Trump Makes it So Damn Difficult

The last blog on this site addressed my disillusionment with our LoveTrump/HateTrump culture.  I have ripped Trump on occasion for his poor decisions, big mouth, monstrous ego, and juvenile behavior.  I have also noted that his obvious faults notwithstanding, his policies are most often on the mark and his policy instincts are pretty good.  But considering the recent uptick in some of his more boorish behavior, I must confess that it makes it so very hard for an objective person to support his Presidency.

It is understandable that given the historically-shameful treatment he has received both in his presidential campaign and thus far in his first term in the Presidency, Trump is bitter about his political opponents, spiteful in his treatment towards them, and overtly inclined towards vengeance as opposed to positive results.  After all, it has to be galling to have the Democratic House Speaker running about calling for the President to placed in prison (What is up with this bizarre lady who was elected by less than an entire county in California and behaves as if she is the emperor of some WDC Potemkin village of Democratic fantasies?).  But for heaven’s sake, at some point, the President must realize that most people understand what he has dealt with and he needs to move on.  He needs to gravitate towards a higher calling of civility, diplomacy, and civic tone.  Declare victory and move forward.  Stop ripping the scab off of the wound; it will heal and the scar will remain to serve as a proper reminder for the future.  As bad as the Democrats are looking with their ant-Trump mania, just think how much more petty they would appear if he cleaned up his act and stopped going tit-for-tat with them. 

The poisonous adversarial conflict set up by the 2016 Presidential Election has ushered in a terribly debilitating environment in our nation’s capitol.  This fact is captured quite well in a recent piece by Jonah Goldberg https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/06/donald-trump-uss-john-mccain-episode/.  I will always remember the hypocritical showboating involving Senator John McCain on the occasion of the Senate vote to repeal Obamacare.  Having campaigned in his primary and general election mainly on repealing Obamacare, McCain cast the deciding vote against repeal simply out of spite towards Trump. It was shameful and will remain as an eternal stain on an otherwise noble public career.  But without question, McCain should be honored for his military service to our nation and Trump’s disparaging comments towards that part of McCain’s life are nothing short of disgusting.  That is Trump’s stain.

What baffles me most of all is how Donald Trump can veer into the vortex and yield to his lesser angels when it is so obviously self-damaging and unnecessary.  The McCain dispute was the perfect example. There was absolutely nothing for Trump to gain by indulging his innermost child and publicly attacking McCain; even though McCain’s ego-driven narcissism fully deserved it.  During a clearly successful trip to the UK and Europe, Trump engaged in tweetstorm disputes with the mayor of London and Bette Midler.  Bette Midler…Really?   If this man could just somehow learn to focus on winning messages or policies and drop the gamesmanship, who knows what his ceiling might be?

I hold Barack Hussein Obama II to be the worst President in my lifetime and those feelings drove me to make statements about him and the Presidency of our nation that I regret.  Up until Trump, he was the most polarizing politician I had ever encountered.  He infuriated me beyond description.  But Trump, and those who oppose him, has taken this polarizing thing to a whole new level.  For all of the positive things he has accomplished and might yet accomplish, they are all diminished by his asinine behavior that so often rears its sophomoric head and continues to enable his irrational critics. 

I suppose it is mere foolishness to think that someone in the Trump circle of influence might somehow get the President off to the side and counsel him on his obvious opportunity to parlay his good policy fortunes into a higher quality personal image and even greater policy success.  The fact that this has not yet occurred by this point in his Presidential tenure makes it unlikely that it will occur in the future.  This is extremely dismaying at best. 

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Aside from the damage that Trump is contributing to the office of the President and the national political environment, there is an even greater risk to his irresponsible behavior.  The real potential for tragedy in Trump’s actions is the fact that they are so volatile and unpredictable that they might yet sabotage any chances he has towards a second term.  If his undisciplined and immature actions ultimately result in a 2020 Democratic President and Congress, then any good he might have accomplished for this country is likely to be little more than a footnote in the pages of political history.  Just as he has unwound many of the executive actions taken by his predecessor; so would a Democratic White House and Congress unwind his accomplishments.  The Donald needs to grow up, speak less, think more, and build on his achievements in a positive fashion.  Our nation needs his policies; it does not need his childish antics.  Come on Mr. President…aspire to be greater.