Respecting the office of the presidency

This is going to be a real test of our principles.   A test of the principle of honesty and candor vs. our tradition of respecting the office of the President of the United States.  So what then if this man was the chief cheerleader for years of trying to delegitimize the man he will be replacing?   What respect did he have then for the office that he now will hold himself?

Here's how Huffington Post's political editor Ryan Grim explains their decision about the footer they've been running at the end of any article about Donald Trump, which they will no longer do.

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"Early in this election campaign, we began appending an editor’s note to our coverage of Donald Trump, highlighting his racism, misogyny and xenophobia.  He made no secret of any of it, and he was elected president anyway. That doesn’t make it any less true.

"But throughout the entire administration of Barack Obama, a segment of the Republican coalition, led by Trump, questioned the very legitimacy of his presidency, breaking from a long-held American tradition.

"We’re not going to do the same. Whether we like it or not ― and let’s continue to be honest, we don’t ― he won the election. It was a win that was at once foreseeable ― yet one we failed badly to see.

"Where we find fault in how Trump governs, we won’t hesitate to call it out. If he encroaches on the norms of our democracy, if he targets minority groups or other vulnerable elements of the population, we won’t hesitate to say so loudly and clearly. If he follows his worst instincts and caters to the klatch of white supremacists who endorsed him, we won’t flinch from calling him racist. But we have hope that the man we saw on the trail at his worst moments is not the man who will enter the White House.

'If Trump can reverse the economic inequality he decried during his campaign, bring back manufacturing jobs, find a way to give people better healthcare for less money, invest in infrastructure to stimulate the economy and otherwise make the country great, we’ll cheer him on. We’ll find out."  -- Ryan Grim, Huffington Post.

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It will challenge me to do the same, but I think it is right.  I will be critical of his actions and say when I disagree.   I will not hesitate to criticize the appointments he makes.   But it seems only fair to give him the chance to show us a different Donald Trump than he did to win the election.  Not only because it seems fair to do that, but because it will ultimately be in all our best interests if we try to help him make America better than it is.

Ralph

PS:  I wrote the above and then watched some news shows on MSNBC.   I have to say that, I had been encouraged by some indications that Trump was beginning to take the office seriously and modifying his attitude and behavior and accepting help from people experienced in government.

However, there is troubling news that he is again sending out inflammatory tweets, calling the peaceful marchers in  their third night "professional protesters" and implying that the media is behind it.   Until he takes the high road, recognizes the divisiveness and the fear that his election has caused, and offers conciliatory words to bring the country together -- then he is failing already as a leader.

It is encouraging on the one hand that he has turned the transition over to Mike Pence (not that I like his policies, but at least he knows how Washington works).   But it is troubling that he has put his three children on the "executive committee" of the transition team, while at the same time turning over control of his business to these same three children.   That is not putting it into the blind trust that is the usual way of a president's handling of his finances while in office.   That is just one half-step away from his continuing to run it himself;  plus it raises the question of whether they are themselves part of the government if they are on the transition team.   So there already are reasons to worry about how this is going to go.

Clinton and Obama showed us how to put political rancor behind us. But will it last?

President-Elect Donald Trump met with President Obama for 90 minutes in the Oval Office Thursday, and afterwards both spoke of moving beyond past political rhetoric.   Trump surrogates have also begun walking back some of the extreme things he has said.

I was also encouraged (a little) to learn that the transition planning has been going on, not in the campaign itself (with the Alt-Right crowd) but with experienced Washington insiders who have roots in previous Republican administrations.

This is the marvel of the peaceful transition of power in a constitutional republic as we have.   Not only do the people get to choose their president, but being elevated as leader of all the people tends to have a sobering effect.   One is surrounded, as well, by traditions and professionals who transcend political parties.  

Huffington Post's senior political reporter Amanda Terkel wrote: 
"Top supporters of President-elect Donald Trump threw cold water on his campaign promise to put Hillary Clinton in jail, saying it was time to unite the country and move forward."   Chris Christie on NBC's "Today" show emphasized the "enormously gracious conversation" that Trump and Hillary Clinton had with each other on election night.  Christie seemed confident that Trump would take seriously the job of uniting the country.

