Being Leader of the Free World is Not Easy. (Even I Knew That, Why Didn't Trump?)
Being leader of the free world is not easy. A lesson that Donald Trump is learning quickly. I am not sure if many of his supporters seem to realize this fact, where the United States is in place on the global stage at this moment in history. I know it is difficult for many Americans (supporters and opponents alike) to imagine or grasp this concept as many of us struggle to make ends meet. The last question most Americans are asking is, “Why are we the hegemonic state in the world?” Some of us are too busy asking ourselves, “How do I pay my rent/mortgage?”, and that is if we are one of the lucky ones. However, those of us are not running for President of the United States, it is not important to ask such global questions. The ones who do run (and eventually win) should have at least asked those type of questions and more before even making his/her first campaign speech.
Since World War II, the United States has been the modern day Roman Empire. We have spread our empire through capitalism (via our policies and multinationals and democracy, sometimes even by force without a care for another nation’s sovereignty) and our military. There is a price to pay by our citizens and our leaders to be the Roman Empire. We have sacrificed lives, money and time, and for those who want to claim isolationism now, well, that proverbial ship has sailed. We are the hegemonic state of the world, whether we like it or not. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of our capitalist and imperialist empire. I would love to see us be a more multilateral player on the world stage. However, we cannot just abandon everything we've done, it would be too irresponsible to our allies and those nations we have destroyed in our greed. We would need a slow and multinational commitment to relinquish our status to a global player while maintaining our sovereignty. It’s not too late to “roll back” our power, there are peaceful and reasonable ways to do so that would not cause more war or global economic destruction. However, many in power would never be in favor of such a thing, because it would mean working with other nations and taking a lot of time. If anything, it would be more important to keep our economic power than our military, but we seem to choose the latter.
There is a reason why you want your President smarter than yourself, so he/she can listen to those smarter than him/her and make tough decisions. And this is going to sound arrogant, but Trump and most of his advisers do not appear politically smarter than me, an unemployed mother of two with a Master’s Degree in Political Studies from a local small state university. I am not a Harvard or Yale trained graduate, far from it. I went to state universities for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I consider myself just a tiny above average intellectually, but I, unlike Donald Trump, would have known what the job that he fought so hard to get entailed. At least his advisers should have warned him. The strangest part of all this, is that he didn’t know what the job entailed. He thought that he would be able to just make speeches at rallies, sign executive orders and all would be done, as if he was a mad king. One example is his admitting that he “didn’t know healthcare would be so complicated.” Another one is that he doesn’t seem to have a clear understanding of the situations in the Middle Eastern, most notably Iraq and Afghanistan. So, he is “leaving it up to the generals.” So, even the most basic part of his job as “commander-in-chief” he does not understand or want to perform. Finally, I often wonder about his advisers, including Pence, if they really knew and if so, do they have a backbone. Is there anyone in his administration that tells him: “Sorry, sir, but the President does XYZ?”
Most alarming is his first foreign trips in the Middle East and Europe, including the G7 and NATO meetings, displayed that he didn’t understand what he was getting himself into when it came to the Presidency, and as leader of the Free World. His trip was anything but successful, with the German Prime Minister questioning the U.S. leadership in the global arena. As previously stated, we are the hegemonic empire of the world, for good and bad. Now, we will see our leadership diminish in the world, but not in the way I would have expected. If the Trump Administration continues to “deconstruct the administrative state” including our foreign stance, I am afraid we and the world will pay the economic and security price. You just have to look at his administration's dismantling of the State Department. The one possible silver lining is that if we reduce our leadership role in the global arena, maybe we can concentrate on internal issues that are tearing our country apart.
Further evidence of how he did not know what his job entailed as POTUS and Leader of the Free World is the fact he was whining about his first trip abroad. Did he pay attention to the travels that many of his predecessors had made over the years? A travel itinerary is a necessity for the leader and his surrogates of the free world. Why are we involved in Israel so intimately? A large part that is that they are the no. 1 recipient of foreign aid, since 1967. This is one basic reason why we feel obliged to work out some peace agreement for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Why are we so involved in North Korea? Because our obligation toward South Korea (see the Korean War). You see, even a simple sense of history would explain our international commitments, never mind the more recent ones that have been created with Iraq and Afghanistan. If we want to continue the Roman Empire then we must be prepared to sacrifice. If I know this, then surely many of his Goldman Sachs advisers realize this. He either is unwilling to be informed or his advisers do not want to inform him. Either way, when he wanted the job he should have educated himself.
