Why Must Trump Do the Right Things the Wrong Way

[EasyAce]

The president’s announcement on not allowing transgender Americans to serve in the military is the latest example of how he sabotages his own policies.
By David French
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449859/trump-transgender-military-service-announcement-botching-good-policy

As time goes by, it’s increasingly clear that there’s something limiting and false about the “just call balls and
strikes” approach to analyzing the Trump presidency. Yes, you can praise Trump when he does right and critique him
when he does wrong, but at some level that small-ball approach to evaluating Trump simply fails. He does good things,
and he does bad things, but he does all things against a backdrop of impulsiveness, chaos, and divisiveness that
undermines sound polices even as it does immense damage to the body politic . . .

. . . I had travel-ban flashbacks this morning as I read Trump’s series of tweets announcing that transgender Americans
may not serve “in any capacity” in the military. As a general matter, I agree with the policy. The American military has
a specific and violent purpose. It pushes human beings to the limits of their emotional, spiritual, and physical endurance
to defeat our nation’s enemies. Successful combat operations require not just physical and emotional fitness but also
an extraordinary amount of unit cohesion.

Transgender Americans, though undoubtedly as patriotic as any other Americans, are disproportionately likely to suffer
from mental illness, are more prone to attempt suicide, abuse alcohol and drugs at higher rates, and often require
extensive medical care and comprehensive medical intervention during and after their “transitions.” An infantry soldier,
for example, could be sidelined for weeks as he purports to transition from male to female — taking hormones that
could make him physically weaker and undergoing painful, debilitating surgery that would prevent him from serving
in the field and training with his unit for long periods of time. This is not a formula for successful military service,
and while there are certainly extraordinary individuals who are able to serve effectively, that is no argument for
opening service to a group that would collectively degrade military readiness . . . Trump was right to step back from
this new transgender brink.

But he did it exactly the wrong way. Not only did he reportedly blindside members of the military (he tweeted while
Secretary of Defense James Mattis was on vacation) with the timing and nature of his announcement, his typical
inflammatory tweeting was guaranteed to ignite yet another round of public fury. He virtually guaranteed that the
next Democratic president would immediately reverse his policy, and he made any congressional debate that much
more challenging . . .

[Frank Cannon]

Why Must Trump Do the Right Things the Wrong Way

Why must no name losers feel compelled to whine like snowflakes? Oh yeah. It's the only thing Davey can do to make a living.

[EasyAce]

Why must no name losers feel compelled to whine like snowflakes? Oh yeah. It's the only thing Davey can do to make a living.

An attorney who set his practise and his presidency of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education aside to
serve in the Army Reserve JAG, deploy to Iraq, and be awarded a Bronze Star during his service, is a no-name
loser?

Got it.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Why must no name losers feel compelled to whine like snowflakes?

I don't know, you seem to be pretty good at it.

[Oceander]

The author has it exactly right. 

[skeeter]

Alot of people voted for a bull in a China shop.

Maybe we ought to wait until we see how it all shakes out before declaring it a disaster.

[mountaineer]

Here’s what actual presidential leadership would look like. After permitting his respected secretary of defense to comprehensively study the issue of transgender service, he would draft a carefully written, factually supported statement describing in detail the military justifications for the policy. Then, with the full, prepared backing of the Pentagon, he’d approach a Republican-controlled Congress and write his policy into law — creating a far more permanent standard that couldn’t be quickly reversed by the next administration and wouldn’t jerk the military into a game of culture-war hot potato depending on whose party controls the White House.

I agree with the author. "Tweeting" policies of this significance (or any policy, for that matter) is not the sign of a bold "outsider" president. It's a sign of laziness and a lack of seriousness.

[aligncare]

Establishment types, all upset because Donald Trump has no filter. They think they get to tell the president when and where to speak. President Trump answers back: Don't tread on me. I fight back.

Fact is, Trump is utterly guileless; he doesn't do political kabuki, what you see is what you get -- one of the many reasons he won in the primaries against 16 seasoned political competitors (in winning the general against Hillary, the why was plain for anyone to see -- except, of course, for NeverTrumpers).

[corbe]

Establishment types, all upset because Donald Trump has no filter. They think they get to tell the president when and where to speak. President Trump answers back: Don't tread on me. I fight back.

Fact is, Trump is utterly guileless; he doesn't do political kabuki, what you see is what you get -- one of the many reasons he won in the primaries against 16 seasoned political competitors (in winning the general against Hillary, the why was plain for anyone to see -- except, of course, for NeverTrumpers).

   I think you misspelt 'gutless' @aligncare

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

   I think you misspelt 'gutless' @aligncare

Indeed. He doesn't have the guts to fire Sessions. Why is that?

[Night Hides Not]

Alot of people voted for a bull in a China shop.

Maybe we ought to wait until we see how it all shakes out before declaring it a disaster.

They didn't expect the bull to trash their China shop. They thought by painting Orange Kool Aid around their door mantles, the Destroyer would pass them by. They should've known better.

[skeeter]

They didn't expect the bull to trash their China shop. They thought by painting Orange Kool Aid around their door mantles, the Destroyer would pass them by. They should've known better.

Well, I'M entertained, at least.

[Oceander]

Trump is a world-class disgrace and about as incompetent as they come.  He has exactly one real accomplishment to his name so far: Justice Gorsuch, and he is doing his damnedest to make sure the country pays such a high price for his presidency that even that may not be worth the price. 

[Fishrrman]

The question:
"Why Must Trump Do the Right Things the Wrong Way?"

My response:
That's ok with me.
Let him "do the right things" however he is able to get them done.
When the "right" thing has been accomplished, it won't matter whether the course to get there was smooth or rocky. The endpoint will have been reached.
And that's what counts.

Perhaps you'd prefer someone who does the WRONG things, but in a perceivably "right" manner?

Aside:
Seems like we've had a number of presidents from BOTH parties who have behaved in the latter way since Reagan retired...

[EasyAce]

When the "right" thing has been accomplished, it won't matter whether the course to get there was smooth or rocky. The endpoint will have been reached.
And that's what counts.

If the course was merely "rocky," that would be one thing.

Perhaps you'd prefer someone who does the WRONG things, but in a perceivably "right" manner?

I'd prefer someone who did the right things the right way. And one of these days I may yet
have the chance to vote for such a person.

I said it last year: If the national house was burning I didn't like having nothing better than having
the blaze fought by one of two known arsonists, one who used blow torches and the other matches.
The net result would have been the same with different details in the final scorching.

Make America great again? I'd rather make America America again.