IIt’s Not the Economy, Stupid, It’s Your Legacy
“Economy” comes and goes, legacy is forever. Recession and growth cycles in many cases take care of themselves as long as there are Wall Street crooks at the nation’s financial helm and as long as there are enterprising, honest, hard-working diehard individuals in the balance. And as long as there are forces of nature. It’s kind of like global warming.
As President Trump dives for home plate headlines this week about being “thrilled” by the reported 4.1% GDP growth for which he says he is solely responsible, I say, okay, let’s give credit wherever credit is due. I’ve always appreciated and agreed with his tough stance on economic and trade policies. I’ve also agreed with his tough stance on other issued like domestic crime, immigration and entitlement programs, and international trade and investment. But, as always, the devil’s in the details.
Being the “bull in the China closet” that he is, Trump will naturally get into trouble on all fronts, as he has. You can’t please all of the people all of the time. It’s rough moving people out of their comfort zones, they don’t like it, but it’s sometimes necessary and part of a thankless job.
But being President of the United States is so much more than short term, even long term, economic figures. So the farmers sell a few more soybeans earlier this year to the EU. Great! Personally, I don’t even like soybeans. I don’t even know what they are or how they’e used. Like a lima bean? I’ll bet President Trump didn’t know what a soybean is, maybe he still doesn’t. But he says that “Soybeans are a big deal” so I’ll take him at his word that they are...to someone. The soybean farmers are happy ...today. Trump also said he’d “bring back the coal industry.” We all know what coal is. I wonder if those coal miners he was hugging are happy today? All great short-term headlines.
He’s making America great again one headline at a time.
Here’s my point. At the same time all of these fabulous economic success headlines are being reluctantly fed down the media pipeline, we still have arguably more important issues to wrestle with regarding presidential integrity and character with the scandalous headlines being gleefully fed down that same confounded media pipeline. Our media knows what we like.
As Paul Manafort sits in solitary confinement prison awaiting trail for fraud and crimes against the United States, oh, did I mention he was Trump’s campaign manager ...and as the once honorable now seemingly crazed Rudi Giuliani defends the inexplicable (yes, Trump knew about the 2016 Russian meeting in Trump Tower with Don. Jr.), we have the president’s ex-buddy, ex-fixer “lawyer”, Michael Cohen, being squeezed for the truth regarding Trump’s alleged corruption and fraud. In Trump World, lawsuits and counter lawsuits have always been filed with alacrity, routinely littering and confusing the political landscape like confetti on New Year’s Eve. Cohen allegedly formed separate companies and LLC’s to filter hush payment money to cover up Trump’s whoring trysts. Meanwhile, stalwart (not) pillars of the media community like presidential shill Sean Hannity and tabloid publisher David Pecker (love that name) muddy the already corrupted media waters enabling The Donald to continue his assault on integrity. It’s no wonder that America and Americans are more confounded and disillusioned now more than ever before in our history.
It’s bad enough the world is looking at us and laughing at us, but worse, they are angry with us.
Good heavens! ....playboy models, adult film stars, sex trysts, affairs, fraud, shady business deals, Russian election collusion ...North Korean bravado turned bro hug, Iranian “mother of all” braggadocio, waging nuclear war ...western ally and NATO bashing (maybe they needed it, to wake up)... All these add up to a national stress level that translates to national citizen voter abuse and emotional negligence, which may constitute legal grounds for a lawsuit going the other way.
Can an American citizen sue the government, specifically in this case, the president, and maybe even the media through complicity, for emotional abuse, negligence, and undue stress which could lead to both physical and psychological harm ...similar to a marital situation marked by violence and abuse?
In many ways, we Americans, We the People, are “married” to Trump and his administration by having voted for him. But what about the majority of the popular voting country that didn’t vote for him? We, the victims? We are like the children in a bad marriage. Where is our DCFS help and recourse? We are at risk. We are emotionally abused, vulnerable, and innocent victims of a marriage that could expose us to violence (war) and harm.
Worse, our children are being exposed to the graft, sexual misconduct, and corruption this president espouses and the media unwittingly legitimizes by protecting their own ratings and financial interests in the name of “journalism”.
Our kids are watching, listening, and learning to behave this way.
Bill Clinton said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” I say, “It’s your legacy, stupid.” What is Bill Clinton most remembered for? Hint: it’s not the economy.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
