When I started writing this blog immediately following the inauguration
of President Trump, I was reacting to what I thought was a short-term hysteria
among those who simply could not believe that Trump had been elected
President. At that time I hoped that the
anger and hysteria would recede, that people would remember how our democracy
works and accept our duly elected president.
I hoped that they could put aside any personal dislike of the man and
support our country by supporting and respecting the office of president. I hoped that people would work together,
sharing dissenting ideas on particular issues that the president and his administration
favored, and work towards understanding
and compromise for the good of our country.
Well, how wrong I was!
The anti-Trump brigade has one issue only. It is the same issue they have had since
January: remove Donald Trump from
office. That is all they care about. And they don’t care if they destroy the
country and all that it stands for in the process.
Imagine if on day one of Trump’s presidency these people had
instead taken the position that even though they were not happy about his
election, even though they disliked some of his policies, that they would try
to work with him for the good of the country and all its people, even those who
liked and elected Trump. But, that is
not what we got. Instead we have had a
constant attack not only on Trump the man, but on the office of the President
of the United States since day one.
Consider the history: Constant daily attacks on Trump’s character, along
with the way he speaks and the way he looks;
allegations (completely without any substantiating evidence) that he was
and is not the legitimate president because either the Russians rigged the
election to the point of changing the results or because Trump and his people
colluded with the Russians to do the same; constant attacks on his legitimate
businesses along with unfounded allegations that the fact that he had
successful business interests is somehow a breach of ethics; constant attacks
on his family, including his 10 year old son, and attacks on his close circle
of friends and advisors; doing anything
possible to stall and delay any movement toward enacting the policies and
promises of Trump’s campaign – the policies for which the American people
voted; following these regular crippling
attacks and stalling tactics with assertions that Trump is incapable of
accomplishing anything; daily misstatements, half-truths, omissions, and
sometimes outright falsehoods about Trump and his administration reported in
the press; leaks of confidential information lauded as patriotic rather than
criminal acts; refusal of many bureaucrats to do their jobs because those jobs
require them to take actions with which they disagree; no acknowledgement
whatsoever of any positive actions taken by the administration; refusal to hear
any viewpoints that do not support the anti-Trump agenda; encouragement of law-breaking if it is done
in opposition to Trump policy, regulations, laws, or orders; creation of a “resistance
force” against Trump; regular calls for impeachment despite any evidence that
would support it; etc., etc. The list
goes on and on.
This is not American. This is not how America works. I am sorry that some people did not like the
results of the election. But, folks,
that’s the way it goes in a democracy where the people elect their leader. I understand that some people don’t
particularly care for Donald Trump.
Well, folks, he’s probably not going to come over to your house for
dinner, so go ahead and dislike him; but that does not mean that you should try
to destroy the presidency. I suspect
that many presidents in our time and before have not been very likable people (certainly
there are some that I have disliked); that does not mean that they should not
be president or that they cannot or did not do good things for the
country. A successful democracy
requires a respect for that democracy and its institutions, including the
office of the president. One ought to be
able to distinguish between the office itself and the one who holds it.
Many seem to dislike Trump because he is not a typical
politician. Many of the elite and career
politicians find it distasteful that he does not speak like them; yet many
Americans find his real-life way of speaking to be refreshing. Many career DC inhabitants find it troubling
or perhaps threatening that President Trump is shaking up the way things are
done in Washington, despite the fact that the status quo bureaucracy is often
dysfunctional. And many Progressives
dislike Trump because he does not agree with their vision of America (but
neither do the many Americans who elected Trump).
The reasons for disliking Trump may be many and varied. But they are not reasons to try to destroy
his presidency and in so doing destroy the office of the president itself and in
so doing ignore and topple our form of government itself. That is not American. A dislike of the president or his policies
are reasons to work for the election of a different person in the next election
cycle. We do not remove presidents
simply because we do not like them or their policies. We do not create a daily barrage of unfounded
attacks in an attempt to completely cripple if not destroy both the occupant
and the office of president.
The bottom line is that the anti-Trump brigade does not like
the results of the election. There is
nothing wrong with that. What is wrong,
what is truly un-American, is their unrelenting attempt to destroy this man and
his presidency. Like children throwing a
tantrum until they get the piece of candy they want but were denied, these anti-Trumpers
are throwing a tantrum that will not stop until they get what they want – the removal
of Trump from office. No one should fall
for the line that their actions are being done for the good of the country;
they are simply selfish acts of people who did not get their way and cannot
accept the way that a democratic form of government works. Their actions are in
the end un-American. Their one issue – remove Trump – has become
their obsession and that obsession has the very real possibility of destroying
America as we know it if it succeeds.
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