Guest Author
Donald Trump wants it both ways: He wants to be brash and quotable and then when he’s asked about it, he wants to complain about the question and the questioner.
Let me be honest: I’m not a Trump fan. I think he’s a single-issue candidate – immigration – that has gotten far because America is truly tired of equivocating politicians.
However, you have to admit that Trump has struck a responsive chord, which is why, despite his gaffes and name-calling, he continues to do well in the polls.
The only ones to blame for this Trump “phenomena,” as so aptly described by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are the elected politicians who say one thing and then govern in another way.
Truth be told, even if Trump was to win the GOP nomination (he won’t) and the presidency (God forbid!) he would govern in a vastly different fashion.
Why? Because political norms would make him do so.
We already know that calling your opponents names and comparing them to the “chanting Iranians” who want death for Satan America, as President Barrack Obama has done, gets you nowhere.
And rightfully so. Dividing America is not the solution and Obama has governed that way for the past 5 1/2 years. His victories have been few and far between because he doesn’t know how to seek compromise across the aisle.
Say all you want about Bill Clinton (he was the last Democrat who I voted for president), but he could get elected again today because he was pragmatic enough to do whatever it took to make something happen.
That’s what’s gnawing at Americans. We’re tired of mealy mouth politicians who will say anything just to get elected. They’re all over the place, in every state and every county.
We want someone to stand up and tell it like it is and Trump, unfortunately, is the only one doing that.
But to complain about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s questions, when he really said those things about women, was the perfect question to ask The Donald.
Plus he scored the perfect one-liner when he answered “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” He got his laughs and then told Kelly if she didn’t like it, he really didn’t care.
That’s exactly what many Americans are looking for in a leader – someone who’s not worried about being “politically correct.”
PC has gotten to the point that you can’t really say what you feel or think that needs to be said because someone on the left is always going to call you out for it.
Many Americans are tired of this puffery. They’re tired of worrying about who might be offended.
They want the truth and if it’s ugly, so be it.
Now for Trump to be Trump, we all expect him to be pushing the envelope, especially when it comes to PC.
But if you build your candidacy on being anti-PC, then are called on the carpet for it, don’t whine about the tough questions. If you hadn’t said those things, you wouldn’t have been asked about them!
If Trump thinks the questions will get any easier he probably has another thing to worry about. He should be asked the toughest questions because as he likes to say, “I’m leading in the polls.”
Well, Donald, if you’re leading in the polls then love the heat. If you can’t, then get out of the race.
You can’t have it both ways.
Your behavior is only going to encourage more reporters to ask similar questions because we’re all waiting for you to go over the top – to blow your cool.
We know you’ve got it within yourself, and frankly I’m shocked you’ve kept it under cover this long, but we all know it’s going to blow and blow soon.
Whether it’s about your alleged $10 billion net worth or your “firing” Roger Stone, you have more controversy surrounding you than anyone I’ve ever read about.
That’s why you should never be president.
I want another Ronald Reagan-like president to tell Vladimir Putin where he can shove it. And to tell Xi Jinping that the Chinese will be lucky to remain the second-largest economy in the world with the way that they’re managing it. Or to tell the Supreme Leader of Iran, whatever his name is, that we’ll nuke them back to the stone age and we’ll let Israel mop them up after we’re finished.
I don’t want to go to war with all three at once, though, and that’s what scares me about The Donald. He has no self-mechanism to control his thoughts. He lets his mouth go in motion before his brain kicks in.
Sure he knows how to negotiate a good deal. Almost everyone, it seems, knows how to negotiate a good deal except for Obama and John Kerry. But I don’t want to go to war because some new prez can’t keep his mouth shut at the right time.
So, does it surprise me that so many people are willing to give Trump a pass on his bad conduct? Not at all. It’s good political theater and we haven’t had this much fun since Barry Goldwater was running for office.
No, Trump, you need to keep it up. Just long enough for you to explain to us how you’re going “to make Mexico pay for the wall.”
We know how you’re going to do it with trade tariffs or some other wild idea. And we’re looking forward to your purported solution which isn’t going to work in any event. But, we’ll enjoy you taking some other countries down a notch or two.
Just remember that in the end this isn’t about TV ratings or a show called President Apprentice. It’s about serious issues that need reasonable – and obtainable – solutions, none of which you’re offering.
So keep us wondering and guessing. But stop the whining. It’s beneath you and it shows how thin-skinned you really are – which is never good for a president.
Barney Bishop III is CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting LLC in Tallahassee and the former President & CEO of Associated Industries of Florida. Column courtesy of Independent Journal Review.
