Donald Trump: Not Exactly A Presidential President

American Presidents are supposed to be well spoken, articulate, magnanimous and carry themselves with a grace that makes them look natural on the cover of TIME magazine or standing next to the Queen of England.  They’re supposed to get along with the Washington press corps, titans of industry and play their role in the Kabuki theater of Washington DC power where Congress, the Executive Branch and the bureaucracy play their assigned roles and business continues largely unchanged from one administration to the next.

None of that applies to Donald Trump. He’s brash.  He’s arrogant.  He’s a narcissist.  He’s petty.  He’s vindictive.  He makes rash decisions and somehow is never responsible for stumbles that land at his doorstep, even when he’s the guy in charge… Donald Trump is practically no one’s idea of what Americans would traditionally call “Presidential”. 

Barack Obama on the other hand was the consummate “Presidential” president.  He was well spoken, genial, and got along well with the media, bureaucrats and foreign leaders.  Barack Obama, by all accounts carried the imprimatur “Presidential” quite well.  It was the actual presidenting that he was so bad at, which demonstrates with crystal clarity that the perception of one’s abilities and one’s actual abilities are not the same thing…

Donald Trump was a bull in a china shop of a President.  Or at least that’s the way the media, Democrats, academia, Hollywood and establishment Republicans painted him.  And that’s the key to understanding Donald Trump... knowing him through his enemies.  Voltaire said:  “I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it." That prayer very much applies to Donald Trump.  His enemies are ridiculous.  They are failures at virtually everything they touch.  From destroying American schools and cities and the military, Democrats have made themselves beyond ridiculous in the eyes of anyone other than their fellow travelers.  Journalists have destroyed journalism as the majority of the media in the United States today is nothing more than a mouthpiece for Democrat talking points.  And higher education has become a cartoon into itself, with its focus on safe spaces for sparing the feelings of little snowflake rather than preparing young adults for the real world that exists beyond their ivory towers.  

And the mortar that keeps all of that ridiculousness and more together is the regulatory state.  The regulatory state is the font from which most power in the United States flows.  The power to regulate gives politicians the power to print money… both for themselves and their friends.  There’s a reason 7 of the 10 richest counties in America – out of over 3,100 counties – are located in the DC metro area.  From cushy government jobs to high paying lobbying gigs to flashy TV news hosting positions to bylines at self important newspapers, wielding power or influencing it or reporting on it is what makes Washington so desirable.  A perfect example of that was on display when hundreds of USDA employees decided to quit their jobs in DC rather than move out into the heartland when the Trump administration decided to place offices where regulators and researchers would be closer to the farms and farmers within their purview. They quit because they knew that Washington is where the power is, where the money is, where the influence is and where the prestige is. 

President Trump knew that that regulatory state was a rope around the neck of freedom, prosperity and America.  That’s why he needed to be vilified, attacked and eventually stopped.  Many people ask how some Republicans could stand by and watch as the president from their own party was attacked and disparaged as Donald Trump was. The answer is simple, establishment Republicans don’t really care about party, don’t care about effective government, and don’t care about their constituent's rights.  No, they care about only one thing:  Power.  If they could be out of office and watch government spending and influence slashed vs. be in office and watch government power grow, they would choose the latter every single time.  Go along with Democrats and they get to keep their invitations to Georgetown parties, their sponsored junkets to exotic and sophisticated locales, their regular Sunday morning talk show slots, cushy jobs for their families and of course the promise of a lucrative parachute if they ever find themselves defeated. Rein in government?  "No chance!"

It was into this well oiled machine of money, power and favors that Donald Trump sought to throw a wrench.  It was this “You scratch my back I scratch yours” Rube Goldberg government contraption that Donald Trump sought to overturn.  It was this "Go along to get along" understanding where Washington thrives by stealing citizen’s money and freedom that Donald Trump sought to expose.  And that is why he had to go.

Donald Trump opened up a schism in the United States unlike anything we’ve seen in 150 years.  He didn't do it by demonizing black people or brown people or Muslims or gays or soldiers or any of the other things the cabal of Democrats, media, and Never Trumper Republicans said.  In reality, Donald created a schism by reminding Americans that the nation is indeed blessed, that while flawed, America is the greatest nation in history and that fundamentally, Americans and America are good.  Donald Trump put the spotlight on working Americans… on factory workers and entrepreneurs and problem solvers rather than on the self important politicians and media personalities. This schism is based on power, not race.  

