Do we really need another Trump rant?

Note: This was originally published on Feb 7, 2019. It all still seems very relevant. If anything, the events of the past 16 months put further emphasis on some of the points made in this blog.

Railing against Trump, his team ( enablers?), his narcissism, his ineptitude (not to mention, how little he cares about such claims), and indeed, his megalomania, is rather easy to do. The talking heads on CNN do it for several hours a day, always breathlessly presented as “ Breaking News “ even when they had just reported the exact same thing two hours ago. And one hour ago. And 30 minutes ago. Well, you get the picture. I rarely learn anything of value from the “experts” who somewhat comically jostle for space behind a ridiculously small table (it’s not clear why the CNN bosses won’t just spring for a slightly bigger table). I still watch periodically though, because the other choices are Fox News — which I can stand for about 30 seconds without risking a dangerous spike in my blood pressure — and MSNBC, which is mostly just an echo chamber for the far left (save the always thoughtful Rachel Madhow). A vicarious rant is also a lot easier on my psyche — I can simply turn off the TV or switch to ESPN when it gets a bit much. Intellectual depth is not exactly the forte of these pundits and most of what passes for “analysis” are like empty sugar calories — it feels good for just a bit, but the feeling wears off quickly and you are left with the low. Of course, superficial sound-bite expertise is not the cachet of CNN alone — it is pretty much the staple of all these “news” channels.

Back to our illustrious President, as he embarks upon the second (& one hopes, final) two years of his presidency. Most of his detractors get almost apoplectic when they encounter yet another stupendously idiotic or inhumane tweet or are presented with another fact-free claim in service of his current agenda. I, for one, believe that such reactions are just a waste of energy.Every thoughtful American (& indeed any citizen of the free world) should be rightfully troubled by the schism in our society that Donald Trump seems determined to widen. Too often has American moral authority played second fiddle to realpolitik, but never in greater measure than under Trump.Whether it is the Saudis, or the Russians, whether it is the coal and oil lobby, or whether it is the immigrant-baiting policies promoted by White Supremacists, the reflexive approach seems to be to label their “political correctness” as simply too dangerous for the nation. But still, I don’t think there is much value in living with the fear that the sky is about to fall down.

First, some historic perspective is useful.Reagan is a hero to traditional Republicans, but he did not exactly have the surest grasp of policy or indeed, could be trusted not to make a mess when speaking off the cuff, in public. As Seymour Hersh outlines in a recent essay in the London Review of Books, his advisors lived in terror that Reagan would make major foreign policy flubs if he was not forced to just read off of a script. There is also plenty of precedence of the US coddling up to terrible dictators and regimes simply because it suited their purpose — democracy, human rights, and the rule of law be dammed.In other words, Trump’s presidential incompetence is not unique and neither are some of the morally suspect policies that his administration promotes.

This is going to be heresy to the vast majority of you that have read this far, but some good may even come from the Trump presidency. It is undeniable that the number of women (& many of them first-timers) who ran for and won elected office is a direct reaction to Trump.I dare say that the Me Too movement almost seems inevitable in the Trump era.The trade war with China seems a bit juvenile (& pandering to his base), but China is making concessions and maybe it takes one bully to make another bully pay attention, or at least pretend to. China is of course adept at playing the long game and may be content to make a few conciliatory noises while waiting for Trump to leave office.

There are many who would dearly like to see Trump impeached out of office. I was one of them. But now, I believe that that would only make him a martyr to the cause — he and his supporters will always be able to claim the mantle of somebody who was done in by the “deep state.” This is a legitimacy that I would rather that he not have.

The best way to exorcise ourselves of the Trump demons is to deliver a resounding defeat at the ballot box.He must lose the 2020 elections and badly at that. He needs to be consigned to the bins of history as an ineffective one-term President who didn’t deserve even that. Trump fears irrelevancy more than anything else — and there is no more fitting way to exact some measure of consolation for having endured four years under Trump than for the voters to turf him out of office and render his entire term inconsequential.

Originally published at http://4kumars.blogspot.com.