http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com
While the good, the bad, and the ugly seems to me an apt metaphor for Donald Trump, most people would find the title too broad, too encompassing. Either he is loved or he is hated. To his fans, he is, to use his own words, the “Greatest President Ever.” To his opponents, he is an incarnation of Hitler. He is certainly not a Nazi, as his opponents have termed him, and he was not “chosen by God” to lead the United States, as his ardent supporters have said. Hyperbole, so common among todays’ politicians and commentators, is a consequence, at least in part, of the hatred that divides our nation.
I see the good in Mr. Trump in his condemnation of ‘woke’ policies that have corrupted politics, schools, universities, and social organizations – manifested in identity politics, where merit is sidelined by an emphasis on race and/or sex, and where gender is not a biological term. I see it in his signing of the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” that made the 2017 tax cuts permanent. I see it in effectively closing the southern border, so that illegal migration into the U.S. has slowed to a trickle. I see it in his combatting inner-city crime, where victims – as well as perpetrators – are overwhelmingly people of color. I see the good in Mr. Trump in his abiding support for Israel, at a time when anti-Semitism has spread throughout much of the West. And I see it in the unprecedented peace that his plan for Gaza may bring to the Middle East – an accord that perhaps only he could have achieved. I see it in his straight talk with our European allies who risk economic and social collapse, with their falling demographics, increased welfarism, an over-emphasis on “green” energy, declining defense spending, excessive regulation, wokeism, and high taxes. I see good in his availability to the press. And I see the good in some of his cabinet picks, like Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent and Doug Burghum, and his in Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
I see the bad in Mr. Trump in his support for tariffs, which have raised prices for U.S. consumers, and in his call for lower interest rates, which stroke speculation, discourage savers, and hurt the U.S. Dollar. I see the bad in his attempt to get the Federal Reserve to bow to his demands, and in his refusal to reach out to those who oppose his politics. I see the bad in his failure to increase legal immigration, to acknowledge that the United States is, and always has been, a nation of immigrants. I see the bad in Mr. Trump in his abandonment of conservative principles that call for smaller government, rule of law, less regulation, increased competition, to be accountable, and to encourage greater individual freedom. While I see the good in Mr. Trump’s singling out universities that foster censorship and which have disemboweled conservativism, I see the bad in him demanding adherence to his rules. And I see the bad in some of his cabinet picks, including his Vice President J.D. Vance, but also in Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi and Robert Kennedy, Jr. (Vance has been a particular disappointment, so different from the decent and respectable advocate for personal responsibility depicted in his autobiography, Hillbilly Elegy, which I read in 2016.)
