Well, I have to confess I am confused. Is President-elect Trump good or bad? Before my friends on the left blast me and tell me he is horrible, and my friends on the right tell me he is a savior, know that I am not taking sides. (I admonish my friends on both extremes to read the whole blog to understand my point.)
It must be stated that I respect consistency. The ancient philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, who was a leader in Cynicism, went about during the day with a lantern looking for a man. (It is assumed he was looking for an honest man since most people were assumed to be dishonest.)
Wonder how he would do today? One way to find an honest person is to find someone who sticks to their values. They do not vacillate based on the prevailing winds. Note that I am not saying people who stick to their values are correct, but respect their consistency. Ellen DeGeneres had the determination and the money to move to England since she does not like Trump, unlike others who said they would move but are sticking to the United States for financial reasons or because their attitudes would not always be welcomed in other countries. I respect the people on the "View." They are consistent, too. They hated Mr. Trump before and after the election. Let me be clear again: I support their consistency, not their philosophy.
I have one friend on the left who would move to Canada to get away from Mr. Trump but, for family reasons, is constrained to stay in the United States. As my friend and I have discussed the president-elect, it is evident that he has a visceral dislike and distrust for the incoming president. In fairness, his dislike pales in comparison to what I have heard on NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other news sources. I respect my friend's attitude. He disliked Trump before he was elected, and he still dislikes him.
What puzzles me, however, is people who have changed their attitude about the president-elect. Joe Scarborough used to like Donald Trump, but then he hated him. Now, he has gone calling on the future president. This is logical. He is an entertainer. So, he has to go with the public opinion flow. After Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election, it was understandable for Mr. Scarborough to trash the former president because that is what his audience wanted to hear. Let's be fair to Mr. Scarborough; he miscalculated. He never believed that Trump would be back in power. Probably the only person who never doubted the president-elect's potential was Donald Trump.
I do feel sorry for Mr. Scarborough if he believes his shift will help him. I doubt that he will attract Fox News viewers. I assume he will continue to lose liberal viewers. Again, Mr. Scarborough is an entertainer. Indeed, he thought all this through before he visited the president-elect. I mean, he saw the election results, and the popular vote probably shocked him. He feels compelled to move to the middle—well, maybe not to the middle, but at least a few degrees closer to the middle. Those of us in the middle have very little company.
Now, we come to another convert, General Mark Milley. In October of this year, The Washinton Post ran the following headline, "Trump is 'fascist to the core,' Milley says in Woodward book." I cannot attest to General Milley making this comment, but I know The Washinton Post would not run a headline that was not true.
Now, we discovered in November that the retired general's attitude has been modified. A recent headline read, "Gen. Mark Milley Optimistic About America's Future." I'm not sure why he changed his mind, but some theorize that Milley is afraid he will be called back to active duty and then could be held accountable for his actions by President-elect Trump. I have no way of knowing if this is the general's concern, nor do I know if he has done anything wrong; I doubt it. But his change of attitude seems odd. The general has had lots of opinions, including how banks should act. Maybe he should stick to lecturing banks.
To quote the former columnist, Paul Harvey, "Now for the rest of the story." General Milley was appointed to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs by Donald Trump. Did he dislike Trump then?
Wonder what Joe Scarborough or retired General Milley would have said if Donald Trump had lost the election. One can imagine that Scarborough would not have visited Trump's home, and Milley would still be criticizing the former president.
Now, before my conservative friends start to gloat, let me point out that I would have to write a lot of blogs to examine all the Republican politicians who disliked Mr. Trump when he announced he would run again but seem to think he is terrific now. The old cliché still holds: winning is everything.
To my friends who disliked Trump before and after the campaign, I respect your consistency. To those who liked Donald Trump before and after the election, congratulations, you never gave up, and I respect your consistency. To those who shifted, all I can say is, "Really?"
However, I have a different perspective than my friends on the right, who think the president-elect should upend the world, and those on the left, who believe he will kill democracy. I just want the president-elect to do well. This is not a pro-Republican or anti-Democratic party statement; instead, it is a realization that if Donald Trump does well as president, the country will do well.
Usually I do not mention religion in my blogs, and I am not trying to convert anyone. However, I feel compelled to point out that I am an Anglican. Every Sunday, we have a joint prayer titled "The Prayers of the People." The person leading the prayer always prays for the president; it does not matter if the president is a Democrat or a Republican. There are those in the church who were not happy when the prayer was for Donald Trump, and there were other members who were not pleased when the prayer shifted to Joe Biden. For my friends on the right and the left, I have no bias. The prayer is really for the country; hopefully, the prayer always focuses on the success of whoever is president.
One thing is highly probable. In a few years, we will all be arguing over the candidates for the presidency. I hope we are consistent about who we like or dislike next time. May we respect people who have standards and stick to them, even if we strongly disagree with their positions.
Picture by Vecteezy
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