My #NeverTrump stance flowed from three beliefs:
- I assumed his boorishness and inexperience would make him too toxic to be elected and deliver the White House to the Clintons. I was wrong about that.
- I believed he would govern as a Democrat, but with less of a pants crease than David Brooks might prefer. That may happen.
- I also assumed that, if, mirable dictu, Trump would get the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he would turn out to be a fraud and a charlatan and would destroy the Republican Party brand. That may happen, too.
So, where does that leave me? I’m willing to take a wait-and-see attitude on Trump. If he uses his power wisely, I will support him. If he doesn’t, I’ll remain critical. I don’t think it’s really that different from where many of my fellow citizens are. And it's the stance I would have if somehow a different Republican were standing where Trump does today. My loyalty doesn't belong to any person, because every person has flaws.
While it was hardly inevitable that Donald Trump would be president in 2017, it is inevitable that 2017 and the years to follow will be a struggle. Trump can do things to make life better, but the heavy lifting will have to come from all of us and most of the work ahead is beyond Trump's control. Time to get to it.
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I think you have the right idea, but we are all going to have to be far more diligent if we want to "help." For example, the headlines this morning are "Trump open to keeping some parts of Obamacare." I was outraged. Then I read further that he wants "repeal and replace" to include pre-existing condition coverage and 25-year-olds on their parents' plan. Once it is explained to him that we had these things BEFORE O'care, and could easily have them again with O'care completely gone, we can all support that.
What we have to beware of is that the media will constantly try to mischaracterize Trump's common sense proposals to drive his support down.
i never expected Trump to be anything like Reagan. i never really expected that he would actually sit in the white house either.
i supported him, loud and proud, for reasons i've already explained here on this forum...
now that the deed is done, i dont have to.
as for the GOP: its change, or die.
About the only change needed is to get some spine and stand up to the media.
Great thoughts, Mr. D!
Still hoping that at least somebody loses their job over the email scandals, and that somebody also goes to jail. I saw one of the WikiLeaks exchanges and realized that everybody was doing government work, but nobody was using a government email. FOIA ought to be fun with that habit.
I knew from the start that the fix was in. It was unimaginable that POTUS and his SOS would not exchange emails, so Obama KNEW she was breaking the law from the get-go. We cannot have THAT investigated.
I assume Trump's inclination is to simply drop the matter, and I think that is wise. Let the Clintons retire to whatever anonymity we can bestow on them.
Jerry hits on the big reason to prosecute; if we do not, Obama becomes an "elder statesman" free to pretend that his administration is scandal free and rides a Clinton-like wave of corruption to billionaire status.
An even bigger reason to prosecute: Deming's proverb "your system is perfectly designed to give you exactly the results you're getting." The system as it stands today is a "hidden factory" designed to circumvent FOIA requirements and thus hide wrongdoing. If we do not prosecute a number of offenders (whether this includes Obama or not), or at least relieve a number of people of their jobs, the message is clear--ignoring the law is what you do as a bureaucrat, and you do it in service of the left. We will end up getting the same results no matter who lives in the White House until we start taking this seriously.
Quite obvious that Obama intends exactly that-- big new home in DC and a proclamation today that his administration is "scandal free." I call BS.
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