This isn’t meant to be a rhetorical question. With all due respect, what does Trump have to do for you to admit that his presidency is a mistake?
This isn’t easy. In fact it’s very difficult to look at a given set of actions or facts, compare them with our own set of values, expectations and priorities and to admit we’ve made a mistake. We’re human. But we’re also adults and we’re expected to take responsibility for our actions. By all objective measures, and because of its implications, even at this early stage in his presidency, it’s time to assess whether there are significant reasons to doubt whether Donald J. Trump has the prerequisite skills and abilities to be successful as President of the United States.
Republican consultant, Frank Luntz, conducted a series of focus groups prior to the election and found that voters supported Trump for a variety of reasons that were mainstream and that didn’t reflect the views of the alternative xenophobic Right. You voted for Trump because you couldn’t, under any circumstances, vote for the Democratic alternative. You voted for Trump because you wanted change. You voted for Trump because he had proved himself to be a successful businessman. You voted for Trump because he says it like it is and speaks his mind. You voted for Trump because you believed the country was in crisis. You voted for Trump because he had proven himself to be a strong leader. You voted for Trump because he had the guts to say what he believed, even if it wasn’t always politically correct. You voted for Trump because he portrayed strength. You voted for Trump because he said that he cared about everyday Americans – especially those who hadn’t gotten a fair shake. You voted for Trump out of a combination of frustration and anger with the current state of affairs. You voted for Trump because he was going to drain the swamp of ‘elites.’ You voted for Trump because he promised to Build The Wall and Mexico was going to pay for it. You believed in Trump so strongly that you would have voted for him even if he had run as an Independent. In many ways, you rejected the old standards of the Republican Party, and like Trump himself, you challenged the status quo. You are neither racist, nor xenophobic nor stupid. You are a proud patriot and you love this country.
You didn’t support Trump blindly. You were aware of and uncomfortable with his comments about Senator McCain, about the Gold Star family, about women, about people with disabilities, about over-generalized views concerning certain groups of people, about his lack of knowledge of world affairs, about his lack of previous public service, about his flip-flops, about his crudeness, about degrading individuals in the press and making them a target, about his belief in conspiracy theories. You believed that he would choose people in his cabinet to make up for his lack of knowledge and experience. You believed that if he were elected, he would become ‘presidential.’ You believed his priorities were your priorities. You still believe all of that but you are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with his impulsiveness and lack of judgment, with his lack of preparedness, with his choice of advisors and many cabinet officials who have no experience with or commitment to the agencies they were appointed to lead. You are concerned about the many advisors and cabinet members who are billionaires, former employees of Goldman Sachs and who represent Wall Street. Trump being Trump is becoming more of an excuse than a trademark. You’re noticing that his and Melania’s living arrangements and weekly travels are costing taxpayers a lot of money unnecessarily. He seems to be creating enemies out of friends and vice versa. And you wonder what’s going to happen next in terms of revelations about the Russian connections, his tweets, and his many unresolved conflicts of interest. You are becoming more and more uncomfortable with unelected and inexperienced family members engaged in developing public policy and it’s confounding that he seems to lack the ability or interest in telling the truth – even about little things. You wonder if he is telling the truth about the big things. He seems incapable of admitting he made a mistake. It appears he spends more time watching cable news than attending security briefings and he puts more faith in the former than the latter. That’s worrying.
But you continue to hope that time on the job will make the difference. After all, he’s doing what he said he’d do…getting rid of Obamacare and taking a hatchet to the budget. But the American Health Care Act hits older and poorer Americans the hardest while giving huge tax cuts to the ultra wealthy. And the budget he proposed, while unlikely to pass as is, surprised you because it too hits the poorest and those in greatest need – those he promised to help the most. He kept his word about increasing the military budget, which already surpasses the next 6 countries combined, and money for Veterans Affairs…but programs that fund the National Health Service that promote medical research, Meals on Wheels that help support over 500,000 vets (and a large number of seniors in The Villages) and other programs that are relatively small in cost but huge in scope and impact are cut or eliminated. And US taxpayers will be paying for the Wall after all. You’ve noted that the cost of his 7 weekend trips to Mar-a-Largo so far could pay in full for some of the budget items annually that he proposed to cut. As you get ready to write your check to the IRS, you remember that he promised to release his tax returns after he was elected and the audit complete but now he’s saying he’ll never release them. And you remember that he wasn’t going to take a salary but now says he will collect it and return the money to the Treasury at the end of the year. It occurs to you that he has the advantage of using the money throughout the year and then claiming a tax deduction at the end of it.
So, back to the original question. Just what will it take to face what is becoming more obvious with each passing day. What does Trump have to do before you say that you’ve had enough and pass that message on to your Congressmen. It may be a single act – or it may be the continual drip, drip, drip of revelations about his character, his connections, and/or his policies.
It may help to know that what you’re coping with, what you’re experiencing, actually has a name. It’s called ‘cognitive dissonance.’ It occurs when the beliefs you hold and hold dearly are in direct conflict with new information – with a new reality…kind of like “I can’t believe my lying eyes.” So you have a choice of adhering to a non-existent reality or facing facts and making a change of view and heart. And, oh boy, that’s difficult. But the mental stress and discomfort of cognitive dissonance is worse. It’s exhausting to continually try to find reasons to justify behaviors and actions you would never tolerate in anyone else. Here’s the ultimate test: pretend Trump has a D after his name. Then think about how you would react to those same behaviors. Any of them. Even one of them.
But here’s a comforting thought voiced by Charles Darwin: “Tis not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” Or put another way, if you don’t change direction, you will end up where you are heading. We all will.
And it’s only week eight.
Marsha Shearer is a Villager and frequent contributor to Villages-News.com