Rudi Giuliani addressed the question of Trump's rally cry of putting Clinton in jail., saying that is “a tough one that should be given a lot of thought and shouldn’t be an off-the-cuff answer."   Saying that it should be reviewed to see "how bad is the evidence."  Giuliani, rumored to be Trump's choice for Attorney General, then said:  “If it isn’t as bad as some of the exaggerators think it is, then maybe the best thing to do is forget about it and move on. If it is really bad, then somebody’s got to look at it who is independent.”   Giuliani also said on Fox News that he was "uncomfortable with the idea of going after people in the legal system for political reasons."

Terkel also noted: ". . . since his win, Trump has been more conciliatory.  Quoting from his victory speech:  “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. . . .  I mean that very sincerely. Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together.  To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Terkel pointed out that the Trump team "has also been walking back some of his other big, popular promises. Giuliani said Trump will first tackle tax reform and that building a giant wall on the border with Mexico will 'take awhile.'  The promise to enact a ban on Muslims from entering the United States has also now disappeared from his website."

So what can we reasonably conclude and expect?    My predictions are not noted for reliability (after my dramatic failure predicting who would win the presidency), but for what it's worth:   I'm guessing that President Trump is going to be far less of an extremist and loose cannon than was Candidate Trump.   That will still put him in conservative Republican policy positions on most issues -- but not all.    In fact, he's far less conservative than either Ted Cruz or Mike Pence.   And far more pragmatic.

Perhaps we should take seriously that pithy adage that's been making the rounds.   I don't know who originally said it, but it goes something like this:   "The mistake people make about Trump is in taking him literally but not seriously.   You should take him seriously, but not literally."

Ralph

Who is President Trump going to be?

Donald Trump has been given great responsibilities and great power by the voters of the United States.  This campaign has not given us much reason to think that he can rise above petty politics and be the better version of himself that the office demands.

But the future of this country depends on him doing just that.   One thing that we do know is that throwing insults at him is not the way, because -- as he told us early on -- his mode of operation is:   "When somebody hits me, I hit back harder."   And he has demonstrated that over and over.

For him to have any semblance of a successful presidency -- completely apart from the specific policy differences we have with him -- he will have to get over the idea that he knows more than the experts.   He needs to accept help from good advisers, to learn from them, to value their advice, to have people around him that will tell him what he needs to hear rather than just what he wants to hear.   And he must humble himself enough to listen to them.

And we have to do our part too.   I was very much tempted to re-post something someone sent me that purported to be a very damning, cynical statement from Trump back in 1998, about running for president and fooling gullible listeners to a certain TV network.   I wanted to believe it true and fling it in his face and, even more, fling it in the face of all those people who naively voted for him, thinking they could believe what he said.  But I decided to fact check it first.   I learned that it is a fake that's been circulating around Facebook and the internet and has been thoroughly debunked by Factcheck as well as the magazine that it supposedly appeared in.  I'm glad I checked first, instead of piling on.

That's not to say that I think the gist of the story is untrue.  I do think that Trump and some FoxNews anchors have told lies, repeated them over and over, and that their loyal watchers believe them.    He is very much a con man or, as Fareed Zakaria has called him, "a bullshit artist."

What I'm talking about here is my attitude -- wanting to take this "proof" that his candidacy was all along a con game -- and keep that meme going.   The Factcheck brought me up short and gave me a moment of reflection.   It's time to let go of that, no matter if it is true.   It wouldn't change the election outcome.  Let's start a fresh page with him in a new role with new expectations.   Let's see what he can do with it now that his election is a done deal.  Let's see if there is something other than the bullshit artist in Trump.

Hillary  Clinton said it well in her concession speech Wednesday morning:  "We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead."

I'm talking to myself mostly.   I think it's time to stop denigrating Trump and throwing all of his own words back at him.   Let's see if he can put his own hateful rhetoric behind him and begin anew.   That doesn't mean that it was not true, but the time for that is over -- at least until we see if he can respond to respect with respect.   Respect for the office of president, even if we don't respect him.

