Many American's No Longer Care If Trump "Dunn It?"

  We Have Two Starkly Different Paths Forward

Many Americans no longer care what Trump has done or not done. When it comes to choosing between him and Joe Biden as our President, far greater issues loom before us than Trump's past. As for the thought of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election or whether Trump colluded with the Russians, by now most people seem to have made up their mind. People are either outraged, simply concerned, or taken the attitude this is all a big nothing burger and lies promoted by is enemies. 

 

Today few Americans are concerned as to whether President Trump had a closer relationship with Russia at any point before his election than he leads on. This runs directly up against the question of how much it matters, does it impact national security, as the deep state claims, and does the average American even care? Things are much different than in mid-December of 2018 when there was a huge dust-up as new statements and "allegations" surfaced having to do with Trump's sexual adventures. These "misdoings of a personal nature" took front and center. Of course, at the time those attempting to impeach and ouster the Donald latched on to these claims thinking they would be the final nail in his coffin.

Back then the story surrounded Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen and the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc. (AMI), admitting responsibility for its role in a $150,000 "catch-and-kill" hush money payment to a former Playboy Playmate. The Playmate, Karen McDougal, alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006. Under a non-prosecution agreement, AMI admitted that it refused to publish Karen McDougal's claim to prevent it from influencing the election by damaging Trump.

Do Voters Care If Trump Was A Womanizer?

The "womanizer" episode of the "dump Trump" saga lasted a short time with the never-ending Washington sideshow ramping up as the mainstream media kept us a "breast" of every salacious detail. They even provided us with eye-candy suggestive photos of all lewd, crude, and improper conduct our current Pervert and Chief may have touched on. With everyone all a tither with speculation, this gave lobbyists even more time to go about their task of writing legislation giving those they represent an edge. For taxpayers who send representatives to Washington at great expense, this only added to America's dysfunctional political culture. 

When Trump's past sexual exploits failed to gain traction we saw those pushing for impeachment shift to a strategy centering around a whistle-blower complaint. It claimed President Donald Trump broke the law during a phone call with the Ukrainian president when he threatened to withhold military aid in exchange for a political favor. That complaint was riddled with repeated references to what anonymous officials allegedly told the complainant. These include things such as: “I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials,” “officials have informed me,” “officials with direct knowledge of the call informed me,” “I was told by White House officials,” “the officials I spoke with,” “I was told that a State Department official,” and more.

 

These did not prove to be crimes significant enough to merit Trump's ouster unless expanded into the world of technicalities and lies. This is a place where speculation, who knew what, when, or who said what often rule the day. Again, this brings us back to the question of whether Trump is guilty and does America really care? We can only pray this game of, "if his enemies can't get Trump on this, they will go after him on that" may have finally run its course.  Unfortunately, this has also raised substantial questions about the intelligence community’s behavior and its growing role in politics.

 

Is This About His Policies Or Trump As A Man?

Politics should not be the driver as to what is "impeachable behavior." The standard for removal from office on impeachment should remain the conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Circling back around as to how we got here, A big part of the problem is that Hilary Clinton the Democratic presidential candidate that ran against Trump in 2016 was such a tarnished figure many Americans were left feeling they were forced to chose between the least of two evils. 

 

When it comes to lies, and lying to the people, both political parties should hang their heads in shame. America is not alone when it comes to the rich history of politicians bending the truth, breaking pledges, or committing outright deceit. It is almost as if honesty is in the eye of the beholder and this is where terms like alternative facts come to mind. This is evident when we view the nightly news presented by the main-stream media or look into how big tech companies are manipulation information. Currently, a full-scale propaganda war rages with many Americans hellbent on convincing the rest of us what is really going on.  

 

Adding to the confusion is that respect for the media, politicians, institutions like the FBI and CIA has fallen to where we are left wondering who to trust. Many Americans are oblivious to the fact the militarization of police forces and government surveillance grew in leaps and bounds during the Obama years. Many of the issues stemming from these trends were not created by Trump but problems he inherited when he took office. The same could be said about trade and China, for decades the trade deficit has increased and many people have been warning of the consequences if it was not addressed. 

 

More overshadowing than any other factor affecting this election is that we are seeing two starkly different paths forward. If Trump is re-elected, the focus will continue to lean toward job creation, increasing our wealth, and letting the private sector, the supply side of the economy, expand as rapidly as possible. Biden’s agenda, in contrast, is more centered on addressing America’s problems with growing economic inequality. This is likely to be accomplished by redistributing more economic opportunities, including some wealth, to the lower and middle classes via government programs.

 

Joe Biden as a Presidential candidate is not formidable and his past dealings as a politician do not leave him squeaky clean. Looking back at the early primaries leaves many voters wondering what twist of fate reversed the waning fortunes of a campaign that had been considered dead. Another factor we must consider is that both Trump and Biden are not spring chickens and getting a bit long in the tooth. Whether you like him or not, it is difficult to deny that Vice President Pence is far more experienced than first-term Senator Kamala Harris if called upon to step into the role of President.

 

Whether it was the deep South or the deep State that brought Joe back from the brink we may never know. What we do know is that the economic path Biden wants to take us down will have huge negative social and cultural ramifications. Once America starts down this path the majority of people that always want more will have their way and the checks and balances that have served this country will slip away. That is why in my opinion many American's will feel they can no longer afford the luxury of caring if Trump did this or that.