In the midst of the last episode in the Trump-Russian crisis Donald Trump tweeted this.
My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!
As a father can you blame him? I would probably do the same if it were my son. And many Trump supporters think that way too. And in some ways, it is very natural.
But in other ways it misses the meaning of the presidency. When you become President you become President of all the people. That means going against personal interests and even family. It means making the US your family.
Still many Trump supporters will stand with Trump and this tweet.
Why? The answer lies within that tweet.
Many folks voted and still support Donald Trump because they want to be him:
- They want to be wealthy beyond their imagination.
- They want to control their lives and tell anyone to go fuck off.
- And they want to make their family comfortable.
But that is saying we want our President to be a family patriarch or, at worse, a crime family boss. Even worse, it shows our weaknesses too. Too many of us seem to want a daddy who will pave the way for us rather than a Dad who offers wisdom and then stands back and lets us find our way.
Why are we like this?
We’ve screwed up a simple American formula that has worked for a couple of centuries. It is the battle between the individual and the common good. That constant battle has kept America growing while giving us laws we can all live by.
But over the past two decades and now in the Age of Trump, it is way out of balance. Now the individual rules while the common good can go stand in the corner.
- We have income inequality because profits come first.
- We’re told tax breaks for the wealthy leads to jobs for the poor when it doesn’t.
- The unwritten social contract no longer exists: if you work hard and don’t get into trouble, you will have a roof over your head and beer in the fridge. This is articulated first in George Packer’s book, The Unwinding.
But we also see this daddy do this for me factor when it comes to freedom in Strangers in Their Own Land. Let me paraphrase:
Too many people emphasize their “freedom to do what they want” while negating other people’s “freedom from having to endure the needs of a few”.
Trump is not the reason, but the symptom brewing for years.
And unfortunately, he is not the one to stabilize the formula.
Don’t negate Trump’s abilities.
- He is a brilliant marketing tactician.
- His ability to message and sell is beyond none. He knew how to speak to the voters of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin when no one else did.
But those are skills for a real estate developer and a TV producer – not a President; a domineering Dad not a doting Daddy.
Trump does not possess the skills we really need now:
- He is not like the leaders found the in the book, The Fix, who overcame massive national problems to find solutions.
- He is not Churchill as we saw in Churchill and Orwell, whose harsh humor was only tempered by his massive empathy, and at times displayed by moments of weeping for the plight of citizens.
I want Trump to succeed for all of us. But I don’t think he has the personality or ideals to pull it off.
Sure, he has empathy for those close to him, but not for the masses.
Sadly, too many Americans are with him.
Who’s your daddy now?
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