Little Prick Can't Be Wrong

At the end of the very first episode of Game of Thrones, Jaime Lannister pushes Brandon Stark out of a window causing him to fall to the ground and become paralyzed. Eight seasons later, the two are reunited before the battle against the army of the dead and the White Walkers.

After the first episode, Jaime and Bran both travel down very different paths. Jaime would go on to attack Ned Stark, be captured by Robb Stark, lose his hand, and recognize many of his initial faults. Bran, on the other hand, becomes the “three-eyed raven”, an omnipotent being attached to the entire history of the Game of Thrones universe.

When Jaime sees Bran, he has just avoided execution because Bran did not tell anyone that it was Jaime who pushed him. Jaime goes to Bran and apologizes. He says “I am sorry for what I did to you. I am not that man anymore.”

Bran replies:

“You still would be, had you not pushed me out of that window.”

I have been rewatching episodes of Game of Thrones because I like to study how the story unfolds. When I came across this part again, it stuck out to me.

I write often about how one of Trump’s primary flaws is his inability to change or recognize when he has made a mistake. While he tries to project an aura of “perfection”, he actions are clearly anything but perfect.

A man who cannot recognize mistakes is a man who will not learn. A man who will not learn is stagnant and useless.

Had Jaime not pushed Bran from the window, he would not have accelerated the issues with the Starks. King Robert may live and instead hold the Lannister’s accountable for treason. Jaime never goes to war with Robb Stark, never loses his hand, never meets Brienne of Tarth, and never becomes the more honorable man we see in Season 8.

By the time Jaime and Bran meet in Season 8, Jaime recognizes that what he did was wrong, he feels guilt, and he feels compelled to apologize.

However, an apology is unnecessary and it does not change anything that happened. No words Jaime can say will give Bran his legs back. The true “apology” is exemplified in the recognition of Jaime’s growth.

And that is when it hit me and I realized why Trump is able to destroy so many things without ever learning a lesson.

He thinks he is perfect and he has no reason to change or do better. Every time he does something wrong, he won’t change his behavior or try to do better the next time. He just does the same things, the same way, over and over and over again until every mistake is amplified a thousand times.

If Jaime Lannister was like Trump, how many kids would he have pushed from windows before he felt bad about it?

Or better yet, how many Iranian schoolchildren need to be bombed before Trump can admit his mistake?

Who you are is based on the experiences that have shaped your life. The good things, the bad things, you are a collection of all of it. Take away the changes you have made and the things you have learned and you will never be the person you are now.

We all screw up and make mistakes. It is what we learn from them that matters.

How would we react if Trump said “I got a little trigger happy and I didn’t mean to. I am gonna make it right with Iran and the American people.”?

It is so far from anything resembling reality that it is hard to imagine.

MAGA and the Republicans, they are all stuck in the same quagmire Trump is in.

They go on TV daily, still blaming Joe Biden for all the problems they have caused. Because Trump cannot acknowledge a mistake, no one else can either.

What good does that do anyone? If your response is “these other guys messed it up”, then you should be able to articulate what you are doing differently and how you are fixing it.

They are basically saying that they are doing the same thing Biden did and things have gotten worse, so blame Biden for not having it fixed in the first place. Even though they are actively doing things that are making things worse and pretending nothing has changed.

You see, Jaime Lannister should never have pushed Bran from the window, but he did. He couldn’t change his action, so he changed himself. He changed his future reactions to situations. He grew as a person and tried to be better. He was not the same man from the first season.

Now, how much has Trump changed in more than ten years? Absolutely zero. He is the same pathetic moron who started his political career by attacking Obama for his birth certificate, a blatantly proveable lie.

He will never learn. He will never grow. He is 80 years old and he has never once admitted he was wrong about anything.

• Dr. C