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I think very highly of Churchill and yes, I would also consider myself a “fanboy” of his. But I also recognize, and always have once I learned about him, he was a flawed man.

But all his flaws also contributed to the man he was. And that is, I believe, true for every single one of us. And I don’t see that as a disqualifying thing for Churchill’s greatness.

I have often viewed General George S. Patton the same way. He had his flaws as well. But those flaws are also what made him a great man.

We all have flaws. In some people, those flaws end up making them evil. In other people, those flaws contribute towards making them who they are, and great.

And there are those of us who are neither evil nor great, but who we are is not just determined by the good and constructive things we do. The mistakes and bad things we have done or experienced also factor into it. If we are lucky, we try to learn from them or adjust to them if we cannot shake those bad traits off.

If we are unlucky, they control us and influence in a bad way who we end up being. For many out there, it can be a touch and go thing, and I think we all have seen people who are ruled by their flaws, and end up badly for themselves and those around them.

Churchill was so eccentric in some respects I have no doubt there are people who thought him mad.

(I will try to relate something I read many years ago, I may have the details wrong, but the overall flavor is, I think, correct) I read an account one time of a meeting where some British inventor was proposing some substance as armor of some kind (I think it was right before D-Day, but I could be wrong, it was a long time ago) and was giving a demonstration of the substance to a small group of men (maybe six or seven?) were high profile, Churchill, top Generals and such, and they had been having drinks before the demonstration at lunch or something.

When the guy put on the demonstration, he was so enthusiastic that he pulled out a pistol and handed it to Churchill who was standing near the block of material, and said something like “Shoot it! You can see for yourself how well it can protect against gunfire!” So Churchill, having a few drinks in him and with the similarly inebriated approval of the others, immediately pointed the weapon and fired it at the material!

It ricocheted all over the room, and in accounts of it people say it was a miracle none of those high profile people were injured or killed.

When I read that, I remember clearly visualizing the scene in my mind and thinking (based on what I then knew of Churchill) “Yeah. I could see that.”

The point is: for me, there was something so human and relatable to me in that rashness that it made me identify more directly with Churchill than otherwise I might have done. Same for Patton.

And same for Trump.