Rational Trumpism
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Whenever I read or hear railings of Americans against Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, I continue to wonder what all of the hullabaloo is about. Granted, Trump’s implicit or explicit racism is cause for concern, a tendency which while good for his business prior to ascendance to, has potential to destroy his presidency. Trump must realize that in so far as He is concerned, matters of race no longer have anything to do with a business proposition; this no longer is business, this is morality, statesmanship, dignity of Office of President, matters with respect to which the God in whom he professes to believe (the Christian God) definitely has a say.
I am not racist nor do I approve of racism. That being said, if a business clientele is mostly white, racism typically is good for business. Like investment bankers tend to say, their rich white clients feel more comfortable dealing with young white males or females as investment advisers. The solution to this sort of business rationale racism? How about a 1,000% increase in numbers of rich non-white or black folks in need of financial advisers. Also, since ‘numbers’ or model crunchers within investment banks do not have to interface with clients, how about more of black folks attempting to major in sciences or finance at top universities with a view to securing those types of jobs, which by the way pay pretty well. If investment banks shy away from recruiting blacks within such aegis, I will be one of the first to launch the racist epithet. I am not advocating racism. The picture on my profile does not lie. I am not white. But let’s be candid. If a rich white woman would rather be attended to by a young white male adviser, there is not any investment bank worth their salt going to invest in hiring lots of young black male advisers. And if young black male advisers are not in the picture and the client is a rich white woman, lots of young black female advisers? Not a chance.
Business racism was pragmatism of running a business while Donald Trump was a business man — most of his clientele is non-black or non-dark skinned. He must understand, however, that a President of what perhaps is the greatest country on the face of the earth cannot be suspected of entrenchment of racism in the running of his office.
I have been a supporter of Donald Trump for President ever since he won that first debate and cast himself as a serious contender for position of President of the United States (I was one of those people who initially thought his candidacy merely was a marketing gimmick for his next set of investments in real estate or reality TV).
When people vilify choice of Donald Trump for President, they act as if they are not aware he won because the Republican field left much to be desired. When a political party finds itself in dire straits evident in dearth of career candidates who have capacity to invigorate imagination of the populace in so far as the future is concerned, they deserve Donald Trump as nominee for President of the United States.
Donald Trump did not win office of President of the USA by lottery. He won first by defeating career politicians within his party. So let’s stop acting like he stole the presidency.
The only real obstacle to a Trump presidency was Senator Clinton, who did nothing to invigorate anyone’s imagination in so far as future of life in the USA was concerned. Do not get me wrong, clearly for a woman, Senator Clinton has had an eminently successful life in politics. For a woman, what she has accomplished is nothing short of phenomenal and amazing. Winning the presidency, however, would simply have been icing on the cake on an establishment persona, a persona that would have done nothing to shake up the status quo either within the United States, or on the international stage. If Senator Clinton had won we probably would be debating merits of free college education at the moment, as opposed to taking meaningful actions towards tackling of terrorism, and hopefully racism. By the way, and I am an educator who did postgraduate work at top universities in the United States, free college education would destroy quality of education in the USA, turn America into a laughing stock of the entire world within 50 years, and do nothing to emancipate those who absent educational loans are unable to afford college education. Free college education may be good fodder for an election campaign. Good policy direction, however, it is not.
Between Clinton and Trump, only Donald Trump invigorated the electorate’s imagination about the future. Only Donald Trump put his words on the line in respect of bringing back of American jobs or stemming flow of American jobs overseas. Donald Trump beat Senator Clinton fair and square because he was the candidate who seemed most capable of bringing about meaningful positive change within the United States.
Donald Trump won because the field of career politicians fielded by both political parties was perhaps the weakest in modern times. Donald Trump won fair and square.
I do not necessarily approve of Donald Trump’s specific policies. I do approve of the fact, however, that the USA no longer is going around trying to avoid stepping on people’s toes. The war against terrorism cannot be won by avoidance of toes of those who passively or actively support terrorism. In the lowering of corporate tax rates, Donald Trump has adopted a policy which decreases companies’ costs of doing business, as such decreases companies’ incentives to ship jobs overseas. Not the policy I had in mind, but one that should be effective nonetheless. In the current engagement with Pakistan, an engagement I think not cognizant of risks faced by that administration in pursuit of its cooperation with the USA, I think Donald Trump is jeopardizing a relationship which has potential