Once More, unto the Breach!

US President Donald Trump gestures as he delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting on January 26, 2018 in Davos.

I don’t write to alienate readers, although I no doubt have unwittingly accomplished that feat innumerable times. Today’s post will inevitably elicit gags from some. So be it, as it must be said.

Nary a day goes by when I don’t hear or see someone I know saying something like “I cannot support Trump because he is (you choose how many adjectives you wish to apply) boorish, petulant, childish, perverted, dismissive, racist, inconsiderate, chauvinistic, embarrassing, ignorant, obnoxious, stupid, illiterate, hawkish, naive, irresponsible, dangerous, unfaithful, caddish, and disgusting.” Did I leave anything out?

And now, unto the breach! First, those of you who have nodded “yes” in agreement to one, two, or several of those Trumpian word associations, (and I would be one such person) you must ask yourselves these questions: Do I know Donald Trump personally? How much of what I think about him is formed by what I have seen and heard via tv and social media? Am I being objective? Am I even trying to be objective? Do I actually have the slightest inclination to be objective?

You could respond by saying “Look, if it looks like a skunk, walks like a skunk, and smells like a skunk, it’s a skunk, dammit!” This is a valid point, but only to a degree. And here’s the rub: the vast majority of the vitriol about Mr. Trump is drivel. That’s right, and that’s when some of you start to get offended. You see, we don’t have to love our President. He or she (just going to say “he” now, but maybe I should say “ze”?–nah–) doesn’t have to be someone we want to invite to dinner. While we would prefer to admire our President, we don’t have to. And while we would love our President to be a behavioral role model for future generations, President Clinton let that genie out of the bottle twenty years ago. 

The crux of the matter is that what we need  is a stronger, more economically stable America. And while there are a lot of question marks about what the future holds in store for us, we have made more progress toward a stronger, more stable America in the past year than we did in the prior eight. Let’s cut to the chase; it’s time to put country before personality.  Trump is a jerk. I’ll give you that. (He is a New Yorker, so he did get a head start on that front.) But right now, I don’t care. You see:

–I care about our country.

–I care about job creation and economic hope for the future.

–I care about a resurgent middle class.

–I care about deregulation, freeing businesses to hire more people and get more done.

–I care about the need to craft a  sensible immigration policy, and enforcing US laws that already exist.

–I care about crushing ISIS and a resurgent Al Qaeda.

–I care about being able to say “Islamic Terrorist” and not be branded a racist.

–I care about putting justices on the Supreme Court who are committed to interpreting Constitutional intent, not rewriting law to subvert the Constitution into a personal and contextual progressive view of what it should mean in today’s world.

I could go on. The point here is that on all of my caring points above, the Trump administration has helped our country. Republican policies are being implemented and our prospects at home and abroad are stronger than they have been in years.  Could President Trump screw it all up? Of course he could. There are any number of looming decisions that may threaten our current rebound toward strength and prosperity. Blithely ripping up NAFTA is a good example of what could go wrong. However, as we sit here today we have heard a lot of rhetoric, but one year into this administration, no actual actions have been taken other than those which are positive for our economy and people.

If you want to keep disliking the man, it is your prerogative. He will no doubt continue to give you some ammo! But don’t take Lazy Lane en route to perpetual disdain. If nothing else, take some time to dig deeper than what the main stream media wants you to see and hear.  I think this exchange four days ago with General McMaster provides a nice glimpse into the gap between today’s biased news and actual reality on the issue of human rights. Click here to view.

To all y’all who simply hate the man, I am not the guy who will try to change your minds. I am the guy, however, who will implore you to separate the man from the mission. The mission is being accomplished, and we are a better country for it. Its way too early to write Donald Trump’s history, but if it had to be written today, he would be remembered as a horse’s ass who got great things done for his country. As I said, I don’t need to have dinner with the man, but I’ll embrace what he is doing to improve and secure Americans’ lives from sea to shining sea.

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