At age 70, I am not sure where Donald Trump has been for most of his adult life, it’s as if he never really paid attention to politics or if he just wanted to continue this fame as a TV reality or Twitter star. As many American football fans, it is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but we all know that a majority could not do what these athletes do on Sundays. He, admittedly, is like the rest of us when it comes to what it really entails to perform a job under pressure. We can all bitch about what we would have done if we were so and so, but we all know none of us really would know. For Americans, there is a heavy price to pay for the election of an alleged billionaire reality star who thought that creating and implementing policy was easy. I can only guess that he thought that the role of U.S. President only included speeches and cheers, and talking “smack” on television or Twitter. If he thought that every one of his predecessors only played the ceremonial head of state, he was dead wrong. Again, I am not sure who his advisers were when he decided to run, but they did not let him know that this position entails so much more, especially in a democracy, the “great” experiment. You know they may have the American Constitution on audio or video, sort of like they have books on tape. He or his advisers might want to check them out, along with an abbreviated versions of American History, Foreign Policy and the role of the Presidency. This statement is snarky, a bit, but I am being serious. I think Mr. Kahn had it right when he suggested it to Mr. Trump during his DNC speech. I am disheartened that this country with all its great, good, bad and ugly history would ever elect a person who had no intention of winning or wanting the job. He really is a Con Artist, unlike any the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, it will be us that will ultimately pay the price.
He has faced criticism and challenge over his “f*cking wall" (the words of former Mexican President Vicente Fox) and Muslim Ban and seems surprised. Welcome to reality, Trump. Only those who attended his rallies cheered at the ignorant and unlawful promises. (Even now, as President, he continues to hold rallies, as if some deranged despot. The worse being a rally planned in Arizona, so soon after the Charlottesville tragedy.) Be warned I am not the type of leftist who is challenging him about keeping his promises, I’d rather he didn’t get a chance to keep them. I will fight him and his administration any way I can to prevent him from keeping these promises. I don't agree with 99% of them. (I think infrastructure improvement and trade agreement revisions.) He is dogged by the health care reform fight. To his surprise or ignorance, he didn’t count on Republicans, some who are crueler than he is, to stop him from passing any type of repeal (or replace) on the ACA. (We won't even get into the recent events with his so-called support of Racists/Nazis in this writing.)
Even on the most basic Constitutional issues he appears completely ignorant. He has stomped, at least verbally, on the most vital parts of constitution, freedom of the press, the judicial system, checks and balances. (Most of his supporters only seem to care about the 2nd Amendment.) Almost all of his predecessors faced these challenges, instead in a speech to the US Coast Guard, whines about the media. His gripe about the press is nothing new, every administration before him had similar issues, but his labeling the American Press as, “Enemy of America", actually takes it way further than any president before him. Someone should tell him that he no longer can enjoy the free PR he was receiving during his campaign from the media (save Fox News). The media is paying for the sin of making him appear like the equivalent to his opponent, a woman who has served in some capacity in government for the past 30 years. Now, he is facing the scrutiny that his opponent has faced during her tenure as First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State.
The most alarming perception is that some Americans voted for him because they said he was a straight talker, “not a politician.” Really? Many American voters really think they do not want someone well versed in government or policy? Trust me, you want a “politician”, not a business man, maybe someone who was a businessman and then decided to run for public office. BUT becoming U.S. President of the free world, first? Again, we don’t want someone below the American average intelligence spectrum running our country and making domestic and global decisions. I am not sure how we became a nation that seems to know less about the world around us, about our neighbors, our communities, states and so on. It appears that many of us in the age of the Internet and 24-hour cable news have decided it better to only expose ourselves to the “facts” that fit our worldviews. It sounds cliche now, but many of us do live in a media bubble. It is a sad fact that the Internet instead of expanding our minds seems to have shrunk them.
So back to Trump. Prior to the election, he already lived in a bubble that only a wealthy white man can afford, the bubble made worse by his celebrity status. Now that this man has become our President, the bubble in which he lived seems even more evident. What happens to the man when reality hits? What happens to the U.S.? Not so long ago, I was alarmed (yet bitter) when the media quoted him stating that he missed his old life. Sadly, his opponent knew what the job entailed and the media wouldn’t have been her best friend either. She knew how complicated foreign policy and health care was going to be. She knew that she would have to fight Congress to get things done, including those in her own party. But that’s not what his voters wanted, they wanted a rich man, who was not a politician. (And eventually, more rich men and women, as his cabinet is the wealthiest in American history.) He didn’t know or care what the job was like. He thought he could come in, say a few sound bites and “it’s all good.” His old life is where his Tweets didn’t matter as much, he could be the Monday morning quarterback, and it was a time where the media was friendlier to him. His old life didn’t affect 350+ Million Americans plus the global community like it does now. If he wants his old life back, he should go back to it, he’s more than welcomed to do so. This job is not for everyone, and especially for someone who is not a politician. And a Democracy/Republic cannot be “ran like a business.” And as if all this isn’t bad enough, he seems to be a sympathetic White Supremacist supporter after the disaster that was Charlottesville. Obviously, someone didn’t inform him, that he must represent ALL Americans, not those who just mindlessly cheer for him at his rallies or the really wealthy like most of those in his cabinet, but even those who curse his name, like me.
Please know that all the Presidents are our "face” and image for our time and place in history. Trump's image is now our image both domestically and internationally. When he looks like an incompetent buffoon, we look the same. So far our shared image is of that buffoon who is a racist, white supremacist, greedy, narcissistic, psychotic, and genocidal maniac. Then again, maybe he is our mirror image, and it is truly ugly
