The continuing soap opera of the Trump presidency

Could there be a deeply concealed strategy to all this confusion and lack of maturity as demonstrated by Mr. Trump?

If you haven’t noticed by now and in the interest of full disclosure, it must be stated that I am of the conservative bent, but concerned primarily with critical thinking, fairness, and objectivity.  I fully realize that no one can be completely fair and objective, but I, like Diogenes, continue to search.  I certainly could find neither fairness nor objectivity in the media, from either side no matter how hard I search.  Certainly, I am amused at the calls for centrism or politic-free actions by members of our legislative branch both nationally and locally. This can be roughly translated every time we hear such calls as “I am right, you should realize that and yield to my superior insight and intellect and accede to all my demands”.

It is my opinion that we have Mr. Trump in office for one or more of three reasons:

First, he is an outsider and most of the electorate is sick and tired of business in Washington being conducted as it is.  Most perceive that our elected representatives are primarily in office to a) get re-elected; b) make their chums and donors money, and/or c) establish themselves in a lucrative retirement package that none of us can afford.

Second, a great number of Mr. Trump’s supporters were voting against Mrs. Clinton and the Clinton legacy.  I will entertain the hypothesis that there was an element of misogyny in that vote as well, but a great number of Mr. Trump’s votes were not necessarily for him, rather an action against Mrs. Clinton.

Third, and I think most important, was that Mr. Trump would select conservatives to the Supreme Court and the Federal Courts. With a vacancy on the Supreme Court as he took office, it was felt by many that it was imperative that a conservative occupy the White House and make those judicial appointments.

I would also maintain that, except for his hard core supporters, most of those who voted for Mr. Trump or chose to support him on his staff were not, at first, surprised at his bombastic style, fly-by-the-pants policies and decisions;  caustic handling of the press and congress; regular use of hyperbole; and daily flip flops when explaining his actions. They may have even gotten some amusement at the discomfort his behavior caused the “establishment” in Washington.

But I have got to wonder whether that act of unbridled hubris is wearing thin or even becoming alarming.  I feel so sorry for his spokespeople who issue a statement regarding his actions (most recently see the Comey firing and the Russian intelligence debacle) and then, mere hours later, find that Mr. Trump has issued another explanation that contradicts the one given by his staff.  Staff members are in a much better position than I to see the workings of the President and perhaps there is a deeply concealed strategy to all this confusion and lack of maturity, but even his supporters have to begin to wonder.

I suppose the other folks who must be cringing each day are members of his party. As Mr. Trump’s style of leadership seems to be, at best, organized chaos with no regard to anyone other than himself and his self-image, each member of his party up for reelection must be thinking of how he or she can distance themselves from the White House.  Of course membership of his party at large must also be wondering how they will be able to hang on to the majority of each house after 2018 elections.

The only folks that I am confident greet each day with breathless anticipation are members of the press and media.  I cannot recall a time when spectacular news items were an almost daily occurrence.  Certainly job security is high for those media members that cover the national news.

I can’t help but wonder how this will all eventually play out.