Like many conservatives who care about specific aspects of government (in my case, the Supreme Court). I voted for President Trump. I don’t say that with pride or disdain, but indifference. It wasn’t personal — it was business. While some conservatives are happy with Trump for the policies he’s initiated and others are furious with what he’s failed to do or backtracked on, over the last two years, particularly the last few months, a faction of those two groups have started to unite over two things: character and personality.
As allegations of Trump’s mistress swarmed and evidence of hush-money appeared, many on the Right shrugged: He is what we thought he was, and to some extent this is true. Most voters realized Trump was a womanizer and bragged about those ventures. Many, including myself, have justified this by saying despite Trump’s indescrepencies, he was and is still a better president than Hillary Clinton would have been.
At times I still think that might be true; the issue remains complex, especially two years into office. Another way to look at it is to simply point out that Trump cannot change who he was (or perhaps, inwardly, still may be when it comes to character flaws). His moral code, or lack of it, is a problem. But it’s hard-wired and what’s done is done, in terms of mistresses. It’s still a problem but history cannot simply be erased.
While Trump’s past continues to haunt him, many of his personality traits seem to derail even his best efforts at foreign diplomacy, national interests, or even just basic human decency. This is most often demonstrated through his use of Twitter, although it can also be seen in speeches, records of meetings, and other events. This is indisputable: Trump tweets like a 15-year-old who has just discovered the varieties of cable news, grudges, and nuance of political discourse.
On Twitter, Trump harbors personal squabbles and projects them for the rest of the world to see. The most recent example is that when Sen. John McCain died, the American flag over the White House did not stay lowered to half-mast for long out of respect for the late Senator. The flag was at full-mast on Monday morning, then lowered to half-mast after public pressure. Agree or disagree with McCain’s politics but the man served this country first in the military and then in Congress, and after his death, the White House became like the president’s personal playground and he can’t stop pulling the hair of the kid who annoys him most.
As a conservative, I agree with many of his tweets — some of them even make me laugh.
If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
…..Censorship is a very dangerous thing & absolutely impossible to police. If you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN & MSNBC, & yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed. I get used to it and watch with a grain of salt, or don’t watch at all..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
On the other hand, I don’t care for the way Trump words many of his tweets or the frequency and pettiness of them, (though this does not mean he is always wrong). Media bias bothers him and he mentions this frequently. It is quite real and frustrating. But it’s the president’s right to comment on it, and he shouldn’t be made to censor himself or that his tweets should be regulated in anyway.
But that doesn’t mean he should not be encouraged, or that Americans could hope or expect something different. By now insults and foibles like these seem relatively commonplace in this administration, but that does not mean they are normal. It’s one thing to disagree with something and express your opinion on Twitter, it’s another to articulate yourself in a way that is unbecoming of the office of the president.
Yes, the public largely knew what Donald Trump would be like and in many ways he has fit that bill perfectly. In many ways the public knew Trump took to Twitter like a toddler to a temper tantrum — and frankly, they liked it. Finally! Someone who says it like it is! Someone who doesn’t care what Washington thinks!
While there’s something to be said for a maverick willing to break protocol and bend the rules to pave a new way for communication and expression in the highest office of the land, if America is to remain a world superpower, she must act every bit the leader she can be. She needs a commander in chief who forges that path with verve and maturity, strength, and wisdom — not the impulsivity and pettiness of a teenager scorned.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
