Anthony Scaramucci tells many amusing stories arising from his brief period as White House Director of Communications in the first Trump administration. For me the most striking of these relate to Trump’s difficulties with the written word, his reluctance, for example, to read the documents provided for him and his insistence that he understands issues instinctively and without the need to engage in such systematic study.
Trump’s problem goes deeper than just a reluctance to read. On one occasion Scaramucci recalls the President producing a written note, intended to contain a message for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This note, suggests Scaramucci, was like a child’s scrawl, as if perhaps written with crayon. It was duly transcribed, no doubt suitably edited, and forwarded to Erdoğan.
A further Scaramucci yarn arises from his observation of a member of the presidential team attempting to enlighten President Trump on the subject of the Middle East by explaining the significance of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
This agreement effectively divided the Ottoman provinces outside the Arabian Peninsula into areas of British and French control and influence by the drawing of a line on a map. [1] This imperially drawn division gave no quarter to the presence of indigenous tribal communities along its length and is clearly implicated in subsequent unrest across the Middle East. As Scaramucci tells the story, Trump showed no knowledge of the Sykes-Picot Agreement whatsoever and was clearly angered that his adviser was showing up this presidential deficit in the presence of others. Trump hit back by asserting his existing superior knowledge of the matter.
Later, in a more informal setting, Scaramucci says he took the opportunity to ask Trump whether he had ever seen the film, Lawrence of Arabia. “Yes,” responded the President enthusiastically. “A great film.”
“Do you remember what happened in the film?” asked Scaramucci. Trump looked vague and Scaramucci set out to remind him of the plot. He casually dropped in detail regarding the significance of the Sykes-Picot Agreement in the narrative of the film. Trump listened attentively. Later, Scaramucci reports, that he overheard Trump in discussion on the topic of the Middle East clearly using the information he had gleaned from that conversational aside. [2]
Such stories may seem like inconsequential additions to the many instances of Trump’s ignorance and unfitness for the role of President, but I draw a different conclusion: Donald Trump has dyslexia.
Naturally, that’s not a statement of fact; it’s just a hypothesis, but it is a hypothesis which can explain much about his character and, indirectly, has a connection to the character and disposition of those who support him.
I don’t suggest Donald Trump has dyslexia in order to make a fool of him. I consider myself to be somewhere on the dyslexic spectrum. I am the son of teachers, brought up to respect education who, nevertheless, did not enthuse about the school experience. I was slow to read at the outset and, enduringly, I am a slow reader. I have always been a poor speller, a deficiency masked, since the advent of the word processor, by spell checking. (My first attempt to spell Sykes-Picot was something like Psyches Peeko …well it’s tricky innit? My first attempt at spelling Scaramucci … well, let’s not go there.)
But how does this throw any light on the character of Donald Trump?
Let us imagine how he dealt with the challenges of the written word when he first went to school. My assumption is that he did not take easily to reading and writing. Did his teachers mock him for his failures? Of course they did. Where did he find himself placed in the ranks of academic achievement? Certainly not in the upper quartile. A proud boy from a rich family, humiliated, a humiliation no doubt fueling anger and resentment against all of the things that education tells us we should value; science and literature; history and philosophy; civilized discourse; truth.
Supercharging this disdain for academic orthodoxy in the case of Donald Trump is the fact that, though he may not be the genius he considers himself to be, there is plenty of evidence that he really does have exceptional abilities, most incontrovertibly, a political instinct that has won him the US Presidency when the commentariat had pronounced him utterly unsuited to the job, incompetent, finished.
While Trump has intelligent, educated supporters, they aren’t the demographic that brought him to the White House. Many of his voters left school without an enduring love for science, literature, history, or philosophy. They may not have dyslexia, but in a system where success is defined by academic achievement, there must also be failure. For many who did not attend university, school was less about inspiration and more about being sidelined—an experience to escape and forget.
In a previous era this resulted in deference towards those who had succeeded. But times have changed. Donald Trump, has a rhetorical appeal — genially described by Joe Rogan, in his long interview with candidate Trump, as “weird shit” — which has successful tapped into a huge reservoir of disaffection and resentment. Mostly this resentment is directed against those whose lives have benefited from education. Perhaps a little surprisingly, these resentments seem less focused on other forms of privilege, most conspicuously, inherited wealth. But then, the principal source of this negativity is those whose lives have been blighted by education and who have been left on the scrap heap.
