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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