Hatred of President Trump

 

 

Shortly after President Trump’s election an old friend told me that I ought to be “sick to my stomach” at Trump’s behavior. I replied that my stomach was fine, and asked him to please list a couple of things that Trump has done as President that he found objectionable. He declined to provide anything except to say that it was Trump’s personality and behavior that disgusted him. Like many he played the amateur psychologist and claimed that Trump was “narcissistically self-aggrandizing.” In other words, he didn't like the President and it won’t matter what he does.

I suspect that this attitude is shared by most of those who today literally hate the President despite lawn signs proclaiming that “Hate Has No Home Here.” They vehemently dislike the man and everything about him including his family. From the beginning his detractors have complained of every word and gesture. 

One acquaintance recently told me that the President was totally evil and responsible for everything that has gone wrong in the country. He is responsible for the 200000 coronavirus deaths as well as the fires raging in California. When I asked her if she could think of one good thing the President had done, she could not name one. 

Unfortunately, relentless hatred against Trump has meant that too few have bothered to discuss or assess what he has actually done in office so far. There has been a steady flow of vitriolic venom directed against his person, his words and even gestures, but no real discussion or evaluation of his public policies or actions. It should be possible to have a rational discussion of these policies without descending into invective against Trump. Even though actions are supposed to speak louder than words, words travel faster and fake news travels even faster.

Perhaps the President’s greatest achievement so far is the fact that he is still in office after more than three years. When the President took office, there were many who believed that he was unfit for the office and would not be able to govern or even form an administration. They predicted that his Presidency would not last 4 weeks much less four years. We know that at the beginning there were those in high places in government who even conspired to remove him from office. The Mueller investigation was part of this effort.

Now despite continued opposition from Democrats that sought to constantly obstruct the President, and even led to a highly partisan attempt at impeachment, the President is still in office and can point to a number of real achievements. 

Just recently his administration brokered an unprecedented deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates that led these two long-time enemies to establish relations. A few days later the President announced that a similar agreement had been reached between Serbia and Kosovo. Efforts of precious administrations had come to nothing.

When I mention these achievements to people, they express disbelief probably due to the fact that a Trump-hating media is censoring any news that would reflect credit on the President.  One person I know dismissed the news and claimed that these peace deals would not last.

Some people have noticed. Recently, a Norwegian parliamentarian nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize because of his role in the Israel/UAR settlement. That was followed by another nomination for his role in the Serbia/Kosovo agreement. Most people have not heard this news, and when they do they dismiss it and claim that the nomination process is flawed. Headlines and lead articles on Yahoo news are mainly negative.

You have to dig deep to find that the Norwegian, characterized as far-right, who nominated the President claimed that the Nobel committee “should look at the facts and judge him on the facts—not on the way he behaves sometimes.” He concluded, “I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other peace prize nominees.”

I wonder what the President’s critics thought of the Nobel process when President Obama won the Peace prize after only one year in office, and with no foreign policy successes. 

It used to be an axiom in American politics that while the parties could disagree vehemently on domestic issues, they would come together and support the President in his dealings with foreign countries. Nevertheless, President Trump has never been able to count on the support of the Democratic party in his dealings with foreign powers, whether friend or foe.

He tried, for example, to broker a deal between North and South Korea that had the potential to end the North Korean nuclear arms program. Who knows what success he might have had if the Democrats had stood behind him on this vital issue? Instead, by constantly seeking to de-legitimize him and even remove him from office, they obviously weakened his negotiating position. What a shame.

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