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| ‘Don't let the coronavirus dominate your life’ (Guardian) |
Despite my ambivalence about the President, there is not a doubt in my mind that the last almost four years have seemed like a nightmare in many ways.
When the President first announced his candidacy, I never took it seriously… until he won the Republican nomination. That shocked me. He was not my first choice among those running against him. He wasn’t even my last choice.
As the campaign progressed, I could not begin to imagine the tragedy of a man like that being elected to the highest office in the land. I voted for his opponent Hillary Clinton in the general election. Even though I was not a fan (to say the least), I nevertheless believed that she would be a far superior leader than would a man like Trump.
I basically saw her as a continuation of the Obama Presidency. Which was not as terrible as many on the right would have you believe. My hope was that she might have had a better approach to Israel than the man she would replace had near the end of his term.
Imagine my shock when Trump won the election. I’m sure I was not the only one. I’ll bet even the Presdient himself was shocked (Although I’m equally sure he’d never admit it.)
To say I was depressed about the future of our country under a man like that would be an understatement of immense proportion. I thought our economy would crash and the world would fall apart. I firmly believed that the man in charge had no clue how to do what he was elected to do. How could a man like that be elected? How could it happen?!
It is now almost 4 years later. My impression of him has not changed. If anything it has gotten a lot worse. But I was wrong about what impact his presidency would have on the country and on the Middle East.
Until COVID, the economy under Trump was soaring (unless you are a leftist and spin it negatively). And his Middle East policy has resulted in establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and 2 Arab countries - with more prospects very possible. (Also dismissed by the left who say that is insignificant).
This is not to say his Presidency was perfect. Far from it. But the country did not fall apart and was doing quite well until the pandemic hit.
Which was not his fault. How he has handled it is another question. If you are on the right, you believe he has handled it well. If you are on the left, you think he has failed miserably. As always, I am somewhere in between those extremes. There are some things that he did that were good and some things that he did (or didn’t do) that were not good.
As much as I could not stand the way he did things, I do appreciate what many of his policies had done for the country (prior to COVID) and for Israel. I was wrong to believe that his presidency would be ‘the end of the world’! It wasn’t.
Although his behavior and character borders on being nightmarish, most of his domestic and foreign policies were not. (unless you are a leftist).
If on the other hand you consider media reportage to be gospel, then everything about Trump is a nightmare. His every utterance is spun negatively. The latest example of which is his message to the American people to not let COVID dominate our lives. They have blasted the President for giving this very good advice – spinning it to mean that COVID should not be taken seriously.
That is not what he said. He said that it should not dominate our lives. I agree. I have not let it dominate my life. But I have nonetheless been extremely careful in observing all the precautions recommended by public health officials - while trying to live my life as normally as possible under current circumstances.
That should be everyone’s attitude. We must be extremely cautious - and yet not cower to the point of isolation. Isolation might be good advice for those with serious underlying health conditions. But it is terrible advice for everyone else.
I am so tired of every single word out of the president’s mouth being spun so negatively by the media and his political opponents. You don’t have to like him. You don’t have to agree with him. You don’t have to vote for him. You can even believe that the bad about him outweighs by far anything good about him.
But when the media spins everything as bad it undermines their credibility. Or at least it should. Even if they actually believe their own rhetoric. Unfortunately the left and much of the public whose knowledge of events relies almost exclusively on the media – buys into it.
There is something called Emes in the world. Which means that most of the time there is good side and a bad side to most people. Some have more of one than the other. Some by a lot. But very few human beings in history were pure evil. There were very few Stalins or Hitlers. Trump cannot be compared to either of them.
That being said, I firmly believe that he will lose the election this time. The pandemic will do him in. He was the man at the top when it hit. It was under his watch. He will get the blame. Some of which he deserves and some of which he doesn’t. The polls seem to make that very clear
It’s true that the polls were wrong last time. But I don’t think they will be this time. The media has worked too hard for them to be wrong again. After 4 years of a constant barrage of only negative reporting, it will have its intended effect. They see his presidency as an unmitigated disaster – a nightmare that will soon thankfully end.
It will. He will be replaced by a new leader… and all will be right with the world.
Everyone will wear masks and everyone will practice social distancing. Including the Chasidic and Yeshiva world. Everyone will finally understand the wisdom of not holding large maskless gatherings. Closing down schools, churches, and Shuls when there is a spike in COVID will be done willingly by every community. And before you know it - the pandemic will be over – even if there is no vaccine.
The economy will return to its pre-COVID days. Israel will make peace with the Palestinians because Israeli settlements on the West Bank will cease (under the threat of their relationship with the US). Iran will have all of its sanctions removed - and become a responsible nation among nations. The US will prosper once again even as industry is once again taxed at the pre-Trump rates. And last but certainly not least, racism and antisemitism will come to an end.
Can’t wait to see all that happen!
