As of this publishing date, the reality of Donald John Trump being the 45th president of the United States of America will turn exactly nine months old, by both the day of the week and date of the month. Whatever one might make of this correlation, it is as good a causation as any for me to end my extended and prudent silence on the activities of President Trump and his administration. I will only promise to do my best not to add to the fake news on either side.
I would start by noting that the United States is actually no worse off in any category using the fairest of metrics and numbers. Trade continues, the vast majority of people both within the States and outside of them are free to travel as they please, the currency has not become worthless, the military has not mutinied and the widespread violence by Trump supporters against minorities that was predicted has completely failed to materialize.
Furthermore, before entering into any analysis of the current administration, it is helpful to remind everyone there still remains an American Constitution which explains the importance and validity of each branch of the federal government, as well as the primacy of the states to care for themselves and their residents. In sum, Congress is listed before the Office of the President, and States Rights remain one of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
I begin with these points because besides my own bias for or against Mr. Trump, I am positively flummoxed by the now unrelenting shriek from all corners of the media in every format about the president so much as lifting a finger. I completely acknowledge that Mr. Trump has said and done some outrageous things - but his harshest critics and even the supposedly "disinterested observers" are just making a cacophony of garbled screams at this point.
My boundaries having been set, let us delve into the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The bad: the failure of the Republicans in Congress and Trump in the White House to repeal and replace Obamacare is a serious problem. The Affordable Care Act needs to be fixed, replaced, or discarded to allow for new solutions to the serious health insurance problem in the United States. This was actually an area where Mr. Trump, as a New York Republican, had some rather progressive ideas that would have looked similar to our extended health schemes.
But the possibility for positive change is quickly passing by the GOP as the factions butt heads over the question of universal insurance. If Mr. Trump is serious about making healthcare more affordable while not socializing it entirely, he will need to use back channels to garner some consensus before championing a new law.
The ugly: picking up on a recent story, the transgender ban in the U.S. military is an excellent example of both personal vindictiveness as well as egregious executive overreach.
In the post Cold War era, the presidential pen has been used to attack or absolve a given demographic depending on its support for the current White House. Between Obama, Clinton, and the Bushes, executive orders have been used to ban guns, increase security measures and grant asylum to illegal immigrants. In Mr. Trump, the lack of polish more easily reveals what has long been the habit of presidents - to act as unscrupulous God emperors.
The good: I will proclaim here that I am still glad that Mr. Trump occupies the White House. I would even go so far as to shout from the roof tops that we all ought to be full of thanksgiving and praise that he is at the helm of the most powerful nation on Earth as well as the de facto leader of the Free World. He is the king we deserve for our sins against democracy.
His presence imparts two gifts to us. First, that we have come far past the point of return where an insurgent candidate might have any real effect on even their own country's established and bureaucratic consensus, let alone the world's momentum despite having access to the greatest economic and military power in human history. The layers and interests are all too thick and interwoven.
The bombasticity of Trump cannot slow their agendas.
And as the federal government continues its now typical dysfunction, the states, red and blue, are beginning to recall their primacy in the union and act on their own to make life better for their citizens, their region, even their country.
And so we conclude with that most ancient of truths - that it is better to be ruled by a bad man than to be ruled by good one compelled by his conscience to enact bad policies. Mr. Trump is not evil incarnate, but as a bully he is causing others to band together and recall their values as citizens of the greatest democracy on earth. I am happy to see them rise to the occasion - my only question is why did it take Trump's election to show them their country needs serious fixes?
