Over the course of the past two years, I have often written about my disdain for the Trump personality. Of the 16 candidates in the Republican primary, he was my 17th choice. I have constantly called him out for his pugnacious personality, his sophomoric name-calling and the too frequent bending the truth to the breaking point over matters that seemed rather inconsequential.
At the time of the election, I was among the 70 percent of Americans who thought the nation was moving in the wrong direction. I saw danger in turning the Supreme Court – and all the lower federal courts – into activist judicial systems more likely to make law than interpret it. As a pro-lifer, I was reasonably convinced that Trump was sincere in his anti-abortion campaign statements. I also believed that for all his faults, he would restore the United States to international leadership.
When faced with the possibility of the continuation of the autocratic biggovernment and too often failed liberalism that had consumed the Democratic Party, I crossed my fingers, held my nose and voted for Trump. It was not because of his flamboyance or thuggish antics, but despite them.
Since that time, I have been pleasantly surprised by his devotion to sound conservative policies. I felt my vote was more than vindicated with his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Even though the Republicans lacked the resolve to end Obamacare, I was happy to see the end of the mandate that forced so many young people into meaningless coverage at high prices. His toughness and directness in foreign policy – whether with our NATO allies, the Arab states, North Korea, China and, yes, even Russia – were beginning to show positive results for America. Serious de-regulation was long overdue.
My vote for Trump was based on what I believed – and still believe – to have been a definite benefit in ending the Democrat’s lies about wanting to secure our borders while they did nothing to achieve that end. For some the wall may be a specific promise. For me it was a metaphor for real border security and that is all I wanted – all that any of us should want.
Even on policy, I do not surrender my conservative beliefs for partisan political expediency. I still believe we should have stayed in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and I oppose the imposition of broad-based tariffs – and hope that Trump’s rhetoric on the subject is only negotiating strategy as we have seen in almost all other areas of public negotiation.
To me, my evaluation of the Trump presidency was like my report card at St. Philomena’s grade school, as we called it in those days. It was a large folded manila-colored card with my grades on the left panel and an assessment of my behavior on the right — you know, the old “plays well with others” as the cliché example. My grades were established by my objective academics and not influenced by any shortfalls in character.
Though there can be a grey area connecting presidential personality and performance, it is not the end all and be all as the #NeverTrump critics would have us believe. I do believe Trump could be even more effective if he were to do a better job of protecting his credibility by being less imprudent and mendacious in his personal comments and tweets.
By demeanor and professional necessity, I have always tried to maintain a level of objectivity in my analyses. It has served my clients and me very well over many years. In today’s political environment, however, objectivity is not allowed. One must be “All In,” as the MSNBC show title demands, or all out.
In judging the feedback I receive on social media, by email or in public presentations, there is a hateful contempt for any opinion or analysis that does not comport to a full-fledged prosecutorial brief of the Trump administration. The wrath of the left and an increasing corrupt media allows for no consideration of any positive actions or outcomes by Trump. To them he is that litany of pejoratives they spew at every opportunity. Based on their claims, there can be no one short of the Devil him or herself (succumbing to political correctness here) who could be more evil.
As if the personal character assassination and slander that hides behind the mask of analysis were not enough. The strident #NeverTrump constituency spreads partisan-based mischaracterizations over those who show any – and I mean any – consideration of Trump on any subject. As a person who has spent a lifetime advancing the causes of the black community, with a few awards as testimony, having spent 40-plus years raising a black daughter and currently completing a book to push back against institutional racism, I am routinely called a racist for any policy analysis that is not condemnatory of Trump – even if the subject has nothing to do with race issues. All the pejoratives leveled against Trump are automatically transferred to those who dare say anything positive or refuse to accept the Trump hater’s darkest accusations – whether true or not. If you do not volunteer as a fully committed resistance fighter against Trump, et al., you are an enemy of the state.
We have come to expect the ever presence of hardcore partisanship between those who make political partisanship their main motivation. Just as there are #NeverTrump haters on the margins of our society, so there are Trumpsters whose adoration of the man rises to the level of canonization. Both are wrong, and both should be ignored – and they would be if it were not for the fact that the most important arbiter in the court of public opinion, the press, had not closed ranks with the extremists on the left. They are not, as they claim, “only doing their job.” They have become fully engaged as advocates of the far left and the prosecutors of all that is Trump – and by association all that is Republican and conservative.
Make no mistake, the attack on Trump’s personal flaws is a proxy war on his political policies. It is a war on conservative federal judges, on the sanctity of unborn life, on de-regulation, on limiting the monstrous federal government, on confiscatory taxes, on legal immigration, international leadership and, more specifically, a war on my values.
Each morning as I cruise through the news reports I no longer see journalism. I see panels of prosecutors using selective and often disinformation to mount an incessant attack not only on the current administration, but on me by proxy. Their analyses of events are more jaded than plausible. They present or ignore facts based on preconceived narratives. They ignore substantive issues to dwell on petty matters – creating those proverbial mendacious mountains out of relatively meaningless molehills.
