The Trump Controversies and Washington

President Donald Trump

By JIM PURCELL

I think it is important for Americans to soldier on and not get sucked into the vortex that is Washington, DC, to some extent. Yet, it is clear that some big mistakes have been made by President Donald Trump in the five months he has been in office.

I don't want to focus on the mistakes: I do not want this column to be so long. And, listing them would not serve my point.

The United States requires a leader that is not flamboyant, who handles business and, to the greatest degree possible, is not ever-present in their field of vision. A sense of high drama is necessary for many professions in life, but being president is not one of them. Some of our best presidents have been nearly invisible from the daily machinations of media and everyday life: Eisenhower and Reagan among them. The American republic does not require television ratings, it requires sensible leadership.

I served in the U.S. Army during the Cold War in the then-Federal Republic of Germany. One false move, one reckless phrase, and our nation would have been plunged into a terrible war, the likes of which our nation would still be recovering from. However, at the time, we had "The Great Communicator" in the Oval Office, in the person of Ronald Reagan. And, thank God for it.

In many ways, Mr. Trump is the antithesis of Reagan. He is not a great communicator; he is not even a good communicator. Trump is also highly emotional and prone to fits of bravado, anger and rash actions. I do not know if our nation can afford such actions in the Office of President. And, if we can afford it, for how long can we do that?

Not 100 days into his tenure at the White House, most alarmingly, Mr. Trump pursued a potential showdown with the North Korean government, endangering tens of thousands of American servicemen and women on the Korean Peninsula. This was something that no president, including Eisenhower, did. There are a lot of good reasons for not wishing to ignite the Korean War, I think, and not many good reasons for doing so, if there are any at all. His instincts are all wrong for the job.

I do not know what the answer is. I know that neither Mr. Trump nor his immediate family are the answers for the American people and whatever his tactics were as a businessman, they are not helpful in his role as this nation's chief executive.

The president cannot be 'bigger' than the country, nor the Constitution or the parochial concerns of the nation. Yet, here we are. Well, America elected a reality star and that is what we have gotten. I think Mr. Trump must have thought he was being elected king or czar and not the president of a democratic republic. Thankfully, this nation's government has been designed with safeguarding features in the event that someone who had great problems executing his office were ever elected as president.

It is vital, if Mr. Trump is going to remain in office, that, at the very least, every safeguard of the president's power be left in place and used enthusiastically. To constrain Trump, and lessen the capabilities of the presidency, is not a step I would like to see. In the continuous history of this country, since 1786, every other president was lucid at all times (maybe with the exception of Andrew Johnson at times). However, perhaps thinking about new restrictions on the president might be a good idea, given that a voter error on the scale of Trump occurred at all.

Perhaps the most important issue for me in what Trump has been doing is not his random acts of mindlessness. No, the most telling practice of his that disturbs me is his want to solicit personal oaths of loyalty from public office holders. I am sorry, but America is not his company or private dwelling. Public office holders should never be forced to issue oaths of loyalty to a man above either God or this nation.

One way or the other, it is my most fervent hope that our houses of Congress and judiciary are steadfast in their service to guard the American people, since it is clear the executive branch is not as functional as most Americans would like.