(Updated 8/7/2020)
I didn’t vote for Donald Trump, I’ve never been a democrat, and I long ago withdrew from the Republican Party. So, I took no responsibility for his election – either way. However, I have been driven to have a favorable view of the President by the behavior of certain sectors of the press and the democrats. Instead of offering solutions, they are behaving like small children – miserable, trash-talking, ill-disciplined, self-righteous, hateful and useless. Today’s democrats, unlike liberals, no longer challenge the ideologies of the rest of us; they attack us directly. Those that don’t agree with them are evil people who have to be marginalized, isolated, threatened, jailed, hated and even put to death. When their hate speech includes references that Trump and his supporters are Nazis it’s time to get as far away from them as you can.
So, this time I will vote for Donald Trump in spite of his imperfections. The consequences of a democrat winning the White House are grave and will destroy this country.
My approach in this Think Piece is to look at the man in his several dimensions and maybe come up with an informed opinion of him.
Dimension One: The Style of Donald Trump
This dimension is the side of Trump that is upsetting to so many people. In his tweets and speeches, he makes personal attacks on his opponents. It is one of the reasons I didn’t vote for him. He brags too much about such things as the size of crowds attending his speeches. His celebrity, unscripted, charismatic, and straight talk, and an aura of a strong leader and problem solver have not been enough to ward off intense criticism of his style. He has had many changes in staff and cabinet.
And execution of his program has not gone well in some cases. In fact, it has been a little sloppy. Even when he does the right things, as in the case of incarcerating illegal aliens, he doesn’t always do them right. (Some children got separated from their parents.)
To overcome the intensity of the bias against him by certain elements of the press, he has taken to talking directly to the people daily using Twitter. This is good for transparency but irksome to his enemies in both parties. To be sure, Donald Trump is what he is – and is still the man he was before the election.
Donald Trump is over seventy years old. He has made many mistakes in his life. He still makes some. He is human. But Trump likewise has spent a lifetime learning. He has seen some of his businesses go bankrupt, and he has learned from those experiences to be a billionaire and not let it happen again. No doubt that he has been fooled, outsmarted in years past.
He is a tough and smart negotiator. He sizes up his opponent, and he knows that the approach that works best for one is not the same as for another.
Trump’s base seems to be staying loyal. They are proud of being first to recognize that he and his approach can make America great again. They expect they can help him achieve dramatic, positive change to the political landscape. They don’t even seem to care when Trump says things that are ridiculous and insulting. In fact, it seems that Trump’s support is growing because of people, like me, who didn’t vote for him or support him in any way, but have been impressed by his intelligence, leadership and accomplishments in the face of very hostile opposition from republicans as well has democrats and the press. Not to mention the absence of any plans, ideas, proposals etc. from the legislative branch.
A style point that I do particularly like is that he is a disruptor – one who creates products or ways of doing things which disrupt existing market leader, or status quo, and eventually replaces them at the top. Think of Uber, Amazon, the iPhone, GPS devices.
Dimension Two: The Why of Donald Trump
Those who run for president of the United States try to distinguish themselves by talking about the What and the How of their candidacies. What they promise to achieve, (their policies) and How they will do it (methods and programs). These become their campaign promises.
Donald Trump added a Why for his candidacy. In my many decades of marketing and sales experience, I’ve concluded that people very often buy into what a company believes, not necessarily what it does or how it does it. Apple is a computer company but its success doesn’t come from what they do or how they do it; it comes from why they do it – they use the discontinuity of any innovation to make a break with the past and start an entirely new future. Apple holds a belief in changing the status quo for people all across the world. Each new product (the what) changes the status quo in new ways.
As another example, think back to Martin Luther King’s speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial over 50 years ago to 250,000 people who had a desire – perhaps even a dream – for liberty and freedom. Dr. King didn’t propose a 15 point plan for achieving equal rights for blacks in this country. He didn’t say “I have a plan”. Instead, he said, over and over, “I have a dream.” Like Trump has been doing for about three years, he was inspiring action to change the status quo by telling his vast audiences what he believed.
