Here are some of the thoughts that I have about Donald Trump.
- The man is clearly a text-book narcissist. Everything is about him, and nothing that isn’t about him appears to be of much interest to him.
- He clearly has no self-control. His twitter feed is a testimony to his utter inability to hold his tongue.
- He is clearly not a smart man. I know how desperately those on the left want politicians on the right to be stupid (I’m not saying that Trump is a man of the right, but he is a Republican), but he’s clearly, well, dumb. For example, he doesn’t have a clue what a trade deficit is. He rambles in a way that calls into question his mental well-being, to be honest.
- He’s a charlatan. He’s a liar. He cheats. He brags about both in his book The Art of the Deal. He’s declared bankruptcy multiple times to escape paying what he owes. He can’t be trusted.
- He’s a reprobate. He cheats on his wives, pays off porn starts — shoot, he has sex with porn stars while his wife is recovering from delivering their child — and clearly has no respect for women. His disdain for and lack of respect for John McCain was repulsive.
- He’s ruining the Republican party. Not that I’m a fan of the party, but the gyrations that its members have to go through in order to continue to support him make Simone Biles look inflexible. The party has clearly made huge compromises as a result of his presidency. It will take years to recover from the damage. And I’ll say that even if things go well for Republicans this fall.
- He’s a national embarrassment. People around the world can’t believe that we elected such a person as our President. Good grief, half the people in this country can’t believe it either.
- I can’t say with authority that he’s a criminal, but he sure seems to hang around with unsavory people.
- Now not everything he’s done has been horrible. I appreciate the tax cuts and the sound choices he’s made for the Supreme Court. But that’s a pretty short list. I certainly don’t appreciate the ridiculous trade policy and all the investigations swirling around his administration. Nevertheless, the stock market is up, unemployment is very low, and the economy is growing at a healthy pace. I personally don’t think that these events are due to things Trump — or Obama — has done, but facts are facts.
- I’m happy to say that I didn’t vote for the man. I confess I almost did because I find Hilary Clinton such a truly distasteful person (not that I don’t find Trump to be the same), but in the end I pulled the lever for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. I’m glad I did, because my sense of shame in voting for Trump would be profound.
- I will add that I am not even remotely fearful, as some of my friends on the left are, that we are in danger of losing the Republic and that Trump has some grand design to take over the country and make it a dictatorship. That’s just silly in my mind. While I agree that Trump admires dictators a bit too much — he clearly envies the (alleged) “devotion” they get — I think that stems more from his lack of understanding than from some nefarious plan. In either 2 or 6 years, we’ll elect a new President and power will peacefully transfer to the new person. We aren’t going to devolve into some banana republic because of Trump.
- As a side note, as a veteran, I find this whole military parade thing highly distasteful, and more evidence of Trump’s pettiness.
- I don’t believe that there is (yet) evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors”. However, I won’t be at all surprised if I do feel that way as events unfold.
- Character matters. The more important a person is, the more that’s true. As Jonah Goldberg argues, there is no definition of good character that Trump can clear. I can’t support a person with such poor character.
Just a few thoughts. Obviously I’m not a supporter — the man pretty much repulses me — but he is the President, so we are stuck with him until he either loses the next election, is term-limited out, or, well, until possibly he is impeached. Time will tell.