This post is the opinion of the the author and does not necessarily represent The Good Men Project.
Can you remember the 2016 presidential election? It was less than a year ago, so you should.
But so much drama has transpired in Washington, D.C. in such a short time, your inability to recall the raunchy campaign could be excused and understood. Nonetheless, for those of us who do remember the antics of Mr. Donald J. Trump, and who warned others that he didn’t have the temperament to be the President of the United States of America, the question for you becomes: Is Mr. Trump, who attempted to obstruct justice by trying to convince the former F.B.I Director to back off the investigation into potential ties between Russia and the president’s campaign, as bad as advertised? Or, is he more horrifying than expected.
It’s almost for certain that no one who voted for Mr. Trump did so because they found him to be couth. As such, quite the opposite is likely true: Mr. Trump acquired voters because they found his brash, sometimes whiny, always over-the-top presentations, to be either entertaining or, in the case of the frustrated American voter who grew weary of the ineffective by-the-book bureaucrats, refreshing.
The only expectation both sides of the aisle had of Mr. Trump was that he’d be a maverick, but has he broken rules faster, or more often, than anticipated?
For example, it was clear that Mr. Trump wasn’t an honest man – he lied almost every chance he had to tell the truth – but could anyone had foreseen he would isolate Mr. James Comey, the F.B.I Director who the president went on to fire, and ask him to “lift the cloud” of suspicion that hung over him due the agency’s investigation into his colleagues and the Russians? A large group of Americans had no expectation that Mr. Trump would pursue justice on their behalf, but did any of us think he would obstruct it on his?
And, Mr. Trump’s inauguration was preceded by a terrible tweeting habit that he stated he was not “unproud” of, but can you honestly say you prepared yourself for the moment when the president, while his lawyers are in front of the Supreme Court advocating for why the extreme vetting program proposed isn’t a travel ban, would undermine his team’s argument with the exact language and context that his counsel is saying doesn’t exist?
The president came into office with low approval ratings and even lower expectations, and yet, it feels like he can’t even hop over the low bar that was set for him.
A poster in Philadelphia alludes to Mr. Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct. Photo Credit: C. Norris – ©2017.
Disastrous was expected and mediocre was welcomed, but what appears before us seems like a brand of monstrosity that’s foreign to our country, at least for modern history.
Regal not is the White House with Mr. Trump as a tenant. Ruined, Mr. Trump did, the image of sophistication and class that came to define the president’s work-space for the last eight years, despite his whiteness and riches. And because his whiteness is a large reason why he won, the fact that he’s a loser now – he’s losing with federal judges; he’s losing in the court of public opinion; and he’s losing with his own squad – should make him an embarrassment to his race.
I knew Mr. Trump would be terrible and largely unsuccessful in his efforts, but the headlines I read about him are shocking still. If I was afraid that Mr. Trump would be unmanageable, how should I feel now that he appears unsalvageable?
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