I understand that there are protest marches going on in cities all over the country -- and so far they seem to be peaceful.    That's fine.   I hope they can continue to be peaceful, because it won't serve anyone's good purpose to turn violent or to have outsiders come in to stir up violence.   And people need a way to express their displeasure with this outcome.

I realize also that I can sit here safely in my own home, can afford to be calm and reflective, unlike some who would be more directly affected by the alarming things Trump has said he would do.   People are very afraid.   Muslims are wondering if they should leave the country.   Undocumented workers from Mexico worry that they may be separated from their families.  African-Americans fear going backwards in policing tactics that threaten them.  I understand those fears and the reasons for them.   What I'm trying to think about here is the possibility that Donald Trump really won't do all those things -- or can't do some of them -- that he's been saying.   That some of that was the bullshit artist talking.

Just to be clear:  opposing his policies is another thing than what I'm talking about here:  turning to a new page on the rhetoric.  It's going to be a very discouraging four years as a Congress and President bring changes that undo most of what President Obama accomplished.   That's going to be bad, maybe very bad, even dangerous.  But I'm talking about something else tonight, about Donald Trump, the man who will be our president, whether we like it or not.

This is not just a Pollyanna thing.  It is in our own interest to help him unite us.   We have to be bigger than the Republicans have been these last eight years, trying to make President Obama fail.   Bigger than Trump himself was in challenging Obama's very legitimacy as a birthright citizen.

Let's start by giving Trump space to be his better self . . . and -- dare we hope -- to grow in the office?

In fact, we may get an early, quick read on that in how he speaks about these protests.   First, he should take them as a serious expression of the opposition -- who, he said in his acceptance speech, he will also be the president for.    Does he recognize their fears and that he has given them reason to be afraid?  Will he say something to reassure them?  If he talks about them the way he has talked about Black Lives Matter protests, then the gloves are off.   It's his first chance to show whether he has it in him to unite our diverse and divided country.

Ralph

One chuckle amid the tears and gloom

In introducing Sec. Clinton for what is being called the "classiest" concession speech in history, VP nominee Sen. Tim Kaine quoted William Faulkner:

“They killed us but they ain’t whupped us yet.”

Or actually in Faulkner's more accurate rendition of the language as his characters spoke it:
"They mought of kilt us but they ain't whupped us yet."

Among other feelings . . . shame.

This morning, I woke up with an awful feeling.   After a moment to clear the sleep from my mind, I realized what the feeling was:    SHAME.

I have said some extraordinarily judgmental and damning things about this man who would be president.   I have no shame at having said those things, because they are all still true.

And yet We, the People elected him anyway.   That's the shame I feel.   That we would elect someone to be the most powerful leader in the world who is so unqualified for that trust and responsibility.

We can only hope that Donald Trump has enough self-awareness and humility to realize that the awesome responsibility of being president is beyond his capacities -- and that he will rise above retributive politics enough to choose his advisers wisely -- and then listen to them.

Above any partisan politics or personal retribution, we must cherish the essential democratic principle of peaceful transfer of power to the leader chosen by the people.  And then work together for the good of all.

So far, the right things have been said by President-Elect Trump, Sec. Clinton, and President Obama.   Trump pledged to be president for every citizen and to unite our divided country.   Clinton said, "We must accept this result.   Donald Trump  is going to be president.  We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead."

Amid a sickening grief and shame, I am trying to hold on to the hope that democracy and decency will prevail.  Ah, hey, Donald Trump is such an unpredictable performer, perhaps he will emerge as a closeted liberal.

Ralph

Shock . . . disbelief . . . and then grief.

Donald Trump just pledged to be president for all of the people in our country.   He was gracious and respectful of Hillary Clinton and praised her for a hard fought campaign.   He spoke about now needing to unify our country so that we can bring together our divided country    

That's a slim ray of hope in a very dark moment.

Ralph

Shock . . . disbelief . . . and then grief.

Donald Trump just pledged to be president for all of the people in our country.   He was gracious and respectful of Hillary Clinton and praised her for a hard fought campaign.   He spoke about now needing to unify our country so that we can bring together our divided country    

That's a slim ray of hope in a very dark moment.

Ralph