Donald Trump’s Two Biggest Failures

I’m certain we could all make a list about the policies, programs and most of all, tweets, that we think are the most damaging thing the President has done since the election.

As I think about the havoc created to our relations with our long-term allies, as I look at our mean spirited immigration policy, to tax cuts which are piling up mountains of debt for our grandchildren, to the incessant lying about everything, to the inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars by dozens of appointed officials, I come down to two things that are the most critical in my mind.

The first is we are wasting four years, hopefully not eight, in addressing major critical issues, the greatest of which is Climate Change.

A reaffirmation of his administration’s position came in a recent editorial by Vice President Mike Pence, when he listed all the “great” things the Trump administration has done and stated, “we’ve withdrawn from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.” Ignoring the greatest threat to mankind as if it doesn’t exist is a true danger to us all.

Personally, I would refer to the wind energy expansion in Iowa and many western states as job-creating programs, not “job-killing.”

The second issue is that the President is not just in charge of policy, he is in charge of setting a tone, or creating a culture, which many people follow and emulate. George W. Bush, set the tone for his administration when he used the words “Compassionate Conservatism.” In some cases, the president sets the tone by what he says or in other cases by what people hear and how they act on it.

No better example can be seen in the headline on the front page of the Des Moines Register a day or so ago, which read “Worker: Race talk typical in Trump era.” So much of what the president says and how he acts pits various segments of our society against one another. That attitude is now seen throughout our culture and has become pervasive in our politics. It is truly undermining our core social order.

Getting us back to dealing with these important policy and cultural issues will be our next great challenge as new people are elected to Congress later this year and of course the 2020 election for president. In a democracy, change occurs when voters want it.

With that in mind, guess what we all must come together and do next?

by Dick Goodson
Posted 8/21/18