Mitt Romney: “The President’s Character Falls Short.”
I had to laugh when I saw this thing on Mitt Romney the other day: “The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short.”
“Falls short.” I love that. Our president is the laughingstock/pariah of the world. He’s a pathological liar, in it only for his own aggrandizement and enrichment, totally indifferent to the suffering of the people he “leads,” and his character falls short? Of whose? Klaus Barbie’s? (Photo above.)
And Mitt: what’s with the timing? You’re just noticing this now? You are the guy who said in 2016, “Trump is a phony, a fraud…His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” correct? You go radio silent, observing two years of degrading and insane behavior, and that was OK, but now that people are starting to think about the 2020 election, you’ve drawn the line? Is there anyone stupid enough to believe that this comment reflects a sincere concern for the good of the nation?
Mitt’s platform seems to look like this: I represent all the stuff you guys love: the bigotry and hate, tax cuts for the rich and inflicting of punishment on the poor, the two-tiered justice system, zero gun control, xenophobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, denial of science, destruction of the environment, fostering the decline of public education—all that and more, but with less insanity and criminality.
I wrote that as an attempt at humor, but, rereading it, it actually could work, given the pathetic national zeitgeist; imagine what Trump’s poll numbers would be if he could stop acting like a demented little kid.
What I believe is going to happen, however, is that the Mueller report (not to mention the investigations of the Southern District of New York, the New York attorney general, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office) will show how fabulously guilty Trump is of countless felonies, and that virtually the entire GOP was complicit in a wide variety of heinous acts. This won’t play well, even among the common American, who may retain some shred of conscience.
Craig,
With each increasingly desperate rant, “Never Trumpers” reinforce the loss of party loyalty and respect for institutions.
Mitt Romney’s angst is he, like so many others of the old political order, is seeking a restoration of a game played by the old elitist Washington rules.
Like most political dinosaurs, he doesn’t understand the “Trump revolution” has irrevocably changed the dynamics of US political life.
The Trump Presidency, for all it’s faults,has taken the US in a new direction and it won’t change back. Incoming President’s after Trump, will be forced to cope with energized and fragmented constituencies where new rules apply. The electorate no longer trusts media institutions, old myths or public institutions the way it once did.
Poor old Mitt Romney, he doesn’t understand his type of political life was always an illusion played out on a stage constructed with the connivance of the Media, US institutions and political operators who dominated US national politics.
The advent of social media, rise of China and decay of traditional US domestic economics changed America’s place in the world and faith in American institutions.
President Trump is quite a shock to old fashioned elitists like Mitt Romney, and even more so to commentators like yourself. Trump’s influence has been profound. If the Trump presidency has done nothing else, it’s effectively exposed the myths and hypocrisies of the media and US government agencies.
No President in modern times has had to endure the uncontrolled rabid abuse and outrage from traditional media outlets that were once all powerful in shaping American public opinion. Yet, Trump has not only survived, but reveled in the torrent aimed at him, deliberately infuriating his opponents to new heights of excess.
The President’s strategy to provoke such excessively rabid rants is working. In today’s public life his own excesses and flaws seem merely human in comparison to the behaviour of his opponents. The President is what he is, he never claimed to be a particular moral or polite individual. This is unfortunate for his opponents who fall into the trap of claiming the high moral ground, but justifying their own corrupt misbehavior as okay because the hate the President.
The Mueller inquiry will not destroy President Trump, but it has already destroyed the credibility of President Obama, Hillary Clinton, James Coomey, and most of the senior Obama era FBI, DoJ and Intelligence personnel. Even anti-trump supporters are beginning to look askance at the New York attorney general, and Manhattan District Attorney’s Office misuse of prosecutorial power for partisan political purpose.
The President has effectively destroyed the justification for never ending wars. No matter how many senior military commanders complain, the President has shown civilian authority, not the military, determines US policy. The era of an “imperial” America as the world’s policeman has come to an end.
American leftist advocates, like yourself, always make the mistake of judging the noisy utterances of leftist media outlet outside the US as representing world public opinion.
In fact, no world leaders think President Trump is either a “laughingstock or pariah” . It’s true it took a while for some national leaders to understand and learn to cope with a US leader who no longer could be controlled or relied upon to play the international game.
What they have found is Trump is a reformer, unafraid to wield US economic power to advance US interests. They have discovered a President totally disinterested in “symbolism”, effete “international agreements” or even being liked. It’s been very disconcerting for world leaders to discover the US President no longer gives a damn about eagerly sacrificing US interests, just to be hailed with the empty phrase “leader of the free world”.
It’s come as a rude shock for the rest of the world to be forced to deal with a US President unafraid to tear up unworkable agreements and be pragmatic. Quickly, world leaders have learned to respect and be very wary of President Trump.
The Trump administration will end, but the changes it’s wrought will remain and be expanded upon because the world has changed, and won’t change back.