Worse Than What?

Am I happy that President Trump has an unsavory personal life, is crude, and had little background to prepare him for the presidency? Of course not. He was literally the last Republican I wanted to win the 2016 primaries.

Remember that Democrats set the standard of separating personal life and marriage fidelity from policy with President Bill Clinton (and less publicly with President Kennedy).

Democrats set the standard for lying with Clinton, too, although he was far more sophisticated at it, putting "parsing" into our vocabulary for figuring out "what the meaning of 'is' is."

Democrats set the standard for crudity with President Johnson.

Democrats set the standard for accepting a thin resume' with President Obama.

I'm not happy my side managed to combine them all in this Gordie Howe hat trick, but you deal with who you have and not who you wish you had. And the fact that the Democrats had the corrupt Hillary Clinton.

And I hope the next Republican president reverses course on those traits. Which is quite possible. Every president shapes the party they lead. And that fades once that president is out of office. So no, the Republicans haven't become a cult of personality built around Trump. There is far more evidence that Obama had a cult of personality built around him. But what of it? Obama may be active behind the scenes, yet what Democratic leaders pay much attention to him? Just wait (6 years) and see.

At least Trump will have taken care of the thin resume' issue with four years of being president behind him. That's not the ideal way of getting experience, but Obama forged that path to nullify that objection, too.

And given who the Democrats will choose from to unseat Trump, how can I not vote for Trump in 2020?

That said, I am getting tired of all-in Trump supporters who can't seem to understand that while my support for many of his policies (and my continued joy that Hillary Clinton is not our president) tamps down my distaste for him personally (and my early worry that as a former New York liberal he could have gone full big government populist if the Democrats had even an ounce of sense to work with him), that does not mean I too will go all-in for him. That's not how I roll.

And I'm tired of the never-Trumpers on the right who cannot let go of his leg even after seeing policies put into effect that they should support. I fully understand how they could not like Trump. Before 2016 I made no secret of my distaste for him and my distrust of him. And truth be told, he's kind of a jerk. But his policies have earned a little tolerance for his personal flaws and his past politics, no?

Nor has Trump tanked our economy, shut down the press, established concentration camps for gays, banned Moslem immigration, or established a neo-Nazi dictatorship that all seemed to be a sincere (if ridiculous) worry by liberals in January 2017. And again, do any of the Democratic candidates now out there competing in the Woke Victim Olympics inspire any confidence that they will be better?

Elections are not about electing a savior. We choose between two humans and one is going to be better than the other--even if you frame the choice as one will be worse than the other.

Choose. And then work to make your choice better by supporting what your choice does and criticizing what your choice doesn't do. That's what I'm trying to do. I will not be a fervent Trump backer nor will I descend to Orange Man Bad madness.  And I don't care what names you may call me.