I usually work really hard to avoid discussing individual politicians. The conversations are typically over before they begin, bogged down by closed minds and pre-existing assumptions. But discussing Donald Trump is such a national obsession that ignoring him is more of a statement than not ignoring him. I actually find Donald Trump to be totally fascinating, but not for reasons I ever hear discussed in the millions of discussions going on about the man.
His Beginnings Show His True Colors
Even back when Donald was a just a lowly real estate mogul and famous “deal maker,” his greatest strength seemed to be self-promotion. When his tax returns were revealed recently, I was expecting the losses they showed. He always seemed more focused on spending money than making it and I don’t buy his “figuring out how to take tax losses was a game” explanation.
But oh, that self-promotion… the books, naming EVERYTHING after himself, the plane, the TV show! It was masterful. Then he decided to run for president. I’m still not at all convinced he meant to become president. Just running was, after all, excellent self-promotion.
He Isn’t Who We Pretend He Is
But win he did, and, in many ways, Donald Trump is now a walking political Rorschach Test. When you look past Trump himself (which is admittedly a tall order) and at his policies, he’s actually the most politically agnostic President we’ve had in a long, long time. This is a guy who will ban bump stocks on Monday, pull out of a climate accord on Wednesday and refuse to attack Iran on Friday. He’s not exactly toeing the line of either of the two major US political parties.
But Trump is so bombastic that a guy who should have us all waffling on our personal feelings about him, has instead galvanized warring factions of pure loathing and unquestioning support. What makes Donald Trump interesting is what he says about our politics these days. Not much of which is particularly impressive. You get to see Republicans supporting Trump as he runs roughshod over long-held conservative ideals and then turn around and watch Democrats lambaste him for doing something completely in keeping with progressive principles. It’s actually quite weird.
We Should Vote Smarter… Or Just Get Other Hobbies
What we don’t seem to be doing is paying attention to what Donald Trump is actually doing and checking it against a set of principles or priorities we favor. It really doesn’t matter to us right now whether someone is doing good things or bad things. We are entirely willing to overlook that and focus instead on whether they are in our group (which we love) or the other group (which we hate).
I’m not going to sugar coat this people. That’s sad and pathetic.
If we really aren’t going to pay any attention to what people are doing when we choose to support them or attack them, we should probably do neither and get a hobby where our slipshod approach won’t literally ruin the country we live in.