In
an interview with a German newspaper, Tucker Carlson undoubtedly caused a lot
of Trump supporters to flinch when he spoke frankly about what he sees as the
president’s shortcomings. Right out of the starting gate, he stated that
he intensely dislikes Trump’s self-aggrandizement and boasting.
Tucker
is not alone on this one. Those of us who support Trump’s proposed agenda
(repeat, proposed) feel pretty much the same way. It’s very
sad that President Trump has such an insatiable need to bluster about his
achievements — even when the facts don’t back up his words — because it’s
probably cost him a record approval rating.
One
of the most basic rules of good human relations is to be aware that people hate
arrogance and love humility. Puffery is a self-destructive trait, and one
that is totally unnecessary for someone of Donald Trump’s stature.
Tucker
went on to say that he doesn’t believe Trump is “capable of sustained focus”
and that “I don’t think he understands the system.” Perhaps, but if he
understood the swamp system too well, he probably would not be as good as he is
at thinking outside the box.
When
asked whether President Trump has kept his promises, Tucker answered
unequivocally, “No.” Which probably is not totally fair, because Trump
has, in fact, kept many of his promises. But Tucker is right when he
points to the three biggest promises of his campaign as being unfulfilled:
- Build
the wall.
- Defund
Planned Parenthood.
- Repeal
Obamacare.
I
would cut Trump some slack on the failure to repeal Obamacare, because he did
put a lot of effort into it. Unfortunately, the childishly vindictive
John McCain was still around then, and he took sadistic pleasure in killing the
repeal bill. With liberals Murkowski and Collins always standing guard to
protect just about any Democratic legislation, Trump missed getting the job
done by one vote.
Defunding
Planned Parenthood, unfortunately, turned out to be a low priority on Trump’s
list, so it never got any real attention. Too bad, because he could have
been a hero to tens of millions of voting Americans who do not appreciate being
forced to subsidize a company that exterminates babies.
But
the wall, of course, is Trump’s signature promise, and what’s so frustrating
about it is that it could have been built by now had he been willing to stick
his political neck out. I like tough talk, but only when it’s backed up
by action. Trump is a tough talker, and he often does take action, but
there have been far too many times where he has not backed up his words with
action.
As
I said in my September 26 article, when it comes to dealing
with the Dirty Dems, negotiation is capitulation. The admirable thing
about the Democrats is that when they have the power, they don’t
negotiate. In fact, they are so committed to their causes that they
usually don’t negotiate even when they don’t have the power to
call the shots.
Republicans
are just the opposite. They are the fair-minded party of Rubio, Romney,
Flake, Corker, Sasse, Gowdy … ad nauseum … always anxious to have a friendly
chat with Democrats on any issue. Please understand that they don’t do it
because they’re bad people. They do it because they’re naive.
Boy
Scout Republicans live in a dream world wherein they seriously believe that
their fair-mindedness will be rewarded with reasonableness from their
Democratic “colleagues.” Of course, it never happens — and it never
will. Nevertheless, they continue to persist in such naïve, time-wasting
behavior.
The
main focus of my article “Negotiation Is Capitulation” was on how the
Dirty Dems rewarded the Republicans’ willingness to negotiate and debate in the
Kavanaugh hearings with never-ending, vile attacks on Brett Kavanaugh. It
only ended when Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell finally showed some backbone
and said “Enough!” — then finally forced a vote. And, of course, the
Dirty Dems continued to scream bloody murder that a mere six FBI investigations
were not enough.
This
is why in my article “Combatting the Swamp Injustice System” I made
it clear that Trump “should give the Dirty Dems the middle finger and
immediately nominate Matthew Whitaker as the permanent attorney general.
No debate; just do it.” Sadly, it didn’t happen. Instead, Trump ran
away from Whitaker and chose William Barr for the AG post.
My
fingers are crossed on Barr, but the fact that he was George H.W. Bush’s
attorney general makes me uneasy, to say the least. Whitaker seemed like
a better bet to get to the bottom of the Russia-collusion hoax and pursue Dirty
Dem criminals ranging from Horrible Hillary to Barack Obama to the upper
echelons of the DOJ and FBI. We shall soon see if he is serious about
pursuing equal justice under the law.
Having
said all this, while I admit I have long believed Trump would easily win
reelection in 2020, I am now starting to wonder about that. If he does
not build the wall — not a $5 billion portion of the wall, but
the whole wall — there’s a good chance the Dirty Dems will
take the White House in 2020 and, for all practical purposes, the final
fundamental transformation of America will be assured.
The
truth be known, Democrats did not stop Trump; he stopped himself. He
could have brought the Dirty Dems to their knees by shutting down the
government a long time ago. He also could have taken money for the wall
from the military budget. Or come up with an endless number of other
creative ways to get the wall built. (Including forcing Mexico to pay for
it by simply threatening to cut off all trade with them.)
Let’s
be clear: Trump is a far more effective president than any of the other
Republican candidates would have been, but Tucker is right when he says that he
doesn’t seem to be capable of sustained focus. He needs to zero in on an
issue and see it through to completion. From this
point on, it has to be an intense focus on the endgame of every important
agenda item and a relentless determination to move in for the kill as quickly
as possible.
With
all the phony legal issues dogging him (none of which are likely to bear any
fruit), Donald Trump, as great a dealmaker as he may be, needs to be even
greater. By being candid about his shortcomings, Tucker proved to be a
better friend to him than Hannity. Instead of cheerleading, he’s trying
to help him. Hopefully, Trump will take Tucker’s words in the
spirit in which they were intended.