Thursday, April 11, 2019

Trump-haters and Obama-haters



      The other day I came across this article entitled "Trump's mental condition seems to be getting worse".  It was written by Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and academic at Yale University, and the author of at least one other anti-Trump book.  

      As I read the article, the foremost question in my mind was NOT Trump's mental state (although granted, the question itself is indeed relevant).  But actually, my biggest question was:  what political axe is Bandy Lee grinding?  Is she really and truly trying to analyze Trump from a neutral, objective perspective - or was the conclusion established before a single word was written?  If I had to make an educated guess, I would probably go with the latter hypothesis.

     According to this article on BookRiot, over 50 books about Trump and his presidency have been published - so far.  Most of them, unsurprisingly, put the man in, shall we say, a negative light.  The author notes that the Trump phenomena has become a new literary genre in and of itself!

      At the opposite end of the spectrum lies Fox News and conservative talk radio, dominated by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.  According to them, Trump is The Greatest President Ever, and all this negativity that we read in the news and all those books mentioned above is just leftist-liberal drivel and fake news propaganda.  And former president Obama, of course, was the Devil incarnate himself.

      Which side is correct, the Trump-haters or the Obama-haters? 

      The answer is: they're both wrong.  Which brings me to my biggest lament:  whatever happened to good ole' fashioned objective reporting?  Every time I hear or read something pro-Trump or anti-Trump, why must I first research the author's biography?

     Now it's no secret that I am no fan of Trump.  I stand by my assertion that he is an immature, egotistical, semi-literate, belligerent, insecure, dishonest, lazy, thin-skinned, undisciplined, narcissistic, philandering brat who has no business whatsoever occupying the Office of the President.  However, the above character analysis was derived objectively, after observing the man in action for the past two years.  From a purely policy and issue-oriented perspective, I agree with SOME of the things Trump has done.  On the economic side, he has reduced a handful of regulatory restraints on business - although of course he could have gone much further.  How many agencies, departments, or bureaus has he actually abolished?  Can you name one single major piece of legislation he has eliminated?  And what about government spending; has it gone up, or down, since he took office?  Answer:  up.  A LOT.

      On the military and foreign policy side, he PROPOSED getting U.S. troops out of some overseas quagmires such as Afghanistan and Syria, and PROPOSED getting the U.S. out of NATO.  Unfortunately, he caved in to the warhawk neocon Republicans, so nothing changed there.  Is that amazing leadership or what?

      But under his tenure, in addition to massive spending increases, we've also seen stifling trade tariffs, and a month-long government shutdown.  And draconian anti-immigration policies.  And in yet another of his temper-tantrum tirades, he vowed to SHUT DOWN the Mexican border, for gosh sakes.  Yes, the economy and the stock market are up and unemployment is down, but exactly what has Trump done to cause this?  No, not the tax cut, because a tax cut without a corresponding spending cut accomplishes nothing.   Don't expect an intelligent answer to this question from his hard-core supporters.

      For me personally, the most profound effect of his Presidency is how I view the importance of personal traits versus policy.  In my pre-Trump days, all I cared about was issues, policy, and philosophy.  Spare me the trivial details about a candidate's personal life, I would say.  Remember when Gary Hart was running for the Democratic nomination in 1988?  Not that I was a Gary Hart supporter, but it was absurd that he had to drop out because he, a married man, was caught fooling around with another hottie aboard his yacht.  Anyway, along comes Trump, and it made re-think my attitudes about politicians' personal qualities.  The cold hard facts are that he is a disgrace and an embarrassment, and it makes the entire nation, and those of us who call America home, look like morons for electing this moron.

      Obama, in contrast, was a reasonably good statesman.  He was thoughtful and respectful, a good husband and family man, and he didn't go around throwing temper tantrums and tweeting insults in ALL CAPS.  I applaud him for trying to normalize relations with Cuba - much to the disdain of the neocon warhawks.  But the rest of his policies were all bunk.  His signature legislation, the idiotic Affordable Care Act, did absolutely nothing to actually make healthcare affordable, and was just one step in the direction of total socialization of the medical industry.  But though he's long gone from office, the villainization continues.

     Trump promised to abolish Obamacare on Day One of his presidency.  With both houses of Congress controlled by Republicans, that should have been a slam dunk.  But the Trump haters rip him up for promising to do so, while the Obama-haters glorify him for it.

     Sadly, it's still true today as ever before:  Where you stand depends on where you sit.


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