 |
| Ariana Hoblin telling her story to the President in the Oval Office (JNS) |
I do think he cares about people in need. He has
actually shown great compassion well before he was elected President. As was
the case when he flew a sick Jewish child on his private plane cross country
(I believe it was from LA to New York) for a badly needed surgery that could
only be performed there. He did that without any fanfare or publicity. And never
talks about it.
Unfortunately his out sized ego and the abrasive way he
expresses himself is not exactly endearing. His sense of ethics is at best complicated
and - at least on the surface - it seems he doesn’t have any sense of ethics at all.
That – plus his ambition and drive have surely led him to be impeached by the
House.
It is therefore not too difficult to understand why my
friends on the Left hate him so much. And they are in good company. Judging by the 2016 election
– most voters agree and voted for his opponent. Including me. It is equally understandable
why they so strongly support his impeachment and hope for his removal from
office by the Senate. (Although that is not going to happen, Trial begins
Tuesday.)
Although I tend to agree with the Left about his behavior. I
do not see him only as narcissistic. I see a degree of compassion in him that those
on the left do not.
The President is so abrasive to his political enemies and
the media, that they are blind to any possible positive traits. And judge whatever
he does unfavorably. More often than not what Trump supporters see as a positive
act or policy is seen by the left as negative. Objectivity is always lost when hate takes over. Especially when that hate is as extreme and palpable is the case with the Left about the President.
Just to illustrate, the impeachment is seen by Democrats based on solid evidence that he
subverted the constitution in ways heretofore unparalleled. They are in a virtual state of disbelief that
there are practically no Republicans that see it that way.
Republicans on the other hand do not see the 2 articles of impeachment drafted by the House to be worthy of Trump’s removal from office. Even if
everything witnesses have testified to is true. They see this as a political
move to overturn Trump’s election - disguised as protecting the constitution.
I think the country is equally divided along these same
lines. If you like what he’s done for
the country, you want to see him continue in office. And you don’t care about
that phone call to the Ukraine, no matter what his intent was. If you think he’s hurt
the country, that phone call was the
epitome of a high crime and misdemeanor making the President more deserving of impeachment than at
any other time by any other President in American history. You want to see him out of office so
that honor and dignity can be restored to the Oval Office as well as a return of the
respect from our allies they believe has been destroyed by its current
occupant.
Back to compassion. During an Oval Office ceremony where the
President ‘signed an executive order to better protect prayer in public schools
and federal funds for religious organizations’ he heard from Ariana Hoblin ,a Jewish
teenage girl who reported how she was bullied by her classmates for simply
being Jewish and asserting her constitutional religious rights. That bill was
designed to protect people like her.
Sure... he had her there to make himself look good. But I
don’t think that is was only about that. Nor do I think the people standing there
with her thought that either. I think he
actually has compassion for vulnerable people that are bullied. The Left will scoff
at that considering his own tenancy towards ridiculing others. He has done so countless times - harshly ridiculing his political opponents and
various members of the media.
But there is a major difference between a vulnerable teenager like Ariana on the one hand - and hardened politicians and media people on the other.
Trump does not know how to overlook criticism. When he gets harsh
criticism he returns it even more harshly. They
should expect it. Unpresidential? Absolutely. But that is who the man is. He is not going to change. Gone are the days where they can say nasty things about a President
while he overlooks them.
So while it’s true that the President’s behavior lacks dignity
(to say the least) and thereby has embarrassed his high office more times than
I can count - I believe underneath it all is a human being that is a lot more
compassionate than he is given credit for.
One may ask, what about the way he has treated illegal
aliens? I must admit that seems to contradict any sense of compassion.
Especially considering the ill conceived policy of separating children from
their parents. As disgusting as that
was, his intent was to deter aliens from crossing the border illegally. I
suppose he hoped that would stop them. It didn’t. It was a bad policy that was
quickly abandoned.
Trump is a complicated man. Who occasionally makes bad policy
decisions even to those of us that support most of them. But I do not believe
he is devoid of any compassion at all. Deep down I think he actually cares.
