Loyal supporters of Donald Trump won't care for today's column. To be clear, my beef isn't with them. My complaint is with the president himself.
People I respect, including trusted friends, voted for Mr. Trump and continue to believe they got it right. That's perfectly fine because we are fortunate to live in a nation in which we're all free to form our own opinions and to cast our ballot accordingly. While we sometimes find it difficult to fathom how others can support a person we're convinced is so wrong for America, we each must honor everyone's right to make their own decisions and live by their own beliefs.
History will likely rank the election of Trump to be among the biggest electoral mistakes this country has ever made. But history will also record it was the extreme, mindless partisanship in our politics and the unmistakable failure of the political class on both the right and left, Republican and Democrat alike, to do their jobs, or to actually care about the common citizen back home, that opened a path for someone like Donald Trump to be elected. Many wanted someone to shake up the status quo but Trump has proven to be the worst imaginable agent for change. The man is all hat and no cattle. His dysfunctional and mean-spirited presidency has left the country more sharply divided than ever.
Mr. Trump has made his presidency all about him and rarely about the country. Turning the White House into a tumultuous reality show starring himself has been good for television ratings but horrible for the body politic. The perpetual conflict and anger Trump generates and seems to thrive on is exhausting and damaging to the nation's best interests. Regardless of our own station in life or our personal ideology, Trump's insulting conduct and shameful rhetoric degrades all of us and disgraces the high office he holds. He uses the decency of others to bully them, knowing that most people are unwilling to lower themselves to his level. He doesn't seem to understand the job of the president is to attack problems, not other people.
Often dishonest and acting in ways embarrassing to the country, President Trump has failed so far to earn our trust and respect. We recognize no person with sound judgment or common sense who serves in a position of leadership would do their job the way Trump performs his as president. No responsible person running a company, a business or any type of organization would act in the reckless and incoherent manner Trump does as the nation's chief executive. Always blaming his problems and failures on others, the buck never stops on Trump's desk. Airing more petty grievances than Seinfeld's Frank Costanza, the president makes himself look foolish. Someone needs to throw his phone into the Potomac.
Truth and honesty matter. Facts and evidence matter. Words and behavior matter. Temperament and civility matter. Ethics and the rule of law matter. Values matter. From day one of his presidency, Donald Trump has demonstrated none of these things matter to him and by now that should be plain for all to see.
Peggy Noonan, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and formerly a special assistant and speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, captured the concerns many Americans harbor about President Trump in her March 8 column: "What you feel is disquiet and you know what it's about: the worrying nature of Mr. Trump himself. You look at his White House and see what appears to be epic instability, mismanagement and confusion. You see his resentments and unpredictability. ... He's unserious. ... He loves chaos ... but it isn't strategic chaos in pursuit of ends, it's purposeless disorder for the fun of it. Here's what you try to wrap your head around if you are a centrist or moderate who's trying to be fair. You think: On some level this is working. And on some level he is crazy. ... You struggle to reconcile these thoughts. You try to balance them. Then you realize everything you've learned from life as a leader in whatever sphere -- business, local public service -- tells you this: Crazy doesn't last. Crazy doesn't go the distance. Crazy is an unstable element that, when let loose in an unstable environment, explodes. And so your disquiet. Sooner or later something bad will happen -- an international crisis, or damaging findings from the special counsel. If the president is the way he is on a good day, what will he be like on a bad day? It all feels so dangerous."
This country always presses on, no matter who is president. But we deserve more competent and healthier leadership than we are getting from the man who now sits in the White House. America is better than this.
Commentary on 04/19/2018