As many are discovering, however, in the long run, education is not just about schooling. We are living in a new age of the autodidact.
Many who were bored in school, who faltered or were mocked for their failure to engage, have found a more agreeable way to learn. The Internet is a wild west of self-education, unchecked by authority of any kind. It is awash with elaborately constructed conspiracy theories that play into the idea an elite establishment is controlling the system — whatever that is — in its own interests.
Disconcertingly, even someone who esteems the values of the Enlightenment, who believes in science and rationality, can come to a similar conclusion. As Leonard Cohen put it: “Everybody knows the dice is loaded.” [3]
You don’t need me to tell you that we are in for a roller coaster ride in the next few years. Can Trump tariffs really rebalance the world economy? Nobody really believes that Trump can bring peace between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours.” Despite his, on the fly understanding of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, neither does anyone believe he can preside over a settlement in the Middle East that establishes secure borders for Israel whilst also delivering justice to the Palestinian people.
Most of all, I fear for the environment, the least recoverable of all the catastrophes which may ensue. Yet I take comfort from William Blake. In his Proverbs of Hell, from The marriage of Heaven and Hell, he offers something like optimism: If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. And by the way: nobody in this case, so far as I can see, is exempt from the charge of folly. And, as Blake also councils: Listen to the fools reproach! it is a kingly title! [4]
[2] For this and more wisdom from Anthony Scaramucci (and Katty Kay) listen to The Rest Is Politics: US The story I tell is probably a bit of a mash up of what Scaramucci says – I’m dyslexic you know, but I think I’ve caught the jist.
I am a retired College lecturer, having worked originally in supported programmes but latterly having taught social science subjects, Psychology and Politics, though my degree was in Sociology. I am from Newry in Northern Ireland, but now live in Dumfries in South West Scotland. https://carruchan.wordpress.com/about/
Carruchan
The Role of Schooling in the Rise and Rise Again of Donald Trump
Anthony Scaramucci tells many amusing stories arising from his brief period as White House Director of Communications in the first Trump administration. For me the most striking of these relate to Trump’s difficulties with the written word, his reluctance, for example, to read the documents provided for him and his insistence that he understands issues instinctively and without the need to engage in such systematic study.
Trump’s problem goes deeper than just a reluctance to read. On one occasion Scaramucci recalls the President producing a written note, intended to contain a message for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This note, suggests Scaramucci, was like a child’s scrawl, as if perhaps written with crayon. It was duly transcribed, no doubt suitably edited, and forwarded to Erdoğan.
A further Scaramucci yarn arises from his observation of a member of the presidential team attempting to enlighten President Trump on the subject of the Middle East by explaining the significance of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
This agreement effectively divided the Ottoman provinces outside the Arabian Peninsula into areas of British and French control and influence by the drawing of a line on a map. [1] This imperially drawn division gave no quarter to the presence of indigenous tribal communities along its length and is clearly implicated in subsequent unrest across the Middle East. As Scaramucci tells the story, Trump showed no knowledge of the Sykes-Picot Agreement whatsoever and was clearly angered that his adviser was showing up this presidential deficit in the presence of others. Trump hit back by asserting his existing superior knowledge of the matter.
Later, in a more informal setting, Scaramucci says he took the opportunity to ask Trump whether he had ever seen the film, Lawrence of Arabia. “Yes,” responded the President enthusiastically. “A great film.”
“Do you remember what happened in the film?” asked Scaramucci. Trump looked vague and Scaramucci set out to remind him of the plot. He casually dropped in detail regarding the significance of the Sykes-Picot Agreement in the narrative of the film. Trump listened attentively. Later, Scaramucci reports, that he overheard Trump in discussion on the topic of the Middle East clearly using the information he had gleaned from that conversational aside. [2]
Such stories may seem like inconsequential additions to the many instances of Trump’s ignorance and unfitness for the role of President, but I draw a different conclusion: Donald Trump has dyslexia.
Naturally, that’s not a statement of fact; it’s just a hypothesis, but it is a hypothesis which can explain much about his character and, indirectly, has a connection to the character and disposition of those who support him.
