WHY?

I’ve never been a political animal, and never supported one party over another.  Two of my favorite modern Presidents are Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.  While radically different in some ways, both Presidents were sincere patriots who offered what they felt the country needed at the time.  And big majorities of voters agreed.  Donald Trump is totally different, however, and presents a number of very serious threats to the US, its system of government, and our way of life.  This is one of many commentaries on him and the dire situation we find ourselves in under his administration.

Why write these essays on the 45^th President, Donald J. Trump?  Hardly anyone reads them, and they change few minds, if any at all.  What, aside from what a critic called the “emotional gratification” I get from this exercise, is accomplished by these commentaries?  Let’s see: 

I like to write, and when pondering a complex, important issue, writing about it helps me organize my thoughts.  It makes me think deeper about the matter, to question my thoughts and feelings about it, to research it and either correct or reinforce those so as to end up with a more accurate perspective.  Is Trump really a fascist?  Is there actual evidence of his involvement with the Russians in the election?  What is the truth about him benefiting financially from being President?  I want my beliefs to match up with the facts rather than just what I’d like to be true, and I am glad to change my views if the facts justify doing so, as I've often done before on other topics. 

Most of what people read about the Trump presidency is pretty harsh, whether coming from his supporters or from his critics.  Folks on both sides typically use pretty nasty, insulting language that mostly repeats the same few, tired phrases.  Trump is an idiot, a criminal, a traitor.  Or, Trump is the only one who can make America great again, and there’s no truth to all the Deep State’s fake news trying to bring him down.  These essays look at specific issues, from a different point of view than you’re used to hearing, using calm, rational language that is backed up by verifiable facts and solid reason.  Mostly.  Yet there’s no denying a bias here, along with some rather harsh language directed at the President, since that’s what we'll see that those verifiable facts and solid reason justify.   

This is a little off topic, but that last point relates to a key complaint about Robert Mueller and his Special Prosecutor’s team: “They may be mostly Republicans, but none of them are pro-Trump, and so the investigation is deeply biased against the President,” many say.  First of all, everyone loved Mueller at first; he was universally praised as competent, fair, and tough.  But as soon as he and his team started looking into the Russian matter, it became unquestionably clear that Trump and his team were dirty, were mixed up with the Russians all along, and were lying about it – all direct threats to the country  What would you expect him or any other patriotic American investigator or prosecutor to do?  Of course you’d want them to develop a bias against the guy and to do every legal thing they could to stop him, right?   

Who Trump is, what he’s done and is doing – are extremely important to understand.  Probably no politician in the history of the United States of America, certainly no President, has been so flawed, and in so many ways.  Donald Trump is making important history that will be studied for centuries to come. 
* The certainty of his being elected with the help of the US’s greatest adversary, and the near certainty of his treasonous cooperation with that country, Russia, in achieving that goal and acting in ways that confirm his indebtedness to Russia. 
* The non-stop lies that leave the country unable to trust anything the man says.   
* The rejection of decades-old alliances, while embracing dictators such as Putin and Kim.   
* The reversal of virtually every type of environmental protective measure put in place by his predecessors.   
* Completely ignoring his own scientists and intelligence agencies regarding critical matters such as climate change, Russian interference, and the Saudi leader’s role in killing an American journalist.  All of these, and so much more, are hugely historic, and not in a good way. 

Connected to that point, many millions of Americans don’t do a good job of following reliable sources about what’s going on.  And even for those who do, memories often soon fade.  Ten years from now, five years from now, even a month later in many cases, the typical American will be fuzzy about what actually went down.  An obvious example is the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation, which most people will remember as simply about accusations that he sexually assaulted women, ignoring all the other critical factors.  So the short paragraph that ends up in the history books will almost certainly fall short of letting people understand what happened – the depth of the whole horrible story.  My essays help document the “whole horrible story” essentially in real time, while the memories are fresh and the facts are easily accessible.   

You’ve probably heard Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote before: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be,
These days, the vast majority of Americans apparently think Jefferson was wrong.  They think that they can ignore what’s going on in the world, with our government, and with politicians, and are unaware of the people and issues who endanger the nation’s future.  38% of adults surveyed say that Fox News is their main source of information on those topics, as it essentially tied with PBS for 2nd most trusted news source in a recent poll (BBC came in first place.)  68% of Americans reported this year that they get at least some of their news from social media.  Fox News isn’t just sharply biased – they regularly report stories that are demonstrably false.  As for social media, it has always been full of opinions masquerading as facts, and of downright false stories – much of which we now know was, and is still being, placed online by the Russian military. 

That’s why I write these essays.  I’d like lots of people to read them, to do so with an open mind, and to go “Geez – I didn’t know those things; maybe I need to reconsider my support of Trump.”  And start talking to their friends about these ideas also.  I’d like the anti-Trump crowd to do more than just hate the guy; it would be nice if they were more active in spreading the word, in standing up and speaking out.  And I see it as one of my civic duties, part of being a patriotic American.  I plan to put my essays all together in a paperback book, and see if anyone is interested.  Probably, these writings will just end up as part of my own library, something to be proud of writing and to refer to in future years.    And if that’s all they are, I’m OK with it, even while hoping for more.