Trump: Winner or Loser?

Trump: “We’re going to win so much – win after win after win – that you’re going to be begging me: ‘Please, Mr. President, let us lose once or twice. We can’t stand it any more.’ And I’m going to say: ‘No way. We’re going to keep winning. We’re never going to lose. We’re never, ever going to lose.”

Let’s look at the record so far.

Donald Trump lost his election by 2.8 MILLION popular votes, the largest popular vote loss in American history. A national poll by Public Policy Polling shows that President Trump’s disapproval rating has gone from 44% soon after his election to 53%. Support for impeaching Trump has gone from 35% to 46%. Now 49% of Americans oppose his Executive Order on immigration, and of those who do support his action, a majority cite the non-existent Bowling Green massacre as their reason. The same poll found that far more Americans trust the judiciary to make good decisions than trust Trump. In fact, voters even find Saturday Night Live more credible than Trump. A very large plurality of voters dislike Trump’s choices for cabinet and advisors.

He is losing the court battle over his immigration ban after his promise to fight it (“See you in court.”).

He lost Michael Flynn his National Security Advisor after only 24 days, the shortest term in history. The White House knew about the contacts Flynn had with Russian intelligence officials for weeks because our intelligence agencies had recorded the conversations, but the administration took no action until the information was reported by our news media. Now President Trump is outraged by the “leaks” rather than the lying by Flynn and the involvement by Russia in Trump’s election. What a contrast that is to Trump’s praise for WikiLeaks when he wanted to focus on Hilary Clinton’s emails during his campaign.

He lost Vice Admiral Robert Harward when Harward turned down the job of replacing Mike Flynn because the White House would not allow him to pick his own staff and perhaps because of the dysfunction of the presidency. Apparently Trump was more committed to the loyalty of his political plutocrats than to the professional opinion of his prospective national security advisor.

He lost Andy Puzder as Secretary of Labor right after reports of allegations of spouse abuse against Puzder from 1986. In spite of Puzder’s ex- wife’s subsequent recanting of her allegations while in a divorce and custody battle, the original police reports are convincing. The administration seemed to not want public focus on the Puzder allegations. Perhaps that’s the same reason Trump has dropped his threat to sue all the women who accused him of sexual assault and the lack of attention on the well-documented allegations of domestic violence against Steve Bannon.

He lost Monica Crowley as communications advisor after reports that she plagiarized her book, some newspaper columns and her doctoral dissertation.

He lost Secretary of the Army, Viola Vincent, a billionaire who was charged with assault.

Trump should lose Kellyanne Conway for violating ethical standards by promoting Ivanka Trump’s brand on national TV. But that offense is consistent with Trump’s illegal nepotism and self aggrandizement.

All those who hoped Trump’s nasty, hostile, impulsive attitude and dishonesty would become more civilized once he took office are being proven wrong. While his policy actions are outrageous and have potentially devastating long-range consequences, his character flaws are even more dangerous. He flaunts his ignorance of government structure and procedures, constitutional principles, international diplomacy, scientific facts about the environment, and basic economic concepts. He is flagrantly narcissistic, which means he does and says whatever he thinks will benefit him in the moment with no regard for the impact on others or the nation. He is impulsive, volatile, thin-skinned, and extremely immature in his reactions to any criticism or disagreement. His only response to a perceived disagreement or slight is to personally attack and denigrate the opponent. He rarely, if ever, counters the opposing argument.

Trump’s pattern of inveterate lying during his campaign was far greater than any other presidential candidate and has continued unabated. He shamelessly makes statements that are verifiably false –
>  The press “has a lower approval rating than congress” (fact: newspapers 20% positive; congress 9% positive);
>  “The murder rate in our country is the highest it’s been in 47 years, right?” (Fact: the national murder rate in 2015 was the LOWEST since 1970);
>  “Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning.” (Fact: officials estimate at least 60,000 affected by the immigration ban).
>  “If you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very, very tough to get into the United States. If you were a Muslim, you could come in, if you were a Christian, it was impossible.” (Fact: federal data showed Muslims and Christians and 86 other religions or no religion were admitted from Syria).
>  “We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College.” (Fact: recent presidents who had a larger percentage of electoral votes than Trump are FDR 4 times, Truman, Eisenhower 2 times, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan 2 times, George H. W. Bush, Clinton 2 times, and Obama 2 times. In fact, only 12 of 58 elections in U.S. history were won with fewer electoral votes than Trump).
>  There was “serious voter fraud” in Virginia, New Hampshire, California, etc. (Fact: no credible evidence has ever been presented, and the claims have been refuted by election officials in each of those states.).

President Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires who have little or no qualifications for their government jobs. He resists advice from the professional staff members in agencies that are crucial for the safe and efficient operation of our government. It appears that his usual style of bullying and demanding his way that was his privilege in his private, family owned and managed companies will not work as a national leader.

Thank goodness our system of government has checks and balances built in that deter Trump from acting as the dictator or king that he wants to be. He and his sycophant minions can still do a terrifying amount of damage. We citizens must resist in every way possible and hope that our well-designed form of government will withstand even this onslaught.