Donald Trump has officially become the 45th president of the United States. To be more accurate, he is the 45th president under the U.S. Constitution. We forget about the presidents who served under the Articles of Confederation.
As I have stated previously, Trump has put his life in great danger by taking some of the positions he has, and picking some of the fights he has. This isn’t about him having squabbles with celebrities or certain reporters. It is about his entire challenge to the establishment and the status quo.
Trump has questioned the U.S. empire overseas. He has questioned belonging to NATO. He says he wants to get along with the Russians. More recently, he has been taking on the CIA and other intelligence (so-called) agencies. He has also shown the establishment media for the liars that they are, at least for anyone who cares enough to look.
Trump has put himself in danger, but it isn’t from a lone nut who thinks he is a racist because he heard it on television. The threat is from the establishment. It is the heads of the CIA. It is the Clinton family. It is the Bush family. It is McCain and Graham in the senate. It is the other elements of what some refer to as the deep state.
I hear over and over again that Trump is a bully. The only problem I have with this characterization is that most of the verbal fights that involve Trump are either with political opponents or people who initially went after him. In this sense, he is a defensive bully if anything.
If Trump’s wife is worried about him being a playboy, I am not sure she has to worry much anymore. He is too busy sending out tweets about celebrities at 3:00 in the morning.
Trump supposedly doesn’t sleep much though. He really is the opposite of low-energy Jeb. Trump can spend five hours a day responding to insults and still have another 12 hours to make speeches, have meetings, and study policy.
While some consider Trump to be a bully, I think his persona is the reason he won the presidency. This is an important point to realize. People are tired of being walked over, and they are tired of electing people who get walked over. The typical Republican politician gets elected and then proceeds to backtrack on almost everything that was said about taking on Washington or reducing big government.
People want an advocate. They want a fighter, as long as he is perceived to be on their side. They don’t want somebody who is going to roll over.
For all of you libertarians out there, imagine if Rand Paul had won the presidency. Do you really think he would have the guts to take on the CIA directly? Do you think he would tell a CNN reporter that he works for a horrible organization that puts out lies? Do you think he would continually challenge the establishment?
Ron Paul, if he had been elected president, probably would have challenged the establishment in a more quiet way. Ron Paul is a gentleman and probably wouldn’t have gotten involved in squabbles. Then again, it may be part of the reason he didn’t get even more votes than what he did in is presidential runs. If you don’t fight back, then the American public accepts the lies that are told about you.
Here is a reality check. If Trump hadn’t continuously fought back on Twitter and elsewhere, he would not be the president. He had to fight back, or otherwise the lies told about him would have stuck more than they did. They have still stuck with about half the country, but the other half likes that he fights back. They want him to fight on their behalf as well.
We have no idea what Trump will do as president. Maybe he will continue with his tough words but lay down on the major issues. Maybe it will only be a slightly different status quo, although we can hope for better.
The major problem with Trump for libertarians is his lack of grounded principles. He does not understand basic economics, and he does not have any firm and consistent beliefs that span the issues. His main principle is that he wants to judge each individual issue on its own merits. He certainly has no understanding of a concept such as the non-aggression principle.
Still, given our current populace, I think Trump might be as good as we could have hoped for. If he has some honesty in him, and he tries to take on the forces of evil, then it will be a service to all of the good people in the country (and outside the country) whether they know it or not.
We have not had an honest president since at least Ronald Reagan, and I’m not even sure about him. It’s possible that Jimmy Carter was honest, but he was too incompetent even if he was. I think Kennedy had some honesty within him, which is likely why he was taken out by the CIA.
Over the next 4 years, I think a major goal for libertarians should be to help honest Trump haters understand just why he was elected. There are some people out there who hate Trump and can’t understand how he could be elected, yet might be open-minded enough to listen to some reasoning. The biggest problem these people face is that they do not comprehend how evil the establishment forces are. They don’t understand how bad big government is to their liberties and their pocketbooks.
You don’t have to defend everything Trump does in order to do this. We know Trump will do some horrible things, particularly on the economic front. But it is important to point out that people voted for Trump because they feel forgotten and wanted an advocate. They were tired of the lies, and they were tired of the elite who think the little people don’t matter.
Trump may or may not be a bully. But many millions of Americans saw his toughness as a giant middle finger to the establishment. Some people are tired of being walked over and want to be left alone.