Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Beyond the shocking racism, Trump also revealed what a poor executive he is.

Enough of the back and forth about Donald Trump's revealed racism, his vulgarity, and his dishonesty.   Peel all that away, and we still have a man who claims to be the world's best deal maker, yet who is proving that he doesn't have the basic skills necessary to be an effective executive.

E. J. Dionne, Jr. wrote about it in his Washington Post opinion essay on Monday.  Dionne pointed out Trump's obvious racism, but also his lack of credibility even in his denial -- "especially because he called around first to see how his original words would play with his base."    Then the essay moves on to look at Trump's  mismanagement of the negotiations with the senators.  So much for The Art of the Deal.
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Dionne writes:  "But notice also what Trump's outburst did to our capacity to govern ourselves and make progress. Democrats and Republicans sympathetic to the plight of the 'dreamers' worked out an immigration compromise designed carefully to give Trump what he had said he needed.

"There were many concessions by Democrats on border security, 'chain migration' based on family reunification, and the diversity visa lottery that Trump had criticized.  GOP senators such as Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) bargained in good faith and were given ample reason by Trump to think they had hit his sweet spot.

"Trump blew them away with a torrent of bigotry. In the process, he shifted the onus for avoiding a government shutdown squarely on his own shoulders and those of Republican leaders who were shamefully slow in condemning the president's racism.

"There are so many issues both more important and more interesting than the psyche of a deeply damaged man. We are capable of being a far better nation. But we need leaders who call us to our obligations to each other as free citizens. Instead, we have a president who knows only how to foster division and hatred."


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And, worse yet, Trump seems unwilling or incapable of listening to advice, of learning from experience, and of self-reflection even on an elementary level.  Yes, the racism and divisiveness are terrible;   but that's only one part of the problem with this president.

Meanwhile the future lives of some 800,000 DACA young people are on hold, with time running out to fix the problem that Trump created last fall when he said he was scrapping the program and gave Congress until March to come up with a solution.   But there are even earlier deadlines -- like Friday this week -- for new applicants for the program.

Ralph

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