It may be hard to recall now, but when Donald Trump first burst onto the national political scene eight years ago, one of his critics’ biggest knocks against him – in addition to his unabashed wholesale assault on the political establishments of both parties – was a criticism
that he didn’t act much like a president does or should.
The bluebloods hated that Trump couldn’t be counted on to perfunctorily stay in line like all the rest of the upper echelon political class before him, remember? Trump was no smooth flip-flopper like Mitt Romney, nor was he as dignified and partisan restrained as John McCain. And Trump definitely wasn’t like George W. Bush, a man who chose to ignore the vicious establishment media verbal floggings he endured, all in the name of trying to foster phony “unity” and “bipartisan” support which the other side would never give. Ever.
Needless to rehash, but Trump didn’t care about those things. The New Yorker didn’t run for president to make friends with the swamp creatures. In fact, Trump declared open antipathy to the way things had always been done in Washington, suggesting that many of the enormous problems in evidence were due to men acting “presidential” to the point nothing ever got done by the elite set.
To Trump, being “presidential” meant America’s interests would always be put first. It wasn’t a view most Americans were used to hearing, and once his proposals caught on among the grassroots, Trump’s behavior won over tens of millions of loyal fans. And it turns out being anti-establishment was something ordinary people craved.
At any rate, Trump’s “behavior” isn’t much of an issue any longer, so much so that recent survey results by the eminently credible Gallup organization shockingly revealed that a preponderance of Americans find the former Oval Office occupant more “presidential” than “good guy” Joe Biden. In an article titled “Trump viewed as more presidential in Biden-crushing Gallup poll”, Paul Bedard reported at the Washington Examiner last week:
“Forget all those stories about chaos during former President Donald Trump’s administration and, equally, those about President Joe Biden being a better chief executive than former President Ronald Reagan. Because just out is a new survey from Gallup giving Trump the edge on who is considered more presidential.
“In a poll that is overall deflating to Biden’s hopes for a second term, Trump wins when people are asked who has the better ‘presidential personality and leadership qualities.’ The margin favored Trump 46% to 38%. Among the critical independent voting bloc, Trump beat out Biden 43% to 35%.
“The results are in contrast to the liberal media’s view that the Trump presidency, and former president himself, was a chaotic disaster and that Biden restored presidential leadership to the White House.”
Somewhere, the old brains behind National Review and the snooty Never Trump crowd are sitting with jaws agape at the rise in Donald Trump’s “presidential” reputation. What must Bill Kristol think? George Will? How many careers were ruined at the onset of the Trump era by “conservative” commentators who voluntarily took themselves out of their previously hard fought-for positions because they were too “principled” to put up with the new direction and couldn’t get behind the way Donald Trump was leading the Republican Party?
Where’s Jonah Goldberg now? How about David French? They and their ilk bragged that they would never support Trump because of his non-traditional political personality and demeanor. People forget these days, but the Never Trump movement spent the better part of a year in 2015/16 attempting to dredge up an alternative “White Knight” candidate who would swoop in from the sky to save their version of the conservative movement from itself. In the process, they anointed themselves the keepers of the true GOP and propped up “leaders” like Paul Ryan who’d “had enough” of Trump’s antics and finally swore an oath that “never means never.”
But the American people apparently thought differently. “Gentleman” Joe Biden is no longer considered more “presidential” than an uncouth lout like Donald Trump? What has the world come to?
In truth, the results of the Gallup poll aren’t surprising because people love trailblazers, and Trump is a natural born leader. In contrast, senile Joe Biden is a doddering half-century-plus career swamp dweller who’s never had a real job and, as his remarkably awful performance last Thursday night demonstrated, his condescending lectures to people are both insulting and off-putting. And not presidential.
Biden’s speaking style is hard to follow. Rotating between fits of anger and creepy whispers into the microphone, the hair sniffin’, shoulders massagin’, nude swimmin’, child repellin’, senate staffer molestin’ bad father doesn’t exactly inspire people. Does Joe Biden meet your stereotypical impression of what a president should be?
Or does vice president cackling Kamala Harris’s insane giggles meet the mold, either?
Thanks to the current group of both Republicans and Democrats, there just may be a new definition of “presidential” behavior focusing on hard-nosed veracity, candor and disregard for pleasantries that typified the old guard.
