Pragmatic if unpredictable
It turns out the key thing about Trump is his pragmatism. Who knew?
But both sides consistently misread Mr. Trump’s success. He isn’t edging ahead of Mr. Biden in swing states because Americans are eager to submit to authoritarianism, and he isn’t attracting the backing of significant numbers of Black and Hispanic voters because they support white supremacy. His success is not a sign that America is prepared to embrace the ideas of the extreme right. Mr. Trump enjoys enduring support because he is perceived by many voters — often with good reason — as a pragmatic if unpredictable kind of moderate.
Well. Even if it’s true that many voters see Trump as a pragmatic moderate – and that’s a big if – it’s not at all clear how that perception would make everything else about him tolerable. It’s not at all clear, in particular, how that would cancel out or soften the glaring reality of what kind of human being he is – the sadism, the bullying, the domineering, the conceit, the nonstop aggression, the greed, the lying, the cheating, the theft, the exploitation, the hatred, the contempt, the narcissism, the selfishness, the vulgarity, the relentless shoving punching kicking brutality.
I guess I’m some kind of dreamy clueless optimist underneath, because I still have a hard time believing that most people like that kind of thing.
To be sure, Mr. Trump’s wild rhetoric, indifference to protocol and willingness to challenge expertise have been profoundly unsettling to people of both political parties.
His “indifference to protocol” is it. Is that what you call it. Euphemism much? January 6 was indifference to protocol was it?
His term in office was frequently chaotic, and the chaos seemed to culminate in the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.
Seemed? What would convince you it more than “seemed”?
But it is worth remembering that during his presidency, Mr. Trump’s often intemperate rhetoric and erratic behavior ended up accompanying a host of moderate policies.
And then he tried to take power by force. No biggy.
I have to wonder why the Times published this glurge.
Probably because they sacked an editor over the Tom Cotton op-ed and are less censorious now, but I think an op-ed by a sitting senator is of considerably greater public interest.
Mind you, Hugh Hewitt and Marc Thiessen are constantly getting similarly asinine columns published in the Post.
A frightening number of Americans seem to want a monarch – preferably an absolute one – and they imagine the president as just such a being. Although all of us will say how much we value ‘freedom’, that mostly seems to mean freedom without having to make hard decisions. They want someone to do the hard parts for them.