I don’t suggest Donald Trump has dyslexia in order to make a fool of him. I consider myself to be somewhere on the dyslexic spectrum. I am the son of teachers, brought up to respect education who, nevertheless, did not enthuse about the school experience. I was slow to read at the outset and, enduringly, I am a slow reader. I have always been a poor speller, a deficiency masked, since the advent of the word processor, by spell checking. (My first attempt to spell Sykes-Picot was something like Psyches Peeko …well it’s tricky innit? My first attempt at spelling Scaramucci … well, let’s not go there.)
But how does this throw any light on the character of Donald Trump?
Let us imagine how he dealt with the challenges of the written word when he first went to school. My assumption is that he did not take easily to reading and writing. Did his teachers mock him for his failures? Of course they did. Where did he find himself placed in the ranks of academic achievement? Certainly not in the upper quartile. A proud boy from a rich family, humiliated, a humiliation no doubt fueling anger and resentment against all of the things that education tells us we should value; science and literature; history and philosophy; civilized discourse; truth.
Supercharging this disdain for academic orthodoxy in the case of Donald Trump is the fact that, though he may not be the genius he considers himself to be, there is plenty of evidence that he really does have exceptional abilities, most incontrovertibly, a political instinct that has won him the US Presidency when the commentariat had pronounced him utterly unsuited to the job, incompetent, finished.
While Trump has intelligent, educated supporters, they aren’t the demographic that brought him to the White House. Many of his voters left school without an enduring love for science, literature, history, or philosophy. They may not have dyslexia, but in a system where success is defined by academic achievement, there must also be failure. For many who did not attend university, school was less about inspiration and more about being sidelined—an experience to escape and forget.
In a previous era this resulted in deference towards those who had succeeded. But times have changed. Donald Trump, has a rhetorical appeal — genially described by Joe Rogan, in his long interview with candidate Trump, as “weird shit” — which has successful tapped into a huge reservoir of disaffection and resentment. Mostly this resentment is directed against those whose lives have benefited from education. Perhaps a little surprisingly, these resentments seem less focused on other forms of privilege, most conspicuously, inherited wealth. But then, the principal source of this negativity is those whose lives have been blighted by education and who have been left on the scrap heap.
As many are discovering, however, in the long run, education is not just about schooling. We are living in a new age of the autodidact.
Many who were bored in school, who faltered or were mocked for their failure to engage, have found a more agreeable way to learn. The Internet is a wild west of self-education, unchecked by authority of any kind. It is awash with elaborately constructed conspiracy theories that play into the idea an elite establishment is controlling the system — whatever that is — in its own interests.
Disconcertingly, even someone who esteems the values of the Enlightenment, who believes in science and rationality, can come to a similar conclusion. As Leonard Cohen put it: “Everybody knows the dice is loaded.” [3]
You don’t need me to tell you that we are in for a roller coaster ride in the next few years. Can Trump tariffs really rebalance the world economy? Nobody really believes that Trump can bring peace between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours.” Despite his, on the fly understanding of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, neither does anyone believe he can preside over a settlement in the Middle East that establishes secure borders for Israel whilst also delivering justice to the Palestinian people.
Most of all, I fear for the environment, the least recoverable of all the catastrophes which may ensue. Yet I take comfort from William Blake. In his Proverbs of Hell, from The marriage of Heaven and Hell, he offers something like optimism: If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. And by the way: nobody in this case, so far as I can see, is exempt from the charge of folly. And, as Blake also councils: Listen to the fools reproach! it is a kingly title! [4]
Endnotes
[1] Sykes-Pico Agreement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement
[2] For this and more wisdom from Anthony Scaramucci (and Katty Kay) listen to The Rest Is Politics: US The story I tell is probably a bit of a mash up of what Scaramucci says – I’m dyslexic you know, but I think I’ve caught the jist.
[3] Everybody Knows, Leonard Cohen Listen here.
[4] William Blake, Proverbs of Hell, from the marriage of Heaven and Hell https://poets.org/poem/proverbs-hell
Sykes-Pico line image cropped from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement#/media/File:MPK1-426_Sykes_Picot_Agreement_Map_signed_8_May_1916.jpg
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About Stephen Shellard
I am a retired College lecturer, having worked originally in supported programmes but latterly having taught social science subjects, Psychology and Politics, though my degree was in Sociology. I am from Newry in Northern Ireland, but now live in Dumfries in South West Scotland. https://carruchan.wordpress.com/about/