Any follower of the political news who is older than about 12 knows perfectly well that when a scandal is brewing and the president tells us over and over, for days, at ever-higher volume, that he has complete confidence in some appointee, well, that the underling had better be polishing his resume. It makes no difference who the person is or what his title. That person is about to be sacked.
Usually, we don’t mind ploy. What else is the president going to say, “He is an incompetent fool and I must have been having a brain cramp when I chose him” or “He’s a good guy and he has served well but he’s a unbearable liability in the coming election?” Won’t happen. As a matter of political courtesy, the president is calming political waters with a few drops of harmless oil. We make allowances for it.
It is an altogether different matter when we have a president whose first response to any misstep is to huff and puff and blame somebody else and then mount a sustained attack on whoever raised the issue. If the original screw-up was a small one and if it is an isolated case we probably shouldn’t mind that much, but if it happens over and over we may begin to have suspicions. We expect more from a president. It is, after all, the classic tactic of the card shark, the hide-the-pea hustler, or, (sic) the Florida real estate scam artist.
Trump is taking a lot of heat these days. Some people insist on looking into his finances. Others want to know more about any obligations he may have to overseas business partners. The press is eager to factcheck every word that he utters. Fact is, that is the way we do politics in our country. President Obama certainly came in for the same treatment. Remember “birthing”?
It comes with the job. It’s the way we do politics in our country. And it isn’t all that bad, either. The whole point of it is to shine the light of public attention into what otherwise can become the dark corners of political connivance and collusion and contempt for the law.
The 12-year-old knows not to be fooled when the man in fancy clothes tries to distract us from the tools of his showmanship. Every dodge and denial, every smoke screen that Mr. Trump throws up only serves to deepen our doubt.
Brooke Elgie is a resident of Tenakee Springs.
