Both Sides of the Nickel.

As my life proceeds within the human limits of transience, I continue to be amazed at how we are all astounded by the totally predictable consequences of our actions.  We somehow believe that we can make fairy tale statements, buy into unicorn and rainbow promises, and never have to worry about the harsh realities of the world intruding on our universe.  Such is Trump.

The idiotic and sophomoric Democratic Party and mainstream media are so obsessed with their anti-Trump agenda that they have sacrificed all of their credibility and professionalism, given up on any semblance of objectivity or pragmatism, and have become caricatures of infantile children arguing in playgrounds.  If you have any doubts about this, look at this:  https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/08/the-left-hasnt-given-up-on-kavanaugh.php.  For their parts in the ongoing farce, the Republicans have bought into Trump pretty much lock, stock, and barrel.  Of course they have; there is so much winning!  Forget that he led a lifetime of Bill Clinton-level morality prior to the Presidency (assuming it has changed since that time).  Never mind that in his corporate dealings, he has utilized the bankruptcy laws repeatedly; he is now portrayed as that towering financial genius whose swashbuckling money quests always turn out gloriously successful.  So what if he has helped to lower the civility level of political discourse to a level akin to college frat parties? And now, it is somehow normalized for him to have paid off women with whom he has had affairs; so long as he has done it “legally”.  Really?

What the heck did our Republican and Democratic Party leaders expect when they submitted to us the “least of two evils” candidates in the last presidential election?  Consider the choice…known greedy and corrupt lifetime politician versus reality TV personality and business tycoon; gosh, how could this possibly turn out badly?  And then, following up on that Solomonic offering, the national parties have continued their blood feud over the first two years of the Trump Administration.  Now, as we approach the midterms, we are once again presented with two alternate realities that are less than lustrous.  We can put the Denying Democrats in charge of the House and go through an exciting two years of impeachment drama (Clinton redux); or we can leave the Keystone Kops Republicans in charge to spend a huge amount of time and effort in deciding who their House leader will be and then falling back into their old, familiar routine of factional chaos.  Our national parties have doubled down on dumb.  Which brings us to the other side of the nickel.

For all of the madness, confusion, melodrama, personnel carousels, and bombastic rhetoric that Donald Trump has introduced to the White House, he has brought one thing that has settled a point which has been long debated.   The policy success that President Trump has realized thus far in his first term is largely attributable to the fact that he has taken an “outsider’s approach” to the Presidency.  Part of this is because his own party abandoned him and would not touch him with a ten foot pole, even after he won the election.  The other part is simply because he had no practical experience in government and could only proceed with the knowledge he held; that being of a private sector entrepreneur.  How many times over the last 30 years have we heard the mantra about how we need a fresh look in our politics; we need that certain person that comes into it from outside of it; we need that person who can take a new approach and is not indoctrinated by “politics as usual”. 

There have been a few candidates who have used this theme with some success.  But they either failed to coalesce a significant majority to accomplish anything or they turned out to be authentic flakes who were selling themselves as mavericks.  The Donald Trump phenomenon is the first time that the outsider has come onto the stage with the power, the opportunity, and most important of all…the cojones to actually do what he promised he would do.  Donald Trump is hard to take.  He is so very polarizing and stokes the fires of his haters just as much as he nourishes the appetites of his admirers.  He shows no signs whatsoever of changing his modus operandi.  But if you can somehow manage to cut through the circus that is Trump, you come face to face with the undeniable fact that he has validated the suspicion that our government was paralyzed by a lackadaisical state of funk and needed to be shook up, revitalized, and refocused on addressing some burning issues that significantly affect our nation and our lives.  

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Regardless of your political position, you have to admit that we are now addressing some of those issues.  Critical issues such as the role of America in geopolitical intrigue and all it encompasses; taxing and spending policies and the implications of income disparities; the overly complex and overpriced national health care industry; comprehensive immigration policies and the new realities of national sovereignty; and likely the most important of all: Can our two-party political system rise to the challenges it faces in governing our country in an effective and efficient manner?  Like so many choices we make in our lives, there are two sides to the Donald Trump nickel.  People have to be very careful that they don’t end up standing entirely on one side and forgetting about the other.