My Political Blog:
Points to Ponder, &
Other Bits & Pieces...
Points to Ponder, &
Other Bits & Pieces...
If I may, I'd like to confess my primary reservation about Donald Trump during the primary and caucus season. And, what I thought about him prior to Election Day on November 8, 2016.
I thought him just as narcissistic and thuggish as Barack Obama. Worse, I really had a hard time interacting with some of Trump's supporters. Why? Chiefly because I interpreted their enthusiastic support for Trump as something along the lines of, "Sure, he's a thug. But he's OUR thug." Fast forward to today. I must confess that I could not have been more wrong about Trump and his supporters. Trump is not a thug. He is, however, brash. He is braggadocios. He tweets with the self-control of an undisciplined teenager. But here's the rub: he has also demonstrated a great deal of maturity, political savvy, and humility. Certainly not always. But enough to count. I won't take the time to substantiate my previous statement. Those who agree already know why I can make that assertion. Those who disagree, in my experience, won't believe whatever substantiation I could provide (and many of them will instead sneeringly deem it "fake news" or "alternative reality" or some such other intellectually lazy and dismissive term). So instead of substantiating my statement above, I'd like to move on to why I wrote this blog post in the first place. I have just recently come to the conclusion that President Trump is probably the only man who can win against the Democrats and the other collectivist/progressivist/statist forces lined up to oppose him, including Ruling Class Republicans. Consider how George W. Bush handled the volcanic hostility vomited his way during his two terms as President. In a word, he didn't. By and large President George W. Bush, out of respect for the Office of the President, did not "get down into the gutter." Bush didn't join the Democrats, and their fellow travelers posing as journalists, in wallowing in the gutter. As such, Bush allowed The Ruling Class Media to occupy--no, to dominate--the field of political battle. Consequently, The Ruling Class Media, in lock step with its fellow travelers in the Democrat Party, was able to promote and disseminate its own (false) narratives almost entirely without challenge from President Bush. Trump won't follow in Bush's footsteps. Trump suffers no illusions about what it takes to take on the Democrats and the Ruling Class Media (RCM). If the RCM or its lock-step allies in the Democrat Party step on Trump's toes, he calls them on it. He won't even hesitate to step on their tender toes if the situation calls for it. "A lie will travel twice around the world before the truth can make it half-way out the door." Well, much as I profoundly dislike President Trump's habit of tweeting, I have to concede that he tweets pretty much in self-defense: his tweets, for all their clumsiness, shove some truth out the door...and sometimes do so before the Democrats and their lock-step allies in the RCM can promote their twisted narratives around the globe. Trump counters the Democrats' lies before these lies can more firmly take root. Sure, the lies still germinate and take root. But unlike during the George W. Bush years, Trump actually pulls up some of these germinating weeds before they can take over the field. Which is why a number of Democrats, many members of the RCM, and a non-trivial number of other Left-leaning groups have behaved in some ways that may be characterized as unhinged. Trump is simply not cowed by the Leftist bullying that previously kept Republicans in line. This drives Leftists to distraction. Bottom line, Trump, like Nixon, is not a perfect President. Far, far from it. But just as it took a Nixon to go to Communist China, perhaps it took a Donald Trump to go to collectivist Washington, DC. Time will tell, won't it? |
AuthorI am a happily married middle-aged man who served his country as a nuclear-trained US Navy sailor during the peacetime years of the late 1980s. I re-entered civilian life before the First Gulf War. Though I trained for war as part of my military duties, I saw no combat during my service. War games were as close to combat, and its perils, that I ever got. Archives
July 2017
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