Nobody expected Donald Trump to win the Mr. Collegiality Award while serving as president of the United States. But from the title of this essay, you will note that he has an incredible number of determined opponents. It’s not easy to battle so many diverse groups at the same time, especially when some of them are terrorists, possess weapons of mass destruction and/or can make life miserable for America.
Trump made some points several days ago when he launched missiles at a Syrian airfield that stocked chemical weapons. The strike was carefully planned, vetted and executed. It seemed to have the right impact on the murderous Bashar al-Assad, Putin and other people and groups that us.
But a few Trump activities are giving Americans agita. Some of them are not because of missteps, but because Trump is Trump and millions hate him here at home and globally no matter what he does.
The health care debacle is at the top of the list. Most would say Trump could have handled the situation more diplomatically, but I’m not so sure. The real reason why Trump failed is because members of his own party double-crossed him. For years these political hacks have been bitching about Obamacare and why it needs to be repealed. When the opportunity arose to do exactly that, a flock of conservative representatives refused to back the initiative because it didn’t go far enough to the right. To make matters worse a group of moderates were attempting to water down the Trump proposal at the same time.
During the glory days of government in the 70s and 80s sitting presidents would solicit the help of the opposition party to offset lost votes in their own party. Health care was the perfect battle to do so today. Democrats should have supported the Republican moderates to push through a new law. But in today’s toxic environment, Schumer and Pelosi would never support Trump under any circumstances even if they would benefit America. The idiocy of this liberal attitude is really detrimental to our country.
Politically it was an opportunity to drop Obamacare in Trump’s lap and force him to deal with it. If it failed the Republicans would own the resultant aborted mess. But Democratic egos and a dearth of common sense prevented this from happening, so Democrats still own Obamacare, which is is imploding every day.
A second problematic event is the case of the misdirected aircraft carrier group. Is it going to the coast of No. Korea to intimidate Kim Jong-un, or is going south to play in military games?
What are the implications of the seemingly confused carrier group? The No. Koreans think Trump doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, as do the So. Koreans. The Japanese are acting like they know what’s happening, but they refuse to talk about it. Terrorists think that Trump is crazier than they are. Russia and China don’t know what to think. Most Americans are sprinkled in all of the above.
This is not the way to conduct a proactive military response to threats from dangerous states. Too many of the players possess nuclear weapons, so extreme caution and deliberate actions are the way to proceed.
The new president is making more people around the world feel more at ease each passing day. It’s time for more diplomacy and planning before bold moves anywhere in the world. It’s also mandatory that Trump post some substantive gains while affecting his agenda. Health care and tax reform are the keys to him regaining support in the country.