A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, member Kathy Houk asks: Do you agree that the longer Trump is in office he becomes less Presidential? My reply is: No. I do not agree that Trump is becoming less Presidential with the passage of time. Why? Because he never was Presidential, to begin with. Donald John Trump was not, as his supporters  and  detractors so often remind us, a conventional Presidential candidate who could be diplomatic, thoughtful, or genuinely interested in “making America great” for everyone. He was not a “career politician” who had mastered the ways of Washington DC or wanted to curry favor with the media or those voters who weren’t going to vote for him. In other words, he was determined to  be  Donald Trump, tough-talking real estate mogul, television personality, and proud spokesperson for the Birther conspiracy theorists. If you look at the highlights of Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign, you’ll see that he was not interested in smoothing over his “to...

On Quora, Adrian J. Zarazua asks: If it’s true that Russia meddled with the 2016 US election then why did they want Donald Trump to win and not Hillary Clinton? My reply:  First of all, there is no “if.” Russian state-run hackers working for Russian Military Intelligence (or GRU in its Russian acronym) worked at the Internet Research Agency (IRA) to intervene in the ’16 elections in favor of now-President Trump. Second, Vladimir Putin had several motives for wanting Trump to win and Hillary Clinton to lose. And none of these motives were because he favors Republicans over Democratic Party pols or because he believed all the innuendoes and myths that the conservative movement has been crafting about Hillary Clinton since the 1992 Presidential election. In any criminal investigation, you have to apply the principle of  cui bono,  or, “who does it benefit?” Or more germane to the matter at hand, what does Putin’s Russia get out of a Trump Presidency? W...

This question appeared on my Quora feed today. I've answered variants of it on the questions-and-answers site several times already, but I haven't chosen a good topic for today's blog post, so here goes: To the people who voted for Clinton during the 2016 election, why did you choose to vote for her in the first place, and what do you think of the current president of the United States, Donald Trump? Do you support him now? I voted for Hillary Clinton because, after being a lawyer, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States, junior Senator from New York, and former Secretary of State, she was far more qualified, smarter, and far better prepared for the Presidency than Donald J. Trump. As for what I think of the current President: He is absolutely the worst President ever elected to the office. He’s a con man, a divisive person who - despite the public image he has cultivated as a dealmaker and successful businessman - is not as wealthy or successful as h...

Hi, there. Uh, okay. So today’s question is:  For those who didn’t vote for Trump, what would Trump have to do to get your vote in the 2020 election? First, you have to understand that the people who didn’t vote for Trump in ’16 don’t make up a huge monolithic bloc or live in a leftist, anti-American mythical land called Utopia. (Or, as the most aggressive of Trump supporters might put it, Libtardia.) I can’t speak for  every  anti-Trump voter, I can only speak for myself, although I’m sure that my reasons for not voting from the current President are not too different from other non-Trump voters. Photo by Michael Stewart/Getty Images Second, understand this: Donald J. Trump is 71 years old (as of December 12, 2017). As such, he is older than the late President Ronald W. Reagan at this point in his first term. People at that age simply  do not change  their personalities, philosophies of life, political views, or their agendas. These are pretty mu...

Why can’t people respect President Donald Trump, you ask? Well, to be honest, not  everybody  disrespects Mr. Trump. He has a very vocal, very active, and (dare I say) incredibly aggressive core of supporters. This core is made up of mostly white, mostly Christian, extremely  conservative  and largely rural Americans, although quite a few African-Americans and a large subgroup of Cuban-American citizens - most of whom live in South Florida - are fiercely loyal to Mr. Trump. So, in essence, it’s fair to say that  not  everyone lacks respect for Mr. Trump. I, sadly, happen to be one of the many millions of Americans who simply can’t bring themselves to  respect  a man like Donald J. Trump. Listen. I don’t know if the person who posted this question on Quora is a genuine American citizen of the Republican/conservative/nationalist persuasion or a Russian “troll” in the service of the Russian Federation’s huge (or as Mr. Trump would s...

The best way I can think to answer this question, other than laugh at its silliness and  not  answer it, is to flip it around on you. Do “conservatives” regret being so dramatic over the 2008 and 2012 elections? To be fair, I know that not every American who identifies as a Republican or conservative was “so dramatic” (to use the original poster’s words) when Barack Obama was elected as the first non-white President of the United States nine years ago after defeating Arizona Senator John S. McCain III (R) and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the 2008 Presidential election. Many sensible folk just accepted Obama’s win and said to themselves, “Maybe we’ll win in 2012.” They might not have been happy about the loss, but were willing to accept Mr. Obama as the duly elected President. Others…not so much. See the guy in the photo above? If you listen to conservative-leaning talk radio or watch TV talk shows that skew to the right, you’ll know that he’s Rush Limba...

What do I say to liberals to get them to understand we did not vote for Trump, we voted against Hillary and everything she represents? This, in my opinion, is perhaps one of the worst examples of political contortion and justification for a conscious choice that  you  and many like-minded people made in November 2016. Maybe you’re being disingenuous, to put it mildly. Or maybe this is what you tell yourself to assuage your own doubts about your choices, considering how poorly the man  you  helped elevate to the highest elected office in the United States is regarded by most people who are not: Republican* Conservatives Evangelical Christians Die-hard Trump supporters who hate Muslims, liberals, Barack Obama, Mexicans, LGBTQ, intellectuals (because they tend to lean toward the liberal side of the political spectrum), and anyone who doesn’t buy “their” President’s Make America Great Again snake oil The truth of the matter is, you can tell me all you wa...

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the  Office  of  President  of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." - Presidential Oath of Office Only two months and three days have passed since Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. That's a short span of time, really,  but to many Americans, it feels like we're in a national nightmare far worse than the Watergate scandal that destroyed Richard Nixon's Presidency - and further eroded public confidence in politicians, the two-party system, and American democracy itself.  During his short time in office, Mr. Trump has managed to achieve something no other President had done in the 228 years and 19 days (or, if you prefer, 83,294 days) since President George Washington swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. In 62 days, Mr. Trump has generat...

If you are an American that still supports Donald J. Trump and his inept Administration, you really need to re-evaluate your position, because the future is not looking too bright for the Twitterer-in-Chief. Consider these facts. Over the past eight weeks, the nation's Chief Executive has been the least Presidential occupant of the White House in American history. Even Gerald R. Ford, who was appointed  Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 and replaced Richard Milhouse Nixon as President after the latter's resignation in August of 1974, had more character in his pinky finger than Mr. Trump has in his entire body. Seriously, Ford wasn't elected to his last two leadership posts, but he served his country with decency and honor during those dark, depressing post-Watergate years. Mr. Trump, in contrast, has outdone Nixon in paranoia, narcissism, and combativeness since his Inauguration on January 20. His first television interview , with ABC News' David M...