ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- Think of the valuable lessons we learned as children.

Be kind. Think of others. Share your toys. Treat others as you want to be treated. Show hospitality to those who visit your home.

Perhaps we're taught to behave properly by parents or grandparents, or by teachers and coaches, or by friends and society. Wherever the values come from, they help us make good decisions and lead better lives.

Apparently, someone missed his lessons.

It's not exactly a groundbreaking revelation that President Donald Trump is a damaged human being. His narcissism, recklessness, cruelty, lack of empathy and eagerness to avoid accountability are always on display in how the commander-in-chief treats the leaders of other countries and in the slash-and-burn policies he unleashes on his own.

Even many of those who voted for Trump and support most of his policies must scratch their heads over the hurricane that seems to be constantly lashing his mind. You will often hear Trump supporters say with bravado that his crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border and mass deportations were exactly what they voted for.

Did they also vote for capitulation to Russian President Vladimir Putin on at least three key demands following Russia's invasion of Ukraine: preferring a time-consuming peace treaty to an immediate ceasefire, giving away to Russia a significant chunk of Ukraine and scuttling the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO?

The real question is this: How did Trump get so messed up? What, or who, broke the most powerful man in the world?

I think the story started long ago. I think a lot of it goes all the way back to when Trump was a child trying to please a father who was, by many accounts, not easy to please. Constantly coming up short seems to have left the future president with a permanent sense of inadequacy that he learned to paper over with arrogance and bluster and swagger.

Trump is a bad fit for America. He doesn't understand the first thing about this remarkable country that, while not flawless, has corrective features that make -- to borrow a phrase -- "a more perfect union."

The signs were clear early on. In June 2015, when he declared his first run for the presidency, Trump told supporters: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best."

Nonsense. By giving us the hard workers and the risk-takers, the world has always sent its best to our shores.

Another thing that Trump doesn't understand about America is that this country -- which was founded by farmers who took up arms to defeat the mighty British army -- is supposed to defend the little guy against the big guy. We bet on long shots. We root for the underdog. We have no interest in Goliath; we always back David.

Yet take a good look at how Trump approaches the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In February, during that disastrous White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump told his guest: "You don't have the cards." Trump respects strength and power, and he perceived Zelenskyy as lacking both. So he treated him with contempt.

By contrast, during his recent meeting with Putin in Alaska, Trump rolled out the red carpet and applauded the war criminal's arrival on U.S. soil. Why? Because while Putin may be a murderous thug who is responsible for the horror show that Ukraine has suffered through -- the killing of men, raping of women, kidnapping of children, etc. -- Trump sees him as strong and powerful. So he shows Putin respect.

It's upside-down. It's like America has been playing the same tune for 250 years, and yet Trump can't hear the beat. It's yet another lesson that the president didn't learn growing up. Might does not make right.

Asked by a reporter why Putin might want to do a peace deal as a personal favor to Trump, as the president suggested to French President Emmanuel Macron in a "hot mic" moment, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave all the credit to her boss.

"All countries around this world actually respect the United States again," Leavitt said. "And the president is using the might of American strength to demand that respect from our allies, our friends, our adversaries all around the world."

The president's mouthpiece got a lot wrong in that soundbite. Real strength comes from adhering to values. Respect isn't demanded. It has to be earned. And in that regard, around the world, Trump is once again coming up short.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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