The possibility of firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller is but one example. Despite repeated assurances by the White House that Mueller will not be fired, the media has resurrected that bogus story month after month – even creating secondary non-news news stories such as the proposed legislation to stop the firing that has not happened and is not likely to happen. Another is the evergreen reports of the firing or resignation of Chief of Staff John Kelly. Then there are the totally false stories questioning Trump’s physical and mental wellbeing despite actual medical test reports that establish the President is in rather good health. Those who meet with Trump – from citizens to heads of state – all conform to his mental and physical acuity.
What the media has done is constructed a Kabuki Theater of mythological narratives designed to create political illusions with a singular purpose. Rather than doing fair reporting of relevant facts, the Fourth Estate is colluding with the left-wing Democratic Party to influence public opinion. Rather than to inform, the media is too obviously committed to the specific goals of removing Trump from office, electing a Democrat Congress in 2018 and restoring a Democrat to the presidency in 2020.
If that is the mission of the media, it is not easy to take the time to objectively report on the Trump administration in terms of the all-important policies. The fact that Trump has his faults, and that they are untraditionally big ones, does not justify the reckless disregard for journalistic integrity that has undermined the appropriate and necessary role of a free press in a democratic society. It is because they are so critical to the process that their corruption is so damaging.
If the press continues to become more partisan – supplanting news with greater propaganda — than they already have, we may find that the Fourth Estate is more divisive and of greater threat to the Republic than even wildest flaws of the Trump administration.
Thank you for proving you are not a politician but a mind that is not just an ornament or concession.
You have earned my respect and hopefully others will realize such.
You deserve to follow in our President’s steps and your steps will not be erased by the waters like his will not.
With deepest respect,
Walter A. Kac
Puffery is not lying but rather enthusiastic promoter. The people are better off with an economy that is gaining strength.
He is a man who doesn’t hide behind platitudes, and as I see it someone who takes a principled stand on issues.
Smart and tough, shoving the country towards the political center. We the people of the United States of AMERICA have a champion. Think of what he had accomplished despite the opposition from all corners.
Much more needs to be done before we can be sure of not regressing back to the swamp.
Wow I finally hear someone speak with some clarity about the man elected to be our president. He is not a politician, thank god, and doesn’t play political games. I believe he wants to do GOOD and not be pushed around by press and/or Democrats. We had an election and I think a true American would support him and do what’s best for our country. I can’t believe how toxic the press ca be.
Thoroughly enjoyed your article! It voices my feelings and thoughts precisely in regards to Trump, Thank you!
Hear! Hear!
Well said.
Thank you. I completely agree with you and your fair analysis. I pray continually that President Trump will tone down the name calling for a more diplomatic approach to dealing with his enemies. However, I believe he is THE president for such a time as this and I cannot imagine anyone else standing up under the onslaught of attacks he endures without stop. He is an amazing man with the kind of courage not seen in the Republican Party for a long, long time and in spite of his quirks, I truly admire Donald Trump.
I think this needs to be published in a very widespread way. I know that is difficult because of our biased MSM. I feel exactly the same as this article spells it out. I know Trump is not a humble well spoken personable man. Nonetheles, he has done so many RIGHT things for this country. He has put up with some of the most horrible press and treatment by liberals. Most would just leave. One has to admire that he keeps on fighting to do what this country needs. No, I do not like his flawed personality and total lack of humility, but as a citizen of this country I think very highly of the job that he is doing. In my lifetime no other President has faced more adversity from liberals and media. I almost hate to say it, but I think he has done more for our country than any other President in my lifetime. Someone had to bring trade under control, someone has to bring immigration under control, someone has to make NATO countries pay their share, some has to sto years and years of Americans fighting on foreign soil. The list goes on and on. You go Trump. Now Americans need to help him.
This country is being torn apart by the media and the education system which which has been brainwashed by the progressives since the 1880s. And the adherents are behaving just like the communists and the Nazis as they jockeyed for world control in the 19th and early 20 the century.
Well written.
You are absolutely right! God bless President Trump and scourge the corrupt politicians and journalists in this country.
Wonderfully written and dead on the money… this could have come from my very own brain. I would only add that the effectiveness of this misinformation (as a former journalism major, I feel that dissemination of false information, “fake news,” is INDEED the enemy of the people — the press in general is not, but when purveying untruth, they are) on a public mentally “softened up” by years of leftist academia is like throwing bacteria on somebody with a compromised immune system.
Perfectly on the money
He sure said a lot to what the left and the media think about Trump. Many of those on the right feel the same way he does. It’s hypocritical that he barely mentions negativity about the right or criticize their media because that is what he represents. He talked about people who, he agrees with mainly Trump and the right. He sounds like the rest of his side and didn’t have to say as much as he did. He has chosen to side with someone who is going to destroy Democratic institutions and said it from the beginning and you are fighting against the people who are concerned about all Americans and trying to save our Democracy and make it better.
Well said, I don’t feel alone with my feeling. Nice to hear how I feel. Thank for your openness about Trump and what is really going on. I hope there are many of us out there that feel the same way.
Late to the party, great article. It was linked in something else I was reading.
Anyway, it’s worse 6 months later. Somebody mentioned the education system being flawed by liberals…
In AP textbooks for high schoolers – It is a “Fact” that Trump is a racist, sexist, etc. It also says he is mentally unstable. How is that for Propaganda.