Inside the Trump Administration

The New York Times has published an an anonymous Op-Ed essay by someone who works inside the Trump administration.   An excerpt says;

“From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.”

“Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.”

“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier.”

Based on many observations of his words and actions, it is my opinion that Trump believes he works for himself rather than for the American people.   This ideology also applies to his staff; i.e., that his staff works for his interests and not those of this nation.

A disadvantage that Trump has is a lack of communicating with former Presidents.  He doesn’t have to talk to them about policies.  Truly, the ability to talk to others who have experience in the same position can relieve stress.  Along with this, we have witnessed that past presidents do not hold grudges against each other.

Maybe Trump fails to appreciate any of our currently living, former Presidents.   My opinion might be different had Trump served in any political capacity on a state or federal level, but he has no experience representing the interests of anyone other than himself.  In his business position, there has not been anyone in a position to overrule him.

I remember when Ronald Reagan ran for president.  My first question was that as an actor, would he be suited for the job as president?  However, at least Reagan had served the people of the State of California as their governor.  As an actor, he worked under directors who worked under producers and the directions of studios.  It helps when people are disciplined in taking directions from others.  Lone rangers appear to lack self-discipline and also have a screwed view of team work, thinking it to mean that all others simply allow them to do what they want.  They lack seeing the bigger picture. 

This leads back to a conversation I had with a friend in 2016 during the presidential campaign.  Can the White House and ultimately, the United States, be ran as a business?   My friend was adamant in voting for Trump on the basis that he knows how to run businesses.   However, people who own and operate businesses that do not answer to public stockholders and board of directors, only answer to themselves.

Then comes concern for understanding this nation’s constitution.  Trump’s position many times has been if there is no law against something, then he can do whatever he wants without it being illegal.  Hmmm.  Thoughts about the meanings of “unlawful”, “illegal”, and “common law” flood my mind. There might not be a law that states specifically that one cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater, which is why we depend on federal courts to address what does and doesn’t constitute “free speech”.

Is this why Donald Trump wants a judge on the Supreme Court of the United States who might ignore Supreme Court precedent interpreting the constitution, and justify it on the basis that Congress has not passed a law addressing specific actions?  It’s like dealing with a little child who is told not to take more than 3 cookies a day from the cookie jar.  One day, the child takes 10 and when confronted with his disobedience, responds that it only applies to chocolate chip cookies and not butter cookies, because the directions were given to him when there were chocolate chip cookies in the jar.  He expects this parents to give him separate instructions with each type of cookie because he doesn’t respect that “cookies” is inclusive.

Listening to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, I also hear some of his answers to convey that if Congress doesn’t pass a law, that he will interpret the constitution to not uphold the basis principles contained in that document.  It highly upset me that he doesn’t have the ethics and common sense to withdraw his nomination and wait — wait because America is a Democratic Republic.

As a Democratic Republic, it means that voters elect people to represent them.  When those who represent them say that they don’t have all requested information to properly go forward with a confirmation hearing, then the people are not being represented.  If anyone applied for a job and the potential employer could not go forth with a proper interview without a background check, there would be no argument about it.  The candidate would be willing to wait or withdraw their application.

Then, there’s the situation of Fred Guttenberg who introduced himself to Brett Kavanaugh.  Guttenberg’s daughter was killed during the mass shooting at Parkland High School.  The White House released the excuse that security removed Kavanaugh as the reason why he did not shake Guttenberg’s hand.   That diverts from the visual display which shows Kavanaugh put a frown on his face.  For me, it’s not what security did or didn’t do but rather, Kavanaugh’s facial expression.

Okay.  I’ve been on the soap box long enough for one day.  Needless to say, I am frustrated by this Administration.