I have made a personal decision not to discuss my political views on social media. This is because I have seen it break up friendships and families. Recently, a friend of mine has begun to post and repost political comments on social media which are very different from my beliefs. I still consider him my friend because of our history and who I believe he is as a person. I believe everyone has their right to their opinion and that shouldn't make them less of a person, since it is your actions that really count in identifying who you are. One of the things he mentioned was that people continue to talk about Donald Trump negatively and don't talk about the good and generous things he has done. I don't have a hate for Trump, and I would suspect that he is liked by many people. I would expect that anyone who has his type of money would have occasions of generosity and philanthropy. These might be things that the media doesn't bring up.
I personally have some respect for Trump being the best conman I have ever seen. He has been able to convince the majority of the people in this country that he has their interest ahead of his own and that he represents them. This is a person who has never served his country in the military, held any government office prior to the Presidency, or spent any time working a public service or regular nine to five job in his lifetime. Trump had two major mentors who, by his own accord, have shaped him with the following principles for success and to gain power. They were his father Fred who was fiercely competitive, dominating and emphasized toughness and Roy Cohn who was a lawyer and political fixer during the 70's and 80's. They taught him to always attack and never apologize, counter-sue adversaries hard, claim victory regardless of the actual outcome, use social media to control the narrative while attacking mainstream media.
These traits served him well in business where he ran everything, but in my mind not what you want as a leader of a perceived democracy. However, he was just the right man for a Republican party which for years, since Newt Gingrich had been speaker of the house, have been looking to establish sustainable power in the government by bullying, obstructing and absolutely no compromising with the other party. If there was a deep state it was being created by the conservative wing of the Republican party. The idea is to consolidate power into the executive branch so that control of the government and their plans can be ongoing. By the way, this is the way democracies fall over time. Mitch McConnell was able to deny President Obama for appointing a Supreme Court judge, which allowed the Republicans to place two conservative judges during Trumps first term. The court gave the power to corporations to provide unlimited amounts of money towards the election of candidates. This basically killed the idea of one man, one vote.
I don't think Trump is the problem, but the people of the administration are, along with the policies they have convinced him to put into place. Unlike most people I have read the entire Project 2025 document. It is blueprint for everything that is going on now, without considering Trump's own narcissist behavior (wants to change Washington to have his name or stamp on everything including our money) and the belief that he is smarter than everyone (smarter than the Generals, the Economist, the Scientist). This document does have some points which I agree with, but because of Trump's incompetence in these areas, and his desire to have loyalist in positions versus experienced and competent people, the implementation has been horrible and extremely harmful to the country. Reducing government waste and red tape is something that should be done, but to eliminate whole agencies with a proper implementation plan, or to going and reduce experienced staff and personnel as Elon Musk did has proved to be a travesty. Eliminating DEI is in the document as a way of maintaining power and to some extent the white supremacy doctrine.
Trump and the policies which he is enacting will cause geopolitical unrest. His bullying techniques and poor thinking have us using tariffs, in an attempt to bow to America's washes to enrich itself as country without the cooperation of our previous allies. It is also costing the American consumer considerable pain to rich the President says they should endure. This is again part of the failed thought that if the rich make more, they will let some it trickles down to everyone. People cannot count on America to act responsibly as we enter trade wars, military war with Iran, limited support against Russian and Israeli aggression, and the folly of a President renaming bodies of water, building ballrooms and Arch's at the capital, and continue to push changes in elections based on a debunked conspiracy theory that if he doesn't win someone has to be cheating.
I believe in a better immigration policy than we previously had but the current policy with ICE is terrible. They are untrained which leads to the deaths of innocent people. They are not concentrating on going after the worst of the worst or criminals, but a blanket approach to removing anyone of color. This includes people who have been here for decades with productive lives and families. Part of the reason these people are identified is due to the bureaucracy that it takes to become a citizen or even have visas, permits reviewed.
The fact that Trump is making deals with foreign countries, in cryptocurrency, and American business that are enriching him and his family is also contradictory to everything that we would want from our top leader. The fact that he does these things in plain sight is even more disturbing. I don't know where we are headed but the idea of Make America Great Again appears to be just the opposite. We seem to be going backwards regarding race relations, foreign policy, and even economics. Our national debt is only going larger every year, while the gap between the haves and have-nots is also growing larger. I think that through this Trump presidency our country will never be the same. Love him or hate him there will be a price to pay.
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