The Media, and half of America, does not understand Donald J. Trump

Over and over again, every single person with ears and/or sight, has heard or seen the media lambast Trump, for being a joke, an orange monster, a bigot, a racist, a misogynist, a money launderer, a criminal, you name it, they’ve had the nerve to call him it – even on his election night. And these talking heads even turn on his supporters, one comedian joked, “It’s like an asteroid is headed at the earth – and half the people are rooting for the asteroid!”

This kind of open belittling and hostility toward half the electorate used to cross a line in the old media paradigm, where TV and radio hosts were never allowed to attack the pubic because this was legally and financially unviable. Today neither are true and the result has been a disaster. This is now an ethical boundary that doesn’t exist or that they are willing to trash everyday — it’s OK now for the mainstream media to smear, frame, lie about, openly call for harm to — and grossly misrepresent a duly elected president for behavior they simply disagree with.

I’m a Trump supporter, and despite what many of my friends (some for decades) have said and written about me — that does not make me “…less of a man.”

It does not make me a “racist, a crazy person or a fiend.”

My Democratic friends are just going to have live with the fact that I have the right to vote Republican, that I have to right to support the candidate of my choice for president and that I embrace the sensible policies of this president, policies like tax reform, regulation rollbacks, actually defeating ISIS rather than help them, immigration reform and yes, a border wall and infrastructure rebuild plan. I supported every single one of these and wrote about them – long before Donald J. Trump decided to embrace them or become president.

That’s right, most of my liberal friends are LITERALLY insulting me for supporting ideas and policy changes I supported long before even Trump did. After all Trump was a Democrat, and a liberal in my eyes — during the years I was formulating my support for these policies Trump has now embraced. I’m glad he switched ideologies and I’m glad he switched parties. This is exactly what Ronald Reagan did and he is my favorite president in the modern era, although if Trump stays on course, Reagan will have a rival.

I’m glad Trump ran for president. I’m glad he won.

But the thing I’m happiest about is that he has kept his word and pursued those policies he campaigned on — vigorously. I’m glad Trump is not like the other politicians I have followed during my lifetime as a journalist and newspaper guy – because by and large, they are a useless group of pandering and preening idiots — that stumble all over themselves not to offend a single soul they meet – that is of voting age, and lives in their district.

Politicians are mostly phonies, they wear make-up, double talk everything to death and literally lie to everyone; their staffs, their spouses, their lovers, their constituents, the media, their donors, the business people they court — and of course — themselves.

I hate politicians, which is an emotion I think most honest newspaper people come to eventually, because a lot of exposure to politicians can only corrupt you, or drive you to a guttural disrespect akin emotionally to walking through dog poop, then accidentally, slipping — and landing back in the offending pile.

Which is exactly where the media and even a lot of conservatives have Trump J. Trump all wrong.

They agree he has GREAT policies and great positions, (the conservatives anyway) they just think, in their humble collective wisdom, that he is an unworthy vessel of all this knowledge because he’s rude, he’s a racist, he’s a boor, he’s a braggart, he’s a showman, and they hate all of that. I agree he’s a showman and a braggart, but have I studied him, his statements, donations and behavior for years — very closely — and the man is not a racist, bigot or even a little crazy. He’s crazy sounding at times, because he’s calculating enough to know how to use this persona to get an edge in negotiations.

Somehow the fact that traditional conservatives can barely attract enough support to a.) Get elected and b.) Pass laws — and Trump can, LARGELY as a result of his manner, of his candor, of his politically incorrect language, and by his aggressive manner – is completely unaccounted, and even now, unnoticed by these people.

Almost exactly half of America gets this — BUT even they – would NOT have caught on to who he was — or what he would do for them, or how he felt about them –without his bombastic style.

To convey his message, to connect with people who feel screwed, to connect with people that are outraged, to connect with people that are forgotten and/or not spoken for – you have be outrageous, say outrageous things, tilt at windmills and everything else in sight.

In other words, the very thing conservatives, the media, and the never Trumpers don’t get, is that his message, without this delivery, would not have resonated and most importantly would not have been effective. You can’t whisper at Kim Jong Un, many have tried and now he has a nuke and an ICBM. You can’t ask Congress for a tax cut, many have tried and slipped up on one of the many roadblocks constructed throughout the sausage factory, making Trump’s successful tax reform trip through it — the first in 30 years. You can’t invite the Fortune 500 CEO’s to a pleasant lunch and ask them to employ Americans. You have to be blunt, threaten their profits with tariffs and such – and they have to believe you have the spine to mean it.

Trump isn’t winning because he’s got great policies; Trump is winning because he says what he means, doesn’t take shit, and demands performance over style. His speech patterns don’t just reflect this reality – they project it. People should be less crazy about this and understand it, honesty is the best policy, and although we are so used to politicians only lying to us, that could change.

Trump might start a whole new trend, brusque, but honest and effective politicians!