Some people start from the assumption Donald Trump is a terrible person. In their minds he can do no right. Others begin with the premise he is a marvelous person who can do no wrong. Of course the truth lies somewhere in the middle, the vast middle separating vast extremes.
While acknowledging his tremendous accomplishments in business, one must also face the controversies in his professional and personal life. We would do well to remember that Abraham Lincoln made his share of colossal blunders and was primarily a failure before being nominated. A horrible Civil War taking the lives of 600,000 Americans was not an achievement, yet it did not diminish his greatness. Likewise, we’d be remiss to forget the many defects possessed by George Washington, and every other President down along the thread of time.
What cannot be denied: the miracle of Donald Trump’s electoral triumph. Stop and think again where we were two years ago. Obama had left us a truckload of problems, setbacks and disasters after eight years of far left social, political, economic and foreign policy experiments. Failure compounded failure. People were both angry and demoralized. All seemed a shambles.
On to the stage struts this crude peacock, a man hurling insults in a stunning display of bipartisan condemnation. He said D.C. was filled with crooks. He said he knew because he had been among them, but now, he was against them, the un-politician defining the swamp and proposing to drain it. He said if we put him in charge, we’d soon get sick of winning. He made “yuge” promises. At first, few knew what to make of him.
In debates he ripped into his fellow Republicans like a professional wrestler. They seemed stunned, each dropping out in turn, faced with declining funds and polling numbers. He made enemies, but seemed unconcerned: a man on a mission, or a loose cannon?
He spared not RINOs nor Democrats, making enemies there as well. He attacked the political class and the bureaucrats, hammering away at Hilarity Clinton and Baylock Obama, mercilessly. Fully 99% of pundits gave him no chance. (Ann Coulter and three others predicted success.)
Republicans tried to derail him. RINOs castigated him. Open loathing and dismissal were Democrat tactics. The media went into orbit and the frenzy continues to this day. International leaders laughed out loud. He had few allies, no organization, no ground game, no war chest comparatively. Now we learn Obama operatives schemed all along to destroy him, weaponizing federal enforcement and intelligence agencies. Enormously powerful forces were marshalled to eradicate Trump, yet he stood, and advanced, against all expectations, like Iron Man.
He ripped the guts out of an establishment class that had abused and exploited millions of average Americans for decades, and The People love it. Miraculously, against all odds, they elected the most unlikely individual, leaving many thousands of professional politicos weeping, screeching or stammering. It was and is delicious watching the Left crumble, melt and sizzle.
At his inauguration he stood before the world and proclaimed:
(Today) . . . we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People. For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.
Across the board, and across the land, jaws dropped so far, chins hit the dirt. “Could this man be serious? He just eviscerated the entire political class of elitist snobs! He just declared war on Washington, on all things Obama, on RINOs and nitwits everywhere! Is he serious? Doesn’t he know he could get shot for this?!”
One of the great take away lines in that speech: “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.”
Excellent. Brilliant. As conservative as it gets.
On a day when another miracle is taking place—the apparent end of the Korean War, the fallen coming home, and the start of normalized relations holding promise for all people—it should be said clearly, the man keeps his promises. Power has shifted back to the people. Jobs have returned. America is once again competitive, unafraid to lead, a force for good, a nation on the move.
And the lesson is clear: love President Trump, or hate him, the truth is he is accomplishing great things for The People. Each individual must decide if their personal animus is more important than public prosperity, or on the other hand, if their blind faith prevents them from holding him accountable, and whether or not he has earned our support and re-election.
He is weathering a storm of criticism and castigation and condemnation never before seen in this country. He is not just standing up to it, he is moving forward, achieving the things he promised, the most import being, a revitalization of this experiment in self-government, a return to Founding principles proven successful when applied.
photo credit: Excerpted from: Gage Skidmore Donald Trump via photopin (license)
