviews he does seem to have an affinity for the late Gen. George S. Patton. In fact, he seems to have a bit of a hard on for anyone he deems a "great general" presumably for all the wrong reasons.

Even the phrase "great general" feels inappropriate since we're talking about one's ability to more effectively slaughter another country's soldiers. "Effective"general seems like a more apt description for deeply flawed men like Patton.

I have always figured Trump has little or no knowledge of Patton's actual exploits -- I assume if he were asked to name a single WWII battle he won or even where his troops fought during that conflict he couldn't tell you. However, he probably has some familiarity with the classic 1970 war film Patton, which was a huge hit right before Trump became a nationally known figure.

Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the film, brilliantly devised a script that would satisfy both conservatives and liberals -- since the film both captures Patton's unbelievably reckless hubris and his undeniable tough guy charisma. In George C. Scott's sly, Oscar-winning performance -- you see that Patton (at least in the film's estimation) was a profound narcissist, convinced that his every action should be and would be historic.

In that way, Trump is his polar opposite -- he is purely obsessed with short term gain and gratification and seems to either not care or doesn't think about how history will judge him. Also, Patton was a well-read, sophisticated man -- he even spoke French -- and as well all know, Trump is no intellectual.

Trump and Patton

I highly doubt that Trump could or would follow the military strategy depicted in the film. For all I know, he's probably never made it past the legendary opening of the film, where Scott as Patton delivers a florid monologue in front of an enormous American flag.

What he is probably drawn to is the Patton who when his fort is attacked by an air raid, he runs outside and begins shooting at the planes himself ineffectually with a pistol. This is the same kind of illogical, performative masculinity that has also made Trump such a fan of Air Force One -- he truly believes that he could be or should be a 'man of action' where the symbolically 'tough' gesture matters more than the cause or the result.

Of course, as the film depicts, Patton's need for self-aggrandizing glory was his own undoing. This is a man who would put his own troops' lives in danger in order to upstage a military rival. This is a man who would slap and berate one of his own soldiers for showing a moment of cowardice. This was a man who had virtually no self control when speaking to the press and who had a thirst for blood and combat which appeared to be pathological.

Trump reminds me of people who watch Scarface but forget that he dies in a hail of bullets in the end. The Patton that lives in his mind is an incomparable badass who had swagger to spare.

Right now we are living with the reckoning of what happens when you have a president who is in no way a student of history, who can't recalibrate and learn from their mistakes. One can only hope that he has political career has a similar fate as Patton's military one -- ending with a whimper instead of a bang.