Politics trumps personality

Barack Obama is a classier guy than Donald Trump. No doubt about it. He’s better looking, funnier, more charming, has a more extensive vocabulary, as well as superior social skills. He loves and respects his wife and is playful with children. I totally get why many adore him and are so sad to see him go.

Donald could take some lessons from Barack. As I watched the inauguration proceedings I found myself hoping that the transfer of power would bring with it a transfer of class, comportment, and presidential gravitas, and maybe there was some of that. I missed a lot. But I must accept that it’s unlikely President Trump will ever be as personally appealing as his predecessor. A leader’s personal qualities, however, though impacting his leadership style and likability, are not the determining factor in whether or not he’s the better person for the job. The anti-Trumpers complain about his perceived objectives and policy plans, but I suspect that for many of them their vocal opposition is rooted as much in their distaste for him on a personal level, based mainly on how liberals have portrayed him.

Those on the left need to understand that many of us on the right also find him at least somewhat personally distasteful, but we voted for him anyway because we know that what is more pertinent to the preferability of a politician is not his personality but his politics. Still, it needs to be said that we did not vote for the monstrous caricature of him that continues to be paraded and lampooned like a presidential piñata. Donald Trump may be pompous, vain, and self-congratulatory, but I don’t believe he’s racist, sexist, or hateful. Because what is routinely cited as evidence that he is all these things and just a downright horrible human being, is at best (or perhaps I should say at worst) evidence that he is just a flawed human being. Like all of us. And many of the primary weapons liberals use to discredit him are simply misconstrued quotes and video clips pounced on and propagated by liberal news media and bloggers to paint Trump as a despicable, bigoted moron.

For example: It can be demonstrated that his supposed mockery of the disabled reporter was mockery of the reporter getting caught changing his story, not his disability. As one report put it, Trump has a “limited repertoire of impressions” and has used the spastic hand flapping to mimic a number of others who are not disabled. And in a demonstration of the unique contribution of the written word, he was accused of calling Mexicans rapists when in fact he was referencing rapists who are Mexican. There, their, and they’re…which to choose?

President Trump may be lacking President Obama’s polish, refinement, and discretion, but his politics more closely represent my values. “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting,” but a president who protects my faith, family, and freedom is to be preferred.