Trump Voters Own Him

I expect that the hard core Trump supporters will never turn on Trump.  I'm sure Mr. Trump was correct, he could shoot someone and they wouldn't care.  I hope I'm wrong, but I fear shooting someone will seem trivial compared to what he  actually does.

I hold every voter who did not vote for Hillary responsible for electing Donald Trump.  They OWN him. They are responsible for very stupid, immoral, unethical or illegal thing he does.  And they can certainly take credit for anything he does well.

And he OWNS the people who voted for him.  They are compelled to explain, defend and support his actions and inactions.  He supported anything people would cheer for.  He claimed he would fix anything and everything to win votes and would do it better and faster than anyone else would or could.

The President-elect is already starting to take back or modify promises.  And supporters are hanging with him; many saying they never believed he would actually do all the crazy things he said we would do.

Sorry folks, we are all responsible the the things we say and do.  People who are now saying they didn't believe everything Trump said are just proving they are low information voters.

If at some point a voter does decide their vote for Trump was a mistake (however unlikely), I think they should take a vow not to vote in a presidential election for a couple of cycles.

Voting for Trump showed a lack of knowledge.  Knowledge about what qualities are needed to lead this country and what qualities Donald Trump would bring to the office.  Trump voters who now realize they made a mistake need to take a while and reflect on how and why they missed all the signs he would be completely unsuitable to be President of the United States.

Trump Twitter Aide

On the news today I again heard the theory that security officials would take away President Trump's phone after the inauguration.  They will take it away just as they took away President Obama's iPhone because it is not a secure communications device.

The thought is Trump will stop his incessant twittering at that point.  Of course that is ludicrous.  The officer who carries the football will car pool with the guy who carries Trump's phone.

Trump will never be more than an arms length from the person with his phone and he'll just dictate his most recent transient thought.

Make Us Proud, Not Cringe

The President-elect has told us he is "like, very smart" and has "a very good brain".

So far I've seen no indications this is true.

Mr. President-elect, actions speak louder than words.

For example, you are not yet President of the United States so shut up at least until you take the oath of office.  And after that, pause and try to use that brain before twittering the next idle thought you have.

People who are actually very smart and really do have good brains know that the mark of intelligence is not how fast you can reply to an issue or how "in your face" your response is or how much cheering you get from a crowd. 

When you become President you represent and speak for our country, not just yourself.  Please make us proud when you speak, not cringe.

Russia Already Has Trump's Number

In a prior blog I noted that President Obama could easily counter birtherism by simply showing his birth certificate.  But it will be much harder for the President-elect to prove Russians did not meddle in our election to help him get elected.

But, the opposite is not true.  It is very easy to prove that the Russians were hacking and leaking secrets to help Mr. Trump win the election.

Very easy.

At least it would be very easy for Russia.  If they did it, they know all the details.  I'm sure they could release enough details to convince 80% of Americans that they were working very hard to elect Donald Trump.  And therefore his presidency is not legitimate.

And the harder Mr. Trump tries to convince us that the Russians did nothing to affect our election, the more ammunition he gives the Russians to blackmail him.

Even if the Russians didn't meddle in the election, even if they have no secret, damaging information about him, Trump is giving them all kinds of ammunition to use against him.

Mr. Trump, even if you don't believe the Russians tried to affect the election.  Do you think they might lie and say they did?   Your presidency would be totally illegitimate. Could your ego handle that? What might you be willing to do to keep them quiet?

Political Karma for Trump

Donald Trump's political ascent has been credited to his absurd and continued questioning of the legitimacy  of President Obama's presidency.

President-elect Trump, in his rush to question the competency of the  U.S. intelligence agencies, has laid the groundwork for questions about the legitimacy of his presidency that will last for the entire time he is in office.

He is very proud that he forced President Obama to produce his birth certificate.  But even when the President showed his birth certificate, that didn't stop Donald Trump from making completely fallacious statements.

There is no simple document that Donald Trump can produce to begin to prove his presidency isn't the result of Russian meddling.

Even worse for the incoming president, his ego will not let him leave unchallenged any suggestion that the didn't win on his own.

That is karma.

We Need A Trump Truth Emoji

Since it is hard to know when Donald Trump is telling the truth, how about a new emoji?

What about a new emoji just for Donald that means "I double down promise this is what I think I believe until it is inconvenient or I get some facts".


I know that is not much of a promise, but it is more than we get now.

What should it look like?

How about a miniature Presidential Seal?  Maybe that would give him pause before he makes outlandish statements.

Forget that.  What was I thinking?

When Is A Campaign Promise Real?

So Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's former campaign manager believes that voters didn't take everything Donald Trump said on the campaign trail literally.

Given Trump's history and his statements after the election, it seems neither did Donald Trump.

Even today KellyAnne Conway still cited a long list of campaign promises she says resonated with voters and claimed those promises are why Donald Trump won.

How does she know which statements he said during the campaign were things we should believe and what were just hyperbole or statements made to win a vote?

If we can't hold him to what he said and promised during the campaign, then we must assume he lied to win the election or he made statements about issues he didn't fully understand. 

Even now people close to the President-elect won't stand behind many of his most recent statements.  Vice-President Pence down plays current Trump statements and asks us to withhold judgment until the inauguration.

Really!


So we and the rest of the world should not believe anything Donald Trump has said or will say until the after inauguration?

Given Donald Trump's political history, I don't think we will ever be sure when he is telling us the truth.