KGOldWolf wrote:
We cannot set aside his petulance, childish tweeting and crude behavior because his role as President is to lead and these characteristics permeate his decisions. He poorly represents the people of the US and clearly is not a good role model. He and his antics have harmed US long term interests because he is: a liar, a coward, a hypocrite, an unreliable ally, a xenophobe, a misogynist, a panderer, and is intentionally divisive. He blames others, claims success by reversing existing decisions without offering a better solution, he refuses to take responsibility for his actions, a poor judge of character, he is lazy, and finally he attempts to rule as Monarch issuing fiats to the people. I can show you vivid, valid examples of each of these character flaws but the real issue is that they exist and therefore affect each of his decisions.
If by "economic success" you mean the stock market rally, yes, I do think he is responsible for it because he clearly signaled he was pro-business and talked about dismantling controls that Wall Street considers impediments to increased profits. However, this is not a good decision in many cases. The economy is not so easily changed; it is like a fully loaded oceanic supertanker... it takes a very long time to change course. Unemployment has been steadily decreasing for the past several years, consumer confidence has been growing for several years and so forth so no, I do not consider him responsible for the economic recovery.
I am glad that he has stood up to North Korea, Iran, and has attempted to renegotiate unfavorable deals that were made by prior administrations (not just Obama's) However, his approach to doing these things is inflammatory, confrontational, irresponsible and dangerous. In other words, good goals poorly executed.
Telling people he would "build the wall and get Mexico to pay for it" was an absurd lie that few if any believed. He condemned China as a currency manipulator and then visited China and sucked up to them singing a completely different tune. He claimed credit for huge trade deals but they were not deals; they were letters of intent for which negotiations were already in process and yet remain unconfirmed. He promised to replace the ACA so that no one would be hurt and premiums would be reduced. He had no plan for achieving that, he merely said what he thought people wanted to hear... in other words he pandered to the population. He then blamed Congress for failing to pass a bill having offered no substantive guidance though he said he had a plan. His Cabinet appointments are terrible and are nothing but cronyism. Mnuchin was a shameful opportunist during the housing collapse and now lies about the effects of the new tax plan, Flynn was a criminal and will likely flip on Trump, DeVos has no experience in Education, Zinke is anti-EPA and is already rolling over for the energy industry, Perry (Energy Sec.) is on record as previously saying the Energy Dept. should be abolished, Sessions is an incompetent sycophant who is holding on because it's the best job he'll ever have and will take any form of Trump's public abuse just to keep it, Tillerson is a good guy but inexperienced and the State Dept. is falling apart due to high-level, experienced management departures and so on. These people should be developing policies but they are not and so Trump administration policies are woefully lacking.
That's just for starters but I've already taken too much space on this board.
We cannot set aside his petulance, childish tweeti... (
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