Trump: Good, Bad, and Ugly or PMI--Plus, Minus, Interesting

 It's sad to see the immaturity that abounds in our country. People generalize too much, and vitriol is ever-present in so many statements. Let’s be real. Seldom is anything cut and dry. People succumb to the availability heuristic bias too often. What they have heard repeated time and again or is in the forefront of their minds often sabotages their own analytics.

Not all Democrats are socialists, but some are. Not all Republicans are MAGA Republicans, but some are. I don’t like what the Trump haters have done to the MAGA slogan. Really, how can you argue with making America great? Many do.

Too many people think that if you like what Trump is doing, you idolize the man. I don’t. He has his good, bad, and ugly traits as we all do.

I decided to break down my analysis of him into a PMI matrix. That’s Plus, Minus, and Interesting. I voted to elect Trump as President three times, but I don’t plan on nominating him for sainthood. Here’s the matrix. 

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
PRO AMERICA	USES “I” TOO MUCH	EGO IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD. TOO MUCH ALL ABOUT ME EVEN THOUGH ACCOMPLISHMENTS BENEFIT ALL.
DEDICATED	DISTRACTED BY PERSONALITIES	BETTER THIS TERM
UNSELFISH	SUCCESS ATTRACTS ATTACKS	DEDICATION INSPIRES SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE AMONG CABINET.
HARDWORKING	INVITES THE AD HOMINEM WHEN WORK ETHIC CANNOT BE ATTACKED BY OPPONENTS.	AMERICA SEES WHAT AN ELECTED OFFICIAL’S PERFORMANCE SHOULD BE.
DEMANDING	SOME CAN’T KEEP UP.	WHAT IF THIS LEVEL OF INTENSITY BECAME THE STANDARD FOR SERVICE!
GETS RESULTS	AMERICANS WITH POLITICS AS USUAL MINDSET NOT READY FOR BOUNDARIES TO BE PUSHED	MUCH MORE SHOULD BE EXPECTED FROM FUTURE PRESIDENTS AND PUBLIC SERVANTS.
NOT A CAREER POLITICIAN	HAS EVOKED HATE FROM MANY BY NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES INSTITUTED BY THE RULING CLASS.	WHAT IF WE JUDGED THE EFFICACY OF OFFICIALS BY RESULTS, NOT INTENTION OR RHETORIC?
NOT IN THIS FOR THE MONEY	THE RULES OF THE GAME SAY IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.	WHAT IF EVERY ELECTED OFFICIAL STOPPED MAKING THEIR MILLIONS IN OFFICE AND SERVED THE ELECTORATE?
BRINGS ON FREE HELP	PEOPLE MAKING MONEY BY USING THEIR OFFICE DISCARD ALL ETHICS TO GET RID OF THIS GUY.	WHAT IF ALL U.S. ELECTED OFFICIALS PUT AMERICA AHEAD OF SELF-INTERESTS, SPECIAL INTERESTS, AND FOREIGN INTERESTS?
EXPOSED FRAUD ON A WIDE SCALE BASIS	INTENSIFIED THE TDS MANTRA TO PROTECT ONGOING SCAMS.	WE MIGHT HAVE NO DEBT IF THIS HAD BEEN DONE 50 YEARS AGO.
PERSEVERENCE	TOO MANY PEOPLE WANT COMFORT OVER TRUTH	I HAVE TO ASK HOW MUCH MORE CAN HE TAKE? THEN I SEE THAT HE HAS SOMETHING—A LOT—LEFT IN HIS TANK.
HAS OWN SYNDROME NAMED AFTER HIM	HAS OWN SYNDROME NAMED AFTER HIM	THOSE WITH TDS LOSE ABILITY TO REASON IN MANY THINGS, NOT JUST TRUMP ISSUES.
EFFICACY!!! NEVER HAS A PRESIDENT DELIVERED ON CAMPAIGN PROMISES LIKE THIS ONE. NEVER!	CREATES HATE AND RESISTANCE FROM MANY IN ELECTED OFFICE. THE GIG IS UP. NOW THE PEOPLE WILL EXPECT THE SAME FROM ALL.	WHAT IS WE CELEBRATED HIS VICTORIES AS A NATION THE WAY WE ONCE DID FOR OTHER PRESIDENTS. WHAT IF WE JUST ALL BECAME AMERICANS ONCE AGAIN.