A lot of people, including myself, have figured out that the election of Donald Trump was not as much about him, his personality, dynamism, etc. as it was about intense anger of Americans, particularly the middle class, at politicians and the political class in general. I know about such anger because I have felt it for a long, long time, even during republican administrations. Trump gets it – and has tapped into the anger effectively.
They are not just angry about the specific things like unsustainable debt, foreign policy, our response to terrorism, failure to enforce the laws, taxes and so forth. They are angry against the political process and the people in office who follow it.
The slogan “Make America Great Again” has been a powerful attraction for Trump. It gives the Why of his candidacy. (I’m borrowing some terms from a TED YouTube by Simon Sinek.) It’s as if Trump is saying “If you are the kind of person that is angry as hell with what is happening to our country and want to make America great again, join me. He presents a purpose, a cause, a belief. Statements like “Repeal Obamacare” or “I’ll build a wall” aren’t enough.
As it turned out there are enough people in the country that believe in what he believes so that he won the election. These are people most angry at, not only the Washington establishment, but also the republicans they voted in on the promise they would do what they promised to do when they were elected – namely shrink the size of government, eliminate waste, balance the budget and so forth. They saw, in Trump, someone who articulates their frustration and offered a brand new approach to changing the way politics is conducted. And they found it extra-appealing that he had enough money to pursue the nomination without selling out to lobbyists and other special interests
As for Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, it seems that the why of her candadcy was that she is a woman.
Dimension Three: The What and How of Donald Trump
These are the dimensions that spell out the ways the Trump agenda intends to make America great again. To cover the whole program would take too much time and be boring to read. I’ll mention just a few of Trump’s campaign promises, (Whats), and the related methods (Hows) for fulfilling them.
What: Control entry of immigrants.
How: Build a wall. Increase border security resources.
What: Deport illegal immigrants.
How: End chain immigration and lottery immigration. Reinforce ICE.
What: Improve job situation of the middle class.
How: Reduce income taxes. Pressure companies to manufacture more in the US.
Make foreign trade fairer to the US. Before Trump, politicians and economists embraced the concept of a global economy. They teamed with Chinese businessmen and Mexican manufacturers and sold the country on the concept of our being an information economy, that we no longer needed manufacturing or heavy industry. They shipped entire job sectors abroad and then railed at the demise of the middle class. For many who worked in the shuttered factories or drove trucks, it was the end of the world.
What: Strengthen the US economy.
How: Cut income tax rates. Eliminate many regulations.
What: Improve healthcare.
How: Repeal and replace Obamacare
What: Strengthen the military.
How: Increase pentagon budget
Dimension Four: The Substance of Donald Trump
Up until the pandemic hit, the Trump administration had accomplished much in its first 4 years. .
He has given us district, circuit appellate, and Supreme Court justices with outstanding credentials. He is wiping out the Islamic State. He has turned around the American economy, brought us near full employment, reduced the welfare and food stamp lines, wiped out ISIS in Raqqa, moved America’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem, has successfully launched massive deregulation of the economy, has opened oil exploration in ANWR, is rebuilding the military massively, canned the disastrous Iran Deal, exited the bogus United Nations Human Rights Council and he has replaced NAFTA with a much better agreement with Canada and Mexico.
He has slashed income taxes, expanded legal protections for college students falsely accused of crimes, has taken real steps to protect religious freedoms and liberties promised in the First Amendment.
New jobs are opening all over and unemployment is way, way down. Small-business confidence is the highest ever measured, and consumer confidence is up.
He is a tireless worker, persistent in pursuing the things he promised the American people. He has demonstrated that he is intelligent in that he asks unfamiliar questions, challenges everything, devises solutions when problems and opportunities arise and doesn’t seem to let a political ideology influence him. He is making changes like no one before him. I can’t help but admire the stamina and ability he has, being guided by what’s in his heart rather than political correctness and opinion poll carefully edited scripts.
I, along with most people (republican candidates, democrats, Hillary Clinton, to name a few), under-estimated him for a long time but I don’t think I’ll do so any more.
Dimension Five: The Political Integrity of Donald Trump
For too long, campaign promises of both democrat and republican lawmakers have gone unfulfilled. It is a rare thing when a politician in this country does what he promised to do.
