I thought I’d pass along this smart and readable analysis from Bill Otis (Ringside at the Reckoning); as I’ve mentioned before, he and his coauthor Paul Mirengoff are my go-to people for hardheaded, pragmatic, but principled conservative views. They are probably on balance more conservative than I am, but I always much enjoy their legal and political commentary. An excerpt:
During an election where the dominant issue was affordability — in other words, the increasingly obvious decline in the standard of living that many people are feeling — what has Trump been occupied with? Here’s a partial roll call: constructing the White House ballroom (which, in a tone-deaf postmortem that defies description, he presented); remodeling the East Potomac Golf Course to offer a “premium” experience; raising a Triumphal Arch that no one asked for or imagined when they elected him; pressing for prosecutions over alleged vandalism at the Reflecting Pool; venturing into Greenland; attempting to make Canada the 51st state; renaming Lake Ontario; renaming the Gulf of Mexico; and perhaps most conspicuously, ensuring his name is added to the Kennedy Center even though he had nothing to do with its creation. There are plenty of other items as well: Trump passports, Trump one-dollar gold coins, and “commemorative” $100 bills, to name three.
Exactly what does this Adventure in Narcissism look like to the voters — the millions of voters — who feel stretched thin? You don’t need a florid imagination to answer that one. They gave their answer last night.
It’s not like Trump has had no successes. He’s made three excellent Supreme Court appointments. He has tackled corrosive and unjust racial preferences like no one else had the guts to. He declines to bow to transgender bullying. Objective economic data show that, whatever “feelings” may be, the economy grew at a healthy clip just this last quarter. He used force with Iran when, for nearly 50 years before him, Presidents were content to kick the can down the road as the mullahs got closer and closer to getting the atomic bomb.
These are considerable and important achievements, not less so because Trump often acts like an oaf. But his character flaws throw a wrench into nearly everything he does. It’s less that he’s an oaf than that he’s a child, far too often content to do what’s quick and easy while leaving to adults what’s messy and hard. The catch is: He’s supposed to be the adult. The main thing behind the failures that got Trump his butt-kicking last night is not his classlessness, his carefree attitude [toward] the truth or his gargantuan self-absorption.
It’s his immaturity….
The whole thing, as usual, is much worth reading.
