Trump Should Be Held to Account for His Promises

[EasyAce]

The blind faith of some of his supporters reduces the chance his administration will be a success.
By Ben Shapiro
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/447282/print

We’re now more than 100 days into the Trump presidency, and not all that much has gotten done.

Yes, Trump appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Yes, Congress has trimmed around the edges of some
Obama-era regulations with the Congressional Review Act. But that’s about it. And there are no new major conservative
initiatives in the works, either.

Yet to hear Trump’s most ardent supporters speak of the Trump administration is to be struck by the forcefulness of their
excitement. Trump isn’t just effective — he’s supremely effective. Trump isn’t just conservative — he’s the most conservative.
How do we know this? We know it because he has promised things. Trump, you see, has said that he will end immigration
from Muslim countries — and it’s not his fault that his administration wrote an executive order struck down by multiple
courts. Trump said he would stop illegal immigration — and it’s not his fault that Congress won’t humor him by building
a wall, and that the courts won’t allow him to unilaterally defund sanctuary cities. Trump said he would repeal Obamacare
— and it’s not his fault that he made so many conflicting promises that passage of anything remotely resembling repeal
became impossible. Trump said he would pass a terrific tax reform plan — and it’s not his fault that governing is so
complicated. Trump said he would make America more muscular on the world stage — and it’s not his fault that North
Korea is intractable and Syria is a mess.

The deep and bizarre allegiance Trump worshipers have for his promises — not his actions, his promises – gives the lie to
one of the greatest justifications for his presidency: political cynicism.

During the campaign, Trump admirers declared themselves cynics. “The politicians are liars,” they said. “Everybody lies.
It’s a dirty business. So what if Trump cuts corners? So what if he violates the rules? They all do!” With self-assured jadedness,
Trump labeled America akin to Vladimir Putin’s Russia in the killing of political opponents; in the same spirit, Trump’s deepest
backers nodded sagely as they explained that American politics was a savage, disgusting business and that we needed a
savage, disgusting man to wade through the muck. Did Trump lie? Sure, but all politicians lie — I mean, look at Hillary
Clinton. Was Trump vile? Yes, but how about Bill Clinton? Did Trump take positions at odds with conservatism? Yes, but
what have those conservatives ever done for us?

All of this would be palatable except for one fact: Trump’s biggest supporters weren’t jaded at all. They weren’t cynical.
They were just angry.

And anger without cynicism makes you credulous.

That means Trump can get away with virtually anything, and those who cheer him on will continue to cheer him on. Like
acolytes of Barack Obama, they celebrate Trump’s mere presence. They don’t believe that all politicians lie. They believe
that all politicians except for Trump lie. Hence the deep desire to shade Trump’s obvious falsehoods and stupidities into
areas of defensible gray. When Trump says that Obama wiretapped him, it’s not enough to shrug your shoulders and say
that all politicians make outrageous claims about their opponents (half-true); Trump’s cheerleaders instead say that
eventually Trump will be proved right. And who are you to doubt Trump’s language and ask for more specificity? Some
sort of sell-out?

And it’s not just that Trump’s disciples think that he can’t lie to them. When faced with two obviously contradictory promises,
they pick the one that most pleases them. Trump has promised to maintain pre-existing-condition regulations on insurance
companies and to lower health-care costs and premiums? Yes, it would be impossible to do both simultaneously — for a lesser
man. But Trump can defy the laws of logic. Anyone who doubts him, just look back at 2016! You believed the polls, didn’t
you? Trump’s ground game was in our hearts, and so is his ability to provide affordable health care to everyone at little cost
without blowing up the budget.

There are two dangers in faith masked as cynicism. The first is a threat to the possibility of a working Trump administration.
The second is a threat to the possibility of a working governmental system.

