Last Friday, before President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and proceeded to embarrass America before the entire world, I happened to publish a piece here in Salon about how Trump's anger and resentment were driving him and, in some cases, were making him lose control. Trump has always had a short temper, but since he's been back in the White House he's been lashing out in public more aggressively than in the past and it's most often when someone fails to show what he deems to be proper deference.
For instance, he imperiously cut off UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a joint press conference last week as Starmer was talking about Canada. He also rudely chastised the governor of Maine in a room full of other governors over her decision to follow state and federal law relating to transgender citizens and anti-discrimination protections. But his unhinged behavior toward Zelenskyy in that White House meeting on Friday was nothing less than a verbal beat down staged for the media, as Trump more or less admitted at the end when he said "this is going to be great television."
