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Thinkpost Goes Viral
Mar. 24th, 2020 03:06 pmI went looking through my archives to see what I specifically said about Donald John Trump prior to his election.
Look, I'm not the egotist here. I know my journal isn't why anyone voted for (or against) Trump. And I'm lucky if someone other than me reads these missives, let alone responds to them. But I wanted to see for myself if there was anything I could have or should have said differently just for the sake of my own peace of mind.
I noted that in one entry, I referred to Trump as a "successful businessman" as a passing remark. And, in the comments section of that piece, I suggested he was "a great New York character, right up there with former mayor Ed Koch, former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and Vogue chief Anna Wintour."
In other words, I was being glib, not presenting the true picture of who this guy was. And though calling Trump a "New York Character" is actually accurate, it made him less threatening, more fun.
Trump did have some success in the business world, but that's tempered by the fact that he operates his business in relative secrecy. The Trump Organization is not a public company and no Annual Reports are sent to any shareholders. So what manipulations that happened during his dealings can only be exposed based on his partners, his banks and the principals who were involved. And there was a legion of bad commentary about Trump from all of those sources.
One of the points I had hoped to make clear was that Donald Trump had no concept of what the job of President of the United States was. And even in this post where I warned that Trump was a candidate that wasn't going away, I stated, "we know Trump gets projects done. He builds buildings, he makes money, he finishes the work and still has time for all of the other stuff he does."
Though, in the comments, I followed up by stating:
"I really don't think Trump is savvy at all when it comes to this! That's really the kicker, and why he could be completely successful. He keeps stating that he "doesn't know how to debate" or he "isn't used to campaigning" and people are so willing to forgive and support him for "being honest" about it. That's just another element of his demeanor that people can relate to and like.
The whole "failing upwards" is a political trope! Keep moving forward and if you stumble, you can just say you don't really know what you're doing, apologize, and move on to the next step. People love to see someone big screw up, as long as they're honest and forthright about it."
My point in bringing this up now, of course, is we have a crisis, a global pandemic and my hometown is, once again, "Ground Zero." New York has the most cases in the United States. And we knew it was going to go like that, even before the first case was reported. This virus spreads through human contact and there's no more densely populated place than NYC. PLUS we have a public transportation system that we pretty much all use.
Donald Trump's complete unpreparedness for an event like this (or just being incapable of handling the day to day work of the Oval Office) is one of the points I was trying to make during the 2016 US Presidential Election. This is a man who is out of his depth when needing to respond to people. In his company, he got to call the shots. But as POTUS, you are serving the American people. Donald Trump is nobody's "servant" except himself and people who can do something for him. That's been true since he first emerged on the public scene.
And now, we're seeing just how Trump handles a difficult situation, and it keeps getting uglier day by day.
Even cartoonist and Trump cheerleader Scott Adams has shifted his commentary away from the president and onto ways to get to sleep and how to get cozy under your blanket.
There are, as I write this, over 50,000 cases of this novel virus in the US, with more than 25,000 of them in New York state. Our governor, Andrew Cuomo, has been everything that Trump is not. He deals in facts. He tells the truth. He shares practical advice. He is actively working for New Yorkers and more importantly, he is fighting for health care professionals. I don't know where we'd be without Governor Cuomo.
The story of this virus is, in many ways, just beginning and it is exposing many truths about this country that many citizens didn't know, refused to believe or maybe thought they liked, until now. Suddenly, socialized medicine is something that looks pretty good to some Americans that balked at the concept just a season ago.
How the story will end is completely unknown, but we certainly can make some educated guesses, based on the choices we make and the decisions that politicians make.
But, and this is the important thing. If politicians make choices that go against the suggestions of doctors, nurses and other caregivers, for your health and well-being, and for the health and well-being of our country, you must ignore those choices and stick with the facts. This virus can be conquered, if we do what we're supposed to do, not what a president who is concerned about the economy and how that reflects on his approval rating tells you.
Look, I'm not the egotist here. I know my journal isn't why anyone voted for (or against) Trump. And I'm lucky if someone other than me reads these missives, let alone responds to them. But I wanted to see for myself if there was anything I could have or should have said differently just for the sake of my own peace of mind.
I noted that in one entry, I referred to Trump as a "successful businessman" as a passing remark. And, in the comments section of that piece, I suggested he was "a great New York character, right up there with former mayor Ed Koch, former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and Vogue chief Anna Wintour."
In other words, I was being glib, not presenting the true picture of who this guy was. And though calling Trump a "New York Character" is actually accurate, it made him less threatening, more fun.
Trump did have some success in the business world, but that's tempered by the fact that he operates his business in relative secrecy. The Trump Organization is not a public company and no Annual Reports are sent to any shareholders. So what manipulations that happened during his dealings can only be exposed based on his partners, his banks and the principals who were involved. And there was a legion of bad commentary about Trump from all of those sources.
One of the points I had hoped to make clear was that Donald Trump had no concept of what the job of President of the United States was. And even in this post where I warned that Trump was a candidate that wasn't going away, I stated, "we know Trump gets projects done. He builds buildings, he makes money, he finishes the work and still has time for all of the other stuff he does."
Though, in the comments, I followed up by stating:
"I really don't think Trump is savvy at all when it comes to this! That's really the kicker, and why he could be completely successful. He keeps stating that he "doesn't know how to debate" or he "isn't used to campaigning" and people are so willing to forgive and support him for "being honest" about it. That's just another element of his demeanor that people can relate to and like.
The whole "failing upwards" is a political trope! Keep moving forward and if you stumble, you can just say you don't really know what you're doing, apologize, and move on to the next step. People love to see someone big screw up, as long as they're honest and forthright about it."
My point in bringing this up now, of course, is we have a crisis, a global pandemic and my hometown is, once again, "Ground Zero." New York has the most cases in the United States. And we knew it was going to go like that, even before the first case was reported. This virus spreads through human contact and there's no more densely populated place than NYC. PLUS we have a public transportation system that we pretty much all use.
Donald Trump's complete unpreparedness for an event like this (or just being incapable of handling the day to day work of the Oval Office) is one of the points I was trying to make during the 2016 US Presidential Election. This is a man who is out of his depth when needing to respond to people. In his company, he got to call the shots. But as POTUS, you are serving the American people. Donald Trump is nobody's "servant" except himself and people who can do something for him. That's been true since he first emerged on the public scene.
And now, we're seeing just how Trump handles a difficult situation, and it keeps getting uglier day by day.
Even cartoonist and Trump cheerleader Scott Adams has shifted his commentary away from the president and onto ways to get to sleep and how to get cozy under your blanket.
There are, as I write this, over 50,000 cases of this novel virus in the US, with more than 25,000 of them in New York state. Our governor, Andrew Cuomo, has been everything that Trump is not. He deals in facts. He tells the truth. He shares practical advice. He is actively working for New Yorkers and more importantly, he is fighting for health care professionals. I don't know where we'd be without Governor Cuomo.
The story of this virus is, in many ways, just beginning and it is exposing many truths about this country that many citizens didn't know, refused to believe or maybe thought they liked, until now. Suddenly, socialized medicine is something that looks pretty good to some Americans that balked at the concept just a season ago.
How the story will end is completely unknown, but we certainly can make some educated guesses, based on the choices we make and the decisions that politicians make.
But, and this is the important thing. If politicians make choices that go against the suggestions of doctors, nurses and other caregivers, for your health and well-being, and for the health and well-being of our country, you must ignore those choices and stick with the facts. This virus can be conquered, if we do what we're supposed to do, not what a president who is concerned about the economy and how that reflects on his approval rating tells you.