What does the punch of Trump-Erdogan tell us?

At the NATO summit in Brussels last week, US President Donald Trump did not surprise anyone when he harangued his allies for them to "take all their weight" by increasing their military expenses.

At a closed emergency session, other NATO leaders said: "We have to ask our parliaments, we have a process, we can not just tell you that we are going to spend more, we have a legal process, "reports CBS News.

At this point in the meeting, Trump turned to the Turkish president and said, "Except for Erdogan on here, he does things the right way," and even punched him.

CBS News described it as "a surprising gesture of support for the increasingly authoritarian leader … a universal sign of" a way to go, good work. "

European leaders of NATO and well Others appear more than a little worried by President Trump's affection for the dictators.It is Erdogan who beats his fist, Duterte, a strong Filipino man, who hangs out with King Jong-a to Singapore or Putin with his own intelligence agencies, Trump seems to admire and better engage with the most ruthless dictators of the world than he does with his own democratic allies.

After all, this 39 is the same President Trump who refused to criticize Putin a few weeks after having called the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, "dishonest and weak".

This behavior, with the ignorance and apparent disregard of Trump for US laws and institutions (given his attempt to interfere with the Department of Justice and his inability to distance himself from to the commercial interests of his family, among other things), many observers are disoriented.

Some speculate that Trump's past commercial transactions in Russia involve money launderers and other unsavory actors, which, he feared, could be exposed if he do not like the Russians. Others are rather dryly wondering if he has a secret agenda for destroying Western alliances and the international order as we know it.

Alternatively, some worry that there is no plan, and that all of his shenanigans constitute the random behavior of what many families might call "the crazy uncle" – with the main difference being this crazy uncle won an election to lead the world's most powerful state

Without completely excluding any of the above explanations, there is a much simpler reason for Trump's behavior. He is not a politician.

Politicians have training and experience in the laws and institutions of their own country as well as international standards and procedures. They know how to build consensus among actors with different programs, how to compromise and how to subtly influence people to advance their own preferences. They know how to operate in a maze of constraints and various institutions.

Trump, on the contrary, simply finds institutions, standards, procedures, laws, compromises and all sorts of frustrating constraints. He is the pampered child of an extraordinarily wealthy family who has used his legacy to make himself a renowned businessman and CEO of many societies.

CEOs in the business world are essentially dictators – their underlings must follow orders or be fired. The only thing that matters to the CEOs is the annual approval of the shareholders of their companies, which we could compare to Trump's vote of approval in the next election (and even political dictators pay attention to the preferences of certain key constituencies).

The business world also operates according to a largely amorphous code: the only thing that matters is to increase the wealth and power of the company. While some companies are trying to do this by appearing as "virtuous citizens" (even oil and gas companies buying brilliant commercials in magazines about how they are looking for alternative energy), companies are also pushing regulation and constraints. can get by with it.

This is also the case of Trump, the businessman who has been catapulted into the world's most powerful political bureau.

Trump loves to see himself as CEO of America. However, the power of the US presidency is accompanied by innumerable constraints and conditions, because of the strong democratic institutions that have developed over the last two hundred and fifty years.

Trump therefore envies dictators and strong political men who can act with less consideration for such constraints. He admires their apparent strength and determination, without even having an idea of ​​how these dictators are destroying the power and wealth of their country and the well-being of their people.

Because dictatorships use hard power and coercion more than soft power and attraction to defend their interests, their regimes are almost always more fragile. By not understanding this, Trump alienates his allies abroad, provides relief to America's enemies and eviscerates the very foundations of American power in the world.

David Romano is columnist Rudaw since 2010. He holds Professor Thomas G. Strong. He is the author of numerous publications on the Kurds and the Middle East.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Rudaw's position.