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.  

Donald Trump, Superman and the Suit of Kryptonite

I was skeptical when Donald Trump announced he was running for President.  I was however, by election time very much in his camp and up until January or February I thought he’d been an extraordinary president.  But this Coronavirus has changed the calculus.

Since the problem was first brought up, he hasn’t done what almost any modern President would be inclined to do… He hasn’t taken charge of or nationalized anything.  Not hospitals, not pharmaceutical companies, not healthcare manufacturers not university research labs.  He hasn’t used the power of the office to require citizens to shelter in place, nor demanded testing nor quarantine or tracking of those with the virus.  The bottom line is, he hasn’t used the power of the federal government to take charge of this crisis and impose a solution.      

Most certainly Hillary Clinton would have done so.  As would have Barack Obama and probably John McCain and even George Bush… But Donald Trump didn’t… And that’s to his credit and our good fortune.

Just as Sol Wachtler famously said "a grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what you wanted."; had virtually anybody else been in the White House during the Coronavirus pandemic, you can be certain that the Executive Branch would have usurped a vast array of powers from state and local governments, created new previously unimagined powers on the thinnest of Constitutional grounds and in turn created a plethora of new agencies with vast powers that would undoubtedly lasted far longer than the “crisis” itself.  But it wasn’t anyone else in the White House, it was Donald Trump, and he didn’t do any of those things.

He has managed this crisis almost perfectly.  It hasn’t been without problems, but he has done what an American president is supposed to do.  He utilized the Constitution and its inherent federalism to help states and governors to respond as best as they could to their particular circumstances.  He didn’t dictate, but rather, he gave assessments and information and suggestions and came to the aid of states and cities when they called.  In a word, he acted like a President in the Constitutional sense.

This is particularly notable because of the extraordinary claims experts were producing via a variety of “models” that were supposed to predict the future.  Two million or more Americans dead.  Three hundred million Americans infected.  This was the Black Death incarnate.  But Donald Trump didn’t bite.

He actually did what Presidents are supposed to do in war… take the advice of the generals, of his advisors and decide what is best for the country.  Generals are often accused of wanting to bomb the enemy into the Stone Age.  That’s usually wrong, but it is the case that a general’s job is to win a battle or a war.  That is their focus and for outsiders who don’t understand the dynamics of what the military is tasked with, the generals and admirals focus on attacking and killing or neutralizing the enemy can seem barbaric.  But it’s not.  That’s their job… but it’s the President’s policy to set policy, taking their input into consideration along with that of the State Department, the intelligence community and other players.  Generals are focused on the battlefield but the President is focused on the country and the world.

The same holds true here.  While the “experts” were looking at the worst case scenarios and  predicting Armageddon, Donald Trump was taking a 30,000 ft. perspective and trying to figure out what made sense and what didn’t, and deciding what he should do and say.  And in the process, he tried to remind the country that economics matter and jobs matter and prosperity matters, both in dollars and actual lives.  In the process, rather than taking over industries or companies, he partnered with the private sector to advance everything from manufacturing ventilators and PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) to developing testing kits to searching for drugs that help protect from the virus or treat it. And he enlisted the Navy and the Corps of Engineers to increase capacity when governors thought they needed it.  Things haven’t proceeded perfectly, but they’ve worked far better than they would have had some proto dictator with a D next to his or her name been sitting in the Oval Office. 

On the ground some governors have applied a light hand in navigating this virus while others revealed the petty autocrats within as they revel in their newfound “emergency” powers – with diktats which often ignored or even set fire to the Constitution and individual rights.  All the while the President resisted calls for the White House to “take command” and issue decrees as to how the country should deal with this virus.  While he listened to the experts, he understood they, like generals in war, are not the only voices to be heard.  The result has been a combination of daily information, regular suggestions as to how states and citizens might comport themselves, and an aggressive suspension of regulations that would have otherwise hindered potential problem solvers.

As if all of this was not enough, Donald Trump has somehow managed to shine throughout this crisis despite having spent the last four years battling the Democrats, Never Trumper “Republicans” and the media on a daily basis. From tax evasion to being paranoid about wiretapping to removing MLK’s bust from the Oval Office to Mike Flynn to Michael Cohen to the 25^th Amendment & incapacity to kids in cages to being a racist to simple incompetence to the Emoluments Clause to the Russian Collusion hoax to the Ukraine hoax to impeachment to claims that he ignored warnings of the coming Coronavirus, the last four years have been an unrelenting hail of vicious attacks.  I can’t help but wonder how most of us would fare if we had to deal with such abuse every day of our lives, and had it broadcast to the world to boot!

Yet somehow, in the face of these withering daily assaults coming from every direction, Donald Trump has not only managed to largely keep his cool, but he’s been able to be an extraordinarily effective president the entire time, from bringing the economy back to recalculating the Judiciary to exiting the absurd Paris climate agreement and the preposterous Iran nuclear arms deal to streamlining bureaucracy to rebuilding the military.  He’s not been perfect, nor has he always kept his cool, but somehow, in the face of endless, pernicious attacks from all sides, Donald Trump has gotten up every day and done his job in leading the American people and the nation.  The equivalent, I think, would be Superman spending 4 years saving the world despite his enemies having clothed him in a suit of Kryptonite from which he could not escape. 

Donald Trump is neither perfect nor warm and fuzzy, but neither is what American needed in 2016 and is not what it needs today.  We need a leader who not only articulates a road ahead that allows Americans to get back to doing what we do best, which is drive freedom and prosperity, but do so in a way that minimizes the yoke of the bureaucratic apparatus built by generations of a swamp culture.  Just as the Civil War gave Lincoln an opportunity to rise to a level few imagined he could, the Coronavirus may give Trump the opportunity to demonstrate leadership that will create his legacy despite the incessant attempts to damage and defame him.  Perhaps 100 years from now we’ll see his visage on Mount Rushmore.