Trump thought that being president would be easier than it is. He thought that because he thinks that he embodies a sort of
grand power that can square any circle. This week, he posited that both the Israeli–Arab conflict and the American Civil War
could have been avoided or brought to an end by a great dealmaker, presumably someone whose name rhymes with Ronald
Glump. He has already learned better on North Korea (“I realized it’s not so easy”), health care (“nobody knew health care
could be so complicated”), and the presidency itself (“I thought it would be easier”).

But the more his zealots whisper in his ear that he can do no wrong, the steeper the fall when he hits the cliff of reality. Let
people hold him to account to his promises, and urge him to speak only truth — and then, perhaps, he’ll start acting less like
a snake handler and more like a president.

Then there’s the problem of a working government. True cynicism about government leads to the constitutional system of
checks and balances: If nobody can be trusted, we divide power and set it against itself. But when you believe that the system
is broken while the leader is perfect, the system disintegrates. Nothing Trump can say will dissuade some of his supporters
from backing his every move. Every problem will be blamed on the system itself, or on the media, or on the First Amendment.
Counterintuitively, every Trump failure will become a new excuse to tear down the system in order to make way for Trump to
bring messianic politics to life. This was the logic of the Democrats under Barack Obama, and it led them to abandon basic
notions of American unity and governmental checks and balances. Republicans should not make the same mistake.

But many will. They will because they believe they are too smart to be tricked again. But any politician who demands your
undying trust is playing a trick on you. And Trump is just another politician, after all.

[skeeter]

The argument that Trump is being stymied by the establishment falls flat when you consider what he's done - or not done - to get follow through on his key campaign promises.

He should be out in the public eye every hour, loudly exposing the opposition. The bully pulpit is there for a reason.

[INVAR]

Trump will be held accountable for his lies and broken promises about as readily as Hillary will be held accountable for Benghazi and her e-mail treason.

[Oceander]

He will, when he's not re-elected in 2020; and then we'll get to suffer the consequences.

[EasyAce]

The argument that Trump is being stymied by the establishment falls flat when you consider what he's done - or not done - to get follow through on his key campaign promises.

That isn't the argument the author made---unless, of course, one believes the system of checks and balances
embedded in the Constitution and, of course, assaulted rather routinely by Donaldus Minimus's predecessors,
never mind Donaldus Minimus himself---is the establishment in question.

Personally, I can't wait to see what Mr. Gene Healy---whose The Cult of the Presidency traced and analysed
the history of the disgrace, up to and including George W. Bush; and, whose False Idol followed up with
a similar trace and analysis of Barack Obama---will have to write about the continuing cult a la Donaldus Minimus
and his sycophancy.

[Cripplecreek]

[skeeter]

That isn't the argument the author made---unless, of course, one believes the system of checks and balances
embedded in the Constitution and, of course, assaulted rather routinely by Donaldus Minimus's predecessors,
never mind Donaldus Minimus himself---is the establishment in question.

Personally, I can't wait to see what Mr. Gene Healy---whose The Cult of the Presidency traced and analysed
the history of the disgrace, up to and including George W. Bush; and, whose False Idol followed up with
a similar trace and analysis of Barack Obama---will have to write about the continuing cult a la Donaldus Minimus
and his sycophancy.

Understand - I was riffing off the article.

BTW, there is nothing in our Constitutional system that prevents American citizens from applying pressure to their elected representatives in order to see that legislation is moved forward, or visa versa.

This is what Trump has refused to harness to move his declared agenda forward. It would be so easy.

[geronl]

He will, when he's not re-elected in 2020; and then we'll get to suffer the consequences.

I want this over ASAP. This is pure insanity.

[geronl]

lol

[Cripplecreek]

The idea that Trump's failures are all the fault of the establishment is foolish if anyone takes an honest look at it.

The fantasy that Trump was an enemy of the establishment died the day he turned on Ted Cruz and ran to the arms of men like Mitch McConnell, Reince Preibus, and John Boehner.

[Idiot]

He will, when he's not re-elected in 2020; and then we'll get to suffer the consequences.

Sadly....you are exactly right.