It’s been my theory for some time that Trump looked for – and is looking for – a certain type of “presidential” politician to be his running mate. Whereas it’s always been the presumption that party nominees search for individuals who “compliment” them, or add regional appeal to the combo or, in the case of Democrats, bring purported “diversity” to their ticket, I believe Trump wants a someone who will add to his “presidential” factor this year.
What does this mean?
Study the last example. I believe Trump chose Mike Pence in 2016 because Pence’s personality helped soften many of the nominee’s hard edges when it came to his enemies’ absurd accusations of his being “unpresidential” or “hot headed” or “impulsive” or, for a lack of a better way to put it, “rude”. What did the establishment media previously call Trump (you don’t hear it as much anymore) a lot… “Bombastic”?
According to the dictionary, “bombastic” means: “(of a person) Pompous or overly wordy; or, High-sounding but with little meaning; or, (archaic) Inflated, overfilled.”
In other words, political commentators and observers considered Trump to be full of (seagull guano), and definitely not the type of man to represent the nation in official overseas functions or international conferences or even run-of-the-mill ceremonies in the White House Rose Garden. One must be “presidential” to fit the mold, right? Ronald Reagan was presidential. George H.W. Bush was presidential. Barack Obama (gulp) was thought to be “presidential”.
For sure, Trump demanded political bona fides from his 2016 vice president, but also sought a type of personality and presence which reflected positively on himself in terms of being “presidential”.
The fact Pence didn’t work out in the end didn’t make the Republican nominee’s selection in the summer of 2016 a mistake. Pence’s calm-to-a-fault disposition provided that small dose of “normalcy” that Trump needed at just the right moment in a historic campaign. The “bombastic” man made a reasoned choice in Pence, and that selection, together with the Republican nominee’s later decision to produce a list of prospective Supreme Court nominees, proved he would govern in a “presidential” manner, even if news blurb editors still didn’t like him.
And as a conservative. That’s important to Trump’s ideological and practical evolution.
Trump’s “bombastic” stigma never completely went away, but after a time, the media stopped complaining that the 45th president was so mercurial and unpredictable that he would never be “presidential”. Further, having Trump achieving major foreign policy accomplishments like making NATO countries pay more for their own protection, lessening the tension with North Korean “Rocket man” dictator Kim Jong-Un as well as negotiating the Abraham Accords in the Middle East provided additional “presidential” credibility.
Trump was never boring in his “presidential” capacity, either, but his celebrity charm eventually overcame the doubters to the point where he’s now viewed as superior in “presidential” qualities to senile Joe Biden, who was once thought to exude the characteristics of the consummate American figurehead.
So it’s yet another area where Trump changed the rules in American politics.
The Gallup “presidential” survey was taken before last Thursday’s CNN presidential debate, so it would be interesting to see whether the tuned-in American public has altered their opinion about the two candidates even further. In insisting on driving home his get-tough-on-illegal-immigration message, Trump was his usual to-the-point self. If you’re looking for a kumbaya session or poorly articulated jargon spouted by a moron, senile Joe is probably more your temperamental cup of tea.
Time is running short on Trump’s potential choice for his vice president number two, too, which will likely be the next campaign announcement to earn headlines after the fallout chatter from the debate dies down. One can’t help but feel most of the news buzz in the near term will center on what’s happening in Democrat-land, where they’ve got one heck of a dilemma as far as what to do about their barely functioning incumbent president/nominee-to-be.
Not only is senile Joe Biden apparently no longer up to snuff, what would the poll statistics look like when Trump is pitted against Kamala Harris? Or, is Gretchen Whitmer thought of as presidential? Al Sharpton? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Jill Biden? Hunter Biden? Michelle Obama? The ice cream man in Delaware who sells senile Joe his frozen delights?
Many folks say that Donald Trump changed American politics, and that’s true, but it’s also arguable that senile Joe Biden, lying spinmeister Nancy Pelosi, Cryin’ Chucky Schumer and the rest of their Democrat cohorts in Congress are doing major damage to the old notion of what “presidential” means. Democrats chose to change the rules, and now they have to live with the world that Donald Trump has created.
No doubt, the conservative grassroots loves every minute of it.
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