Making America small

Maybe the saddest aspect of Trump’s trajectory to power is how he is making America small. He brags of wanting to “make America great again”. Yet, he is actually making America small, making America petty.

He is making America small in many ways:

  • He demeans the Office of the Presidency: Rather than being aspirational, reaching out to all Americans, and seeking to unite the Country, he is divisive and refuses to reach out, try to understand the hurt of those that did not vote for him.
  • His language is raw, in a negative sense: In the attempt to speak (or Tweet) in the language of the ‘everyday man’, he degrades to insults, mean, and hurtful language.
  • Diplomacy seems to be foreign to him: In the attempt to operate as a businessman deal-maker, he refuses to seemingly want to govern using one of the key values of democracy, diplomacy.

Ultimately:

  • Ultimately, there is a disconnect of his approach to the Presidency, what he seeks to do, and how he seeks to do it, with not an inconsequential part of America – certainly including me.
  • Ultimately, I – and so many others – will have to learn to live in a country (like so many throughout the world do) where those in highest power do not hold my values.
  • Ultimately, we will have to come together as the dissidents; the opposition; the ones that believe there is a better option out there.

I wonder; I wonder… What would happen if:

  • What if thousands of teachers refuse to hang his picture because they cannot bring themselves to explain to their students how you reconcile the Office of the Presidency with the words of Donald Trump?
  • What if thousands of bureaucrats catch the ‘bureaucratic flu’ and slow to a crawl the implementation of his draconian rules and regulations?
  • What if the military blatantly refuse to go to war to simply protect his real estate investments overseas?

It is simply as if he appeals to the worst in people as opposed to appealing to the best in people. His warped singular focus on the individual without regards to the collective good is narcissist. His nationalistic focus without a broader understanding of the world in which we live is right down dangerous. His smallness is overwhelming.

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