 

For much of my adult life, Ronald Reagan was my favorite president. He was the great communicator. He also did some things I didn't like. Not allowing the Marines that he sent into Beirut to have ammunition was chief among them. He was the Commander in Chief, and the death of 241 Marines on 23 October 1983 rests on his shoulders. I am more disappointed that General P.X. Kelly didn’t call him on this, even if it would cost him his job. You hate to have to say a Marine officer needed to grow a set, but he did.  Still, Reagan was the ultimate commander, and this tragedy falls squarely on him.

In the final analysis, I liked Reagan because he sought to reduce government spending and government control over American citizens' lives. In the end, he had little efficacy.

I thought Jimmy Carter was a failure as president. His weakness emboldened the Iranians to seize our embassy in Iran. The Marines there were not allowed to defend the embassy. The Iranians attacked the Russian Embassy about the same time. The attackers were repelled with machine guns. I love the example that Carter set after office. It was good to see Christ in him.

As for presidential performance, he was not effective.

Two Bushes and a Clinton get lumped into a politics-as-usual category. None knew efficacy.

Obama was unique. He won on a platform of “Hope and Change.” He delivered on change—little that I saw as good —but hope was just a tagline. Efficacy was as impotent as most of his predecessors.

Biden was the puppet in a coup d'état. Twenty million votes didn’t come from increased voter registration. Conspiracy theory, you say? Consider the resistance to investigating (searching for the truth) anything related to the matter. What is the sine qua non for a coup? You must succeed. YOU MUST SUCCEED! There is no alternative. You do what you must to hold power.

If you can’t bring yourself to see this, consider how little consideration was given to an overwhelming popular-vote victory for a man who spent most of the campaign at home, afraid of a virus (or having to speak and think at the same time). Yes, the vocal blunders were common even in 2020.

Were we duped and the votes manufactured, or was Biden’s mundane campaign so impressive that 20 million voters never seen before emerged from the woodwork? Neither alternative is desirable.

If the goal of the Biden presidency was to weaken America, he maxed out the scoring system. As far as doing his job, he was pitifully ineffective, if he was even the man in charge.

And then we come to Trump, Donald J. Trump. I didn’t like him at first. He sometimes pushed the limits of civility. He had a checkered past. He just didn’t fit the presidential model that mediocrity had produced.

Then I saw that business as usual would just mean more self-serving elected officials and public servants. Once he took office, it was clear this man was different. This man did things differently. This man got results, not for himself, but for America. Love him or hate him, he pegged the efficacy meter.

Donald Trump didn’t need politics to get rich. He was already there. His second term began with a blitzkrieg. He hit the deck running and never slowed down. Fraud and wasteful government spending were identified like never before. The armed forces were properly equipped. One nation after another got in line with fair trade. The United States was no longer an easy mark for fast money in international commerce.

Love him or hate him, his efficacy was top shelf.

I could go into many different aspects of the aforementioned presidencies. Those listed are those that stayed with me. I’m sure that you have some good, bad, and ugly perspectives on those in your lifetime.

I liked Kennedy. I knew he was an American patriot, a Commissioned Officer, and a war hero. I was young and politically naïve then, and President Kennedy didn’t live long once in office. I was older for the Johnson Administration and had some political wherewithal for the Nixon years, but I can’t be as analytical with them as I can with those that followed.

But Donald Trump is the man in the arena right now. I thought some analysis might benefit what has become a melee of vitriol in the public discussion.