Once elected they are motivated more by being reelected, satisfying lobbyists, catering to special interest groups, etc. than to doing what they promised the American people.
That doesn’t seem to be the case with Donald Trump. He has pursued the policies he was elected on – almost to the letter. And he has done this against strong opposition from republicans as well as democrats and some elements of the press. He is doing exactly what he promised to do from the beginning of his candidacy. It becomes clearer and clearer that he loves this country and its people.
Michael,
I read it. OK. Good. Without a point-by-point commentary, I’ll explain why I support DJT. Or, more precisely, why I think he succeeds.
1. When I first heard/saw (TV) him give a speech at a rally — early in 2016 — I said to my brother “This guy will be your next President.” He spoke with conviction and flare, excitement. Most pols you turn off after the first line. I can’t tell you what his points were at that time, but his “make American great again” slogan sounded like a winner to me. I don’t consider myself one of the “forgotten Americans,” but I did think nothing good was happening for the health and future of the country. We had problems that were endemic and nagging, national and international, and our leadership just muddled along — given its meagre talent — as best it could. Here was a guy that responded to that.
2. Trump is a marketer, a promoter; it’s his DNA, although I believe it had to acquire it through his experiences in his businesses in New York. His critics don’t understand that! When Proctor & Gamble says it laundry detergent is “No. I,” and is used by “most housewives in America,” we understand it. If Donald Trump said that, the Washington Post would say he was a lying. Remember Mohamad Ali: “I am the greatest!” He was another great promoter. Did American call him for boasting? You just have to understand the marketing promotion business. It’s happening all around us 24/7 ; so I don’t understand why some people don’t get Trump. Tweets? Of course. Coke-a-cola never lets up delivering its message in whatever medium is handy. “But Presidents don’t do that.” They do now.
3. The world today is close and complex, a mix of commerce/trade, communications, political and ideological interests, and rapid change. I don’t think Obama was able to handle that. The most striking impression I’ve gained from Trump and the Trump administration is how weak and stupid our last President was. Dealing, negotiating, bold moves are what it takes to maintain stability in today’s world. That went right over Obama’s head; a kind of academic that he is, he had no idea what was happening. Donald Trump is capable of dealing with this world. He has the right experience and instinct. And he is willing to do it for the country. If you argue that Obama was a “globalist” in his outlook . . . hey, they ate his (our) lunch. Coda. Trump is not a genius in foreign policy. Here is where bullying comes in. He has the most powerful country in the world. It’s never a fair fight in Trump’s deal. He has all the power. All he has to do in convince the other that he is willing to use it. They can’t take that chance.
4. There is always the chance that President Trump may not succeed with his purpose. He has enemies, the sharpest of which is the warped media. They are vicious, determined, rich, and they know good marketing tactics too. They drive what are called “key incentives.” Trump is a liar. Say it over and over . . . like “Coke-a-cola tastes good.” All together now. There was a time not too long ago when people in the news were leery of calling someone a liar. I heard Chris Matthews say that to lie requires intent; you have to be careful who you call a liar. (His Jesuit moral training slipped out – he now does a whole segment on how the President is a liar.) The Washington Post (New York Times?) published a full page ad (?) listing 1700 lies the President told. It this ridiculous, or what! But it is dangerous. Marketers know that the effect of repeated messages works. People are as likely to believe Trump is a liar as they are to believe most American housewives used Proctor and Gamble products. The reason the media and their users can get away with this is that the popular vote in 2016 was greater for the Dems. They know they have enough adherents to be safe in opposing the President. Unfortunately, it is Trump vs the media and the media allies. He is outnumbered.
It’s not polished. But I appreciate the chance to write down some thoughs. Now back to some other stuff that keeps me busy.
Great article. I agree not in who Trump is (he is a creep) but I understand the anger and how he is able to tap into our disgust of how the country has been run.
Wish his narcissistic ways would end, but I know firsthand this will not happen.
I am reading this on a day we are honoring John McCain whom I respect greatly. Sad that our President will not properly honor him.
Love your insight!
Jill