FLASH
Shkruar nga Simon Kuper 
There are two Donald Trumps. We liberals see an ignorant, sadistic, immoral, bigoted, authoritarian, narcissistic former president, as often revealed by the very words he utters. But there is another Trump, which is invisible to liberals: a conservative and highly sensitive Trump.
This is Trump described by people who are Trump themselves. They think we liberals should put aside what Trump says and focus on what he does. Some sensitive conservatives are readers of the Financial Times, and have made this argument in some very thought-provoking e-mails.
I will present their thesis, as I understand it. Conservatives recognize why many people dislike Trump. They themselves would like him to talk and post less. They explain that he says extreme things to attract supporters beyond the conservative base.
He's just doing marketing, one entrepreneur told me. Sensitive conservatives describe a clever Trump whose vulgar words mask effective policies. For example, we take his strong pressure on European states to finance their own defense.
We liberals are obsessed with his brutal threat to "encourage Russia to do whatever it wants" to the pet Europeans. But sensible conservatives point out that he is the first US president to achieve America's long-held goal of persuading Europeans to increase their defense spending.
Liberals themselves would argue that Vladimir Putin did more to achieve this by invading Ukraine. Meanwhile, conservatives add that Trump was tough enough on Putin. That he was the only American president in recent times who did not experience a Russian invasion.
They misquote Theodore Roosevelt, saying that Trump talks loudly and carries a big stick. They also argue that as president, Trump acted as a sensitive conservative. He reduced taxes for "wealth creators". It hit the phenomenon of illegal immigration.
Trump, they say, kept inflation low, while Joe Biden added to the 2021-22 global price hike with his post-Covid-19 fiscal stimulus. Now Biden, copying Trump's approach, is calling for new tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.
Of course, sensitive conservatives will shrug their shoulders when told that the Trump family was greatly enriched by Donald's presidency. So did the Clinton and Obama families, even if liberals will argue that only happened after they left office.
Conservatives, on the other hand, object to Trump's misbehavior during the attack by a mob of supporters on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. But they understand his concerns about possible vote manipulation.
After all, the postal ballots he opposes are banned in most European democracies. So conservatives present more justifications for Trump's behavior than Trump himself presented. They rightly point out that liberal elites look down on Trump voters.
So who is the real Trump: a dangerous narcissist or a sensitive conservative? I say the answer to that comes from the one group of American conservatives least inclined to like Trump: those who worked for him. Many now support the liberals' view of it.
Only 4 of Trump's dozen former cabinet members publicly endorsed his re-election, NBC News reported last summer. Even some former aides have openly lined up against him. A recent article from the Associated Press cited some warning voices: Trump is a "threat to democracy," said former defense secretary Mark Esper.
He is "unfit to be president", said former national security adviser John Bolton. Trump "admires murderous autocrats and dictators," former chief of staff John Kelly said. Trump's re-election "could mean the end of American democracy as we know it," says former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin.
These people are conservative. Their self-interest would have them praise the potential future president but also feel proud that they had worked
for her. But instead, they are facing expulsion from the party. Cassidy Hutchinson, a staffer in the White House during the Trump presidency, turned into a whistleblower of the former president's scandals says: “It's not easy . . . there are many consequences you have to face when you break away from Trump's circle."
Other conservatives who know Trump keep their disdain private. Mitt Romney recently described a roomful of Republican senators who greeted Trump with a standing ovation, listened respectfully, and then "burst into laughter" as he left.
Also, there are a host of anonymous officials who tell horror stories about his presidency. Meanwhile, it's hard to find any Democrat who worked for Biden who says the latter is unfit to be president.
The harsh retort is that Trump's conservative critics are "Republicans in name only." But this attack suggests that there is no room for sensitive conservatives in his Republican Party. Some sane people may have invented a Donald Trump in their own image./ Adapted Pamphlet from "Financial Times"
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