Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Floundering

The president is floundering at what matters most: solving problems for American families.

In fact, his only 'success' to date is his disruption of the First Amendment, perhaps because his tweets are about defending himself and disconnected from the policy work needed to solve problems for American families.

Six months in we should not be surprised. But we should see the need to become more engaged.

Before the election we regularly observed a man without a moral compass, who has repeatedly failed as a husband and businessman, and lacks the compassion and moderation that comes with maturity. More specifically...

We observed on multiple occasions, with our own eyes and ears, Trump...
...treating more vulnerable Americans with contempt
...treating women, veterans, and even gold star families with contempt

We observed on multiple occasions, with our own eyes and ears, Trump...
...has repeatedly failed in business, doing nearly nothing of consequence with his large inheritance, other than outsourcing jobs, stiffing vendors, suing everyone in sight, six bankruptcies, and (among similar ventures) an entire Fake University designed to rip-off hard working Americans.

Since the election we have regularly observed a man without a moral compass, who has repeatedly failed to bring us together around his self-proclaimed status as deal-maker-in-chief, and lacks the respect for analysis, listening, consistency and compromise required to steward democratic problem solving and policy making. More specifically...

We observed on multiple occasions, with our own eyes and ears, Trump...
...reverse himself on promises that were central to his campaign, such as...

  • NAFTA, Fed, NATO, executive orders, Import-Export Bank, and cuts to Medicaid are all okay
  • Spending millions of tax payer dollars on travel and gold is now okay
  • Bombing Syria without Congressional authorization is now okay
  • Chinese currency manipulation is no longer a problem
  • Lobbyists in the White House are now okay
  • Releasing White House information (transparency) is no longer important
  • Colluding with a hostile foreign power to rig an American election appears to be okay
  • And he expressed surprise to discover what everyone else has known for decades that 'health care is complicated' as legislative efforts to reverse his promise to provide affordable health care for all Americans advance with his blessing

Leadership failure is not new and was not invented by President Trump. We all know that for decades before his election concern about government gridlock (failure to solve problems for American families) was high. And when those failures hit a community hard, like Flint Michigan's lost jobs and water crisis, seeking refuge in a brilliant huckster promising to disrupt DC becomes more appealing than it otherwise might be.

At six months in it is time for all decent Americans to begin the process of coming together around solving problems for American families. We need to come to this conversation with empathy and compassion, particularly for those living lives and seeing the world differently that our own.

It appears that some, perhaps as many as 30% of Americans, are hard-core Trump supporters. We will likely not persuade them to recognize their error and join the New America Coalition. We should remain careful in our efforts not to demonize or fall prey to the kind of hyperbole that dehumanizes them (because some might join us and others might sit this one out).

Our focus should be on more energetically and empathetically reach out (none of us has a monopoly on the truth and democracy works best when ideas clash to forge better policy) to other Trump supporters who made a mistake, or were duped, or are so desperate that 'disruption' sounds like redemption, and together rebuild America both one neighborhood at a time and in DC.

No comments:

Post a Comment