No one can doubt that President Trump is impolite, un-Presidential or even unhinged, whatever those words mean. This is not news to us. It has been proved hundreds of times over during the campaign and after the election. But he is nevertheless, the President.
Upon Trump’s characterizations of some geographic entities being “shitholes”, the Resistance masses have again sprung into apoplectic vigor led by the cable news taking heads, and the likes of Robert DeNiro. What is striking is how this is treated as new news and how unhinged the detractors themselves have become. My gut feeling is that this group has been trolled yet again. A President is in office for four years. If a news cycle last 4 days, there are 365 news cycles in a presidency. The Resistance just lost another one; one on top of dozens more.
Trump does not care. Trump is not worried about his pole numbers or the names he’s called. He doesn’t care about what Robert DeNiro thinks of him or Joe Scarborough or any other of the chatter class; he just doesn’t. He doesn’t particularly care about ‘facts’, or at least about precise facts. He cares only about his agenda but more so, about ‘winning’. In fact, he’s willing to change his agenda on a dime, on moment’s notice in order to win. Therein lies his strength and resilience – in the almost absolute blindness to any derision that occurs around him. How do you fight a beast like that?
Trump’s world views are not unique in American politics, even his ‘shithole’ remarks. What is unique is his unfiltered spilling of every casual off-the-cuff opinion. Is it a deeply held sincere belief? Maybe it is today because that is a rock in his existential road, but it may not be tomorrow. Tomorrow, he may turn around and appropriate one of those races or geo-locations to illustrate a real or imagined win. Here’s a dirty little secret: I can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority of politicians, including the resistance left, have all muttered the same thing under their breath as they rolled past some ghetto or hick-ville. (If ‘racism’ is only valid for one of those options, you’re racist btw) It’s blue-collar vernacular that just happens to be used by most people when others are not listening.
Meanwhile Trump has rolled on to the next chapter which is winning his ever-fluctuating agenda. As the talking heads and state figures ramp up their venom to new extremes, they are yet again missing their greatest opportunity: the initiative to come up with proactive improvements in the lot of their constituencies. While they wring their hands over sticks and stones that break their bones, the people in their audience and districts are mostly getting a bigger paycheck this coming month due to tax changes. More of them are employed than have been for a long time, including blacks. Which of these effects gets more attention?
Do we really want a President that calls places shitholes? No. Do we want a President that has more decorum? Absolutely yes, but that won’t happen until 2020 or 2024. In the meantime, we rely on constitutional government to guarantee the things that are really the most important for America. That includes voters to speak their mind and branches of government to circumscribe everything about the Presidency within proscribed limits. In case you haven’t noticed, Trump is still is abiding by the processes of the legislative and judicial branches.
To be honest, I am more troubled or amused by a segment of elected government obsessed with the removal of Trump based soley upon their wishes, anger and disagreement. If you find ‘shithole’ Trump bothersome, hope that you never have to be governed based on whims of those divorced from democratic law.