I haven’t written about this administration in a while. I haven’t said much specific about politics in a while, actually. But it’s left me with very little to say. I’ve been wanting to find ways of being more positive. I’ve tried asking myself:
Is Trump really so bad?
I want to understand how so many can support what has seemed to me so intolerable. So as a thought exercise, I’ve tried going through it all objectively. Yes, clearly he has shattered norms. He is incurably dishonest. He is brash and rude. But is it possible to just look at these things as showmanship? Could it just be an act? Could we on the left have been distracted by the bluster and miss the substance, the ideology behind it?
But even if you do that, then you come to see that if Trump’s persona is a comedian’s schtick, then his policies and ideology are those of a huckster.
Recently he commented to Fox News that he believes America should get paid for sending its troops to a foreign country. He has in the past bristled over the cost of our alliances to South Korea, to Japan, to NATO.
This is the mentality Trump brings to the White House. The cheap landlord trying to get his dime.
This is America First.
This is Trump’s business model. But this is not leadership.
Leaders do not put themselves first.
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