In four years Donald Trump did for America what he did forWollman Rink 30 years before.  After years of failure and millions of dollars wasted by the city government on the Central Park skating rink, Donald Trump renovated and opened the rink in a matter of months and under budget. In a similar way, after years of disparagement, Donald Trump made America great again. He showed that Americans that they could get back to work. That they could grow jobs and drive prosperity.  That they could lead on the world stage by embracing, not apologizing for, American values.  In other words, Donald Trump showed America that Americans can still accomplish great things, drove home the idea that it was the American people that made the country great, it was the ideas the Founding Fathers left us that made America great and it was our freedom and opportunity that made America great.  But most dangerously of all, Donald Trump reminded Americans that America’s greatness and prosperity do not come from government, they exist despite government.  And that could simply not be tolerated by the swamp, hence the four years of roadblocks, vilification and eventually a stolen election.  

Is Donald Trump a politically dead canary at the bottom of the American mineshaft of freedom or is he a phoenix ready to soar once again and lead the nation to even further greatness?  Who knows? Even today, after Trump emerged from his second impeachment victory his ridiculous enemies are seeking to bar him from Arlington, ban his name from schools and post offices and demonize, stigmatize and marginalize his supporters.  

Whatever Donald Trump’s future, one thing is for certain, his legacy is alive and well in the hearts of the 75 million American voters who remember a time when patriotism was a virtue, who understand that it’s possible for a nation to be flawed but fundamentally good, and perhaps most of all, recognize that America is the land of opportunity for every single person.  He may not be what the elite consider a very Presidential President, but he reminded us that it’s our people who make America great, our Constitution that makes her great and our freedoms that make her great despite the swamp's assertion to the contrary. He stood up and unabashedly proclaimed that America was and is a good nation, a great nation, and a force for good... and we believed him.  Whatever he chooses to do, we proudly carry the American flag and enthusiastically support his MAGA agenda... and we're not going anywhere.  

Book Burning, Sticks & Stones and the Democrats' Praetorian Guard

Back in 2008 when Barack Obama was running for the presidency I was virulently opposed to his candidacy. I was not a huge fan of John McCain, but given the two I voted for McCain. McCain was a war hero by any stretch. Not only did he fight for his country and survive five long years in the Hanoi Hilton, but when given the opportunity to leave before others who’d been there longer because the North Vietnamese wanted to curry favor with his father, he refused. I disagreed with much of what McCain did as a Senator, but I knew he had America’s best interests at heart, something I never felt Barack Obama did. When Romney ran my reservations about him were similar to those about McCain, but once again I voted GOP.

I disagreed with Barack Obama on almost everything over the course of his eight years. From Obamacare to DACA to GM to DADT to virtually everything having to do with race relations. I disagreed with his trading for Beau Burgdahl, his pardon of Chelsea Manning and his commutation of the sentence of FLAN terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera. I disagreed with his signing the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iran deal and his servile posture towards China for their designs on the South China Sea, among other things. I disagreed with his policies on housing, on education and on energy. Essentially, there was nothing I agreed with Barack Obama on. He could have been Chinese or Italian or Jewish or Klingon… I didn’t care, I thought everything he was doing was simply wrong.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2008… I apparently had magically transformed into a racist. Who knew? With the rise of the Tea Party movement, I, along with anyone who disagreed with the first black President of the United States was branded a racist. Somehow, because Barack Obama was black, my fundamental differences with “mainstream” Democrat policies made me a racist. Nevermind that I would have disagreed with the exact same policies had they been proffered by Joe Biden or John Kerry or Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton or anyone else. No, suddenly it’s wasn’t my opinions or my actions that made me a racist, but simply the fact that I opposed the policies of a black president. Unimportant is the fact that I believe the smartest man in America and one of the most admirable human beings I’m familiar with is Thomas Sowell, a black man. Unimportant is the fact that I think Justice Thomas is easily one of the most brilliant men ever to sit on the Supreme Court. Unimportant is the fact that one of the most respected men in my life personally was a black man. I disagreed with Barack Obama’s policies and therefore I was a racist…

If that sounds strange, it should. Because words actually mean things. When they stop meaning things then we lose our foundation for a coherent society. And that is exactly what is going on today with the Democrat party. Disagree on policy? You’re a racist. Support Donald Trump? You’re a cultist. Assert election fraud? Suddenly you’re a terrorist.

Democrats have taken to defining their political opponents not only as the enemy, but they are using the English language as a tool to literally destroy the United States. Racist actually means something. According to Webster, it means this: A belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. That is a pretty specific definition, and it’s one that likely very few Americans actually believe and act on. There are indeed racists among us, but until 2008 racism was a tiny problem in America. Hate crimes had plummeted over the 20th century to become almost nonexistent by the dawn of the new millennia. Then came 2008, 2016 and finally 2020.

From “The police acted stupidly” to Kaepernick to Ferguson, America took a giant step backward in race relations during the presidency of Barack Obama… but the worst was yet to come. Donald Trump added an entirely different element to the storm. He’s a guy who seems to have no filter and often insulted delicate snowflakes with language that often sounded more like what you’d hear in a locker room or on the factory floor of a steel mill rather than on a dais at the UN. But more than his words, it was his ideas that were abhorrent to Democrats and establishment Republicans alike: Get the government out of people’s lives. Reduce government power! Allow citizens to be free and keep more of their own money. Stop endless wars. Those words are Kryptonite to career government apparatchiks, contractors and the universe of sycophantic lobbyist and media pilot fish that swim around them and feast on their scraps.

And so today we find that Democrats, having fraudulently eliminated the single biggest threat to the leviathan of government power in a century, have decided to eliminate all potential for a resurrection of any such threats. Not only is the left seeking to bar Donald Trump from ever running again, they are seeking to demonize and ostracize his supporters… fully half the population of the United States. How? Language. You’re labeled a racist or a terrorist or a fascist on social media, where friends, friends of friends and potential employers can see. (That should help you getting your next job.) Most pernicious of all is the assertion that Trump supporters are “terrorists”. The terrorist designation used to be reserved for people who blow up planes, kill innocent people in discos or set fire to churches or synagogues. Today however that is no longer the case. Simply stating that you believe the Democrats stole the 2020 election is sufficient to get you labeled as such. Stating you support Donald Trump is sufficient. And voicing support for Congress to investigate anomalies in the election is apparently sufficient.

This wouldn’t be a catastrophic problem if it was limited to social media because you can always leave the platforms or try and build another… but, being designated a terrorist and landing on a government watchlist has enormous consequences for actual people, from the inability to fly to risking the custody of your children to your ability to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights.

Make no mistake, that is exactly where we are headed and exactly what they want. Democrats discussed throwing out of Congress members who supported the president in his calls for a review of the election. They’ve talked about making lists of his supporters and even “reprogramming” white supremacists, which is what all Trump supporters apparently are. And based on this fiction of widespread “white supremacism” the Biden administration is “standing down” the American military in order for commanders to address “extremism” in its ranks… So essentially one political party is seeking to eliminate all supporters of their opposition from within the ranks of the military – despite soldiers taking an oath to uphold the Constitution, not a man or party – so that should they call on the military to support their purges, they will face less resistance from soldiers who understand the Posse Comitatus Act and who might be adverse to raising their weapons against law abiding American citizens. The Democrats are essentially using the fiction of Trump supporters being terrorists to craft the military into a Praetorian Guard for use against the American people when and if necessary. Anyone with a familiarity with the Roman Empire understands why that might not be conducive to a free society.

Supplementing all of the machinations within the government is the takeover of the town square, Vis-à-vis the blocking of Trump and his supporters from social media platforms, banking or even being tracked.  And with the cancel culture seeking to keep Trump supporters out of colleges, jobs, and the quashing of publishing contracts you have the modern equivalent of book burning. What’s more, the authors, readers and supporters of such unapproved content will be figuratively stoned in the public square until they surrender their minds to the majority.

And so here we are, in February 2021, two weeks after Joe Biden and the Democrats took total control of Washington and on the eve of an Impeachment trial so unconstitutional it would be laughable if it were not so indicative of what it foretells for freedom. The goal of the Democrats is to eviscerate any opposition and that starts with the man who inspired 75 million Americans to seek to Make America Great Again.

Regardless of the outcome of the Impeachment trial, the die has been cast, and it is indeed dark. The Democrats seek complete control of the American government, unlimited authority over every aspect of American life and most of all, total domination of the American people. They will of course use their traditional tools of regulation and taxation, but it’s not enough. They have new tools: name calling, book burning, intellectual fascism and focusing of the military on domestic enemies. Those policies didn’t end particularly well in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, and I wouldn’t expect them to end well here either.