Hard Knocks
On Saturday, I saw on the RawStory website what might be one of my favorite headlines since Trump took office -- a standard with a lot of competition. It read:
It's difficult to read that without a wide range of thoughts popping into one's head. Laughter is one. A deep sigh and heavy is another. Then there's, "Well, y'know, the job is president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, so it is hard, and it's supposed to be." And also, "You did this once before, you should have know it was hard, but some things should be easier for having the experience." And it's very difficult not to think "Perhaps you should have surrounded yourself with qualified experts who could help you, rather than unqualified sycophantic yes-men." Also, looking ahead at the possible recession thanks to his tariffs and economic policy is the thought, "Well, at least you have a job." Though perhaps at the top of my own list is, "Poor baby."
The article comes from a report in the Wall Street Journal, which wrote that Trump has been complaining to dinner companions at Mar-a-Lago that, as the story says, “things are not going as well as he thought they would” since he returned to the White House.
The Journal's Josh Dawsey and Alexander Ward write -- "Trump spoke to a room of top donors at his Florida club last week, he described ending Russia’s war in Ukraine as a growing frustration that keeps him up at night, people in the room said," with the Journal report adding, "As he passes the 100-day mark of his second term with neither conflict closer to a resolution, negotiations to end Iran’s nuclear program stalled, and a trade war straining relationships with allies, Trump is finding solving the world’s problems more difficult than he had thought."
Which brings up another thought:
Ya think??
And – well, maybe you shouldn’t have kept telling people during the campaign that you would end Russia’s war against Ukraine on your first day in office, if not before then. And shouldn’t have kept saying that you would bring down prices on Day One. Because ending wars and stopping inflation are actually very hard. And harder when your actions risk bringing about a recession on top of it.
And, in fairness, maybe people who voted for Trump should have realized that the job is actually overwhelmingly harder than that. Especially when the guy you’re listening to is going to be 79 during his first year in office and has dementia.
The Wall Street Journal also reports – “In recent weeks, Trump has privately griped to advisers that Putin doesn’t want to end the war, and that both sides refuse to compromise. Trump has also asked advisers if they believe Putin has changed since Trump’s last time in office, and expressed surprise at some of Putin’s military moves, including bombing areas with children, according to people familiar with the remarks."
Well, no wonder Trump finds the job harder this time. Putting aside that he no longer has experts around him who could have – and would have – told him that, no, Putin doesn’t want to end the war, which he’s made very clear by saying he wants to take over Ukraine and bring it into Russia. And that, no, there is no country in the world that would be anxious to compromise if it means giving up their land which was stolen from them by country that has been bombing them, including in areas with children. And that, no, Putin hasn’t changed his military tactics since he has been bombing areas with children since the start.
But that’s just Ukraine. That’s hard enough. But it doesn’t take into consideration everything else that the job of president of the United States entails. And putting tariffs on every country to ruin the economy, deporting people (including American citizens) without giving any of them due process as required in the U.S. Constitution, hiring the world’s richest man without the slightest experience to cut critical departments and fire jobs en masse, naming a Fox TV host with a drinking problem (among his many problems) to run the Department of Defense, making an anti-vaccine conspiratorialist your Secretary of Health & Human Services while there's a measles epidemic, naming as your Director of Homeland Security someone who killed her pet dog and pet goat, making your vice-president a guy who has changed his name more times that you've changed wives and almost as many times as you've had bankruptcies and said that immigrants were eating pet dogs and cats -- despite being told directly it was untrue --and called you an "American Hitler," and more and more and more and more.
And when you do all that – and more and more and more and more and more – then, yes, the job will be harder. But that’s on you. Because you made it harder.
And it was overwhelming hard to begin with.
And now you’re four years old, 79, and have early dementia. And you intentionally, knowingly surrounded yourself with unqualified, incompetent yes-men. And are still doing it -- just days ago, you made yet another Fox host, someone who hasn't practiced law in 20 years, to be the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
It's all on Trump. And on the MAGOPs in Congress who enable him. And enact all the policies he proposes that are making the job harder, thereby making the policies their own.
By the way, if Trump is frustrated, imagine how all the people feel who are impacted by the results of his inability to do the job.
So, yeah, it's harder. And it's heart-breaking Trump is frustrated. As the expression goes -- deal with it.
Please.
Poor baby.
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