President Trump's Worst Instinct

If the Vice President (Mike Pence) had “absolutely no right” to change the Presidential Election results in the Senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the Democrats and RINO Republicans, like Wacky Susan Collins, are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election? Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!

- Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States

Those who know me know that although I'm not on "Team Trump", I'm not completely opposed to him, either. He has some good instincts, such as championing the cause of the country in which he was born. Of course one should put one's own country first when formulating government policy. What else is a government for in the first place?

But then there are his bad instincts: His lack of discipline. His narcissism. His name-calling. Some of these faults are merely rhetorical. Call them his personal "style". As there aren't a lot of politicians whose style I actually admire, that's never been a big deal to me. Sure, I like my politicians to act like Chief Operating Officers: quiet and efficient, sitting in the corner with the data, running the show. But sometimes a firebrand is needed. Sometimes you just gotta fire everyone – or at least credibly threaten to do so.

But Trump's worst instinct is manifestly disqualifying: he believes that only he deserves to win, and everyone else deserves to lose.

Is there a more unsuitable belief for the representative of a democracy to hold? I can't think of one. Politics is compromise. It exists by consent. That's the whole reason we fund it, the whole reason we grant it the power to rule: to talk things out; to give all voices a chance to speak; to share power and responsibility.

It saddens me deeply that President Trump is clearly still thinking of running for office. This latest statement that Pence had the "right" to change the outcome of the election (!) should be completely, utterly, and immediately disqualifying. No. H-E-double-hockey-sticks NO.

The January 6th Committee is a farce, but they are right about one thing: President Trump was a threat to democracy. And anyone who believes the same thing about "winning" is a threat, too. (There are a surprising number of those on the left; this belief is entirely non-partisan.) No, his threat doesn't rise to the level of being a crime – that's what the January 6th Commission gets wrong – but it's still a threat. Something doesn't have to be illegal to be even outrageously wrong (slavery and elective abortion comes immediately to mind.)

In my opinion, if the Republican Party nominates Trump for a second term, they will lose. I feel very confident of that. Trump is not as bad as Hillary Clinton, but only marginally so. Only by the barest margin. He had his shot, he raised the hairs on our necks from coast to coast, and now he needs to go back to being a real estate developer and a political gadfly. Thank you for your service, now please kindly go into the night.

Image Credit: "Donald Trump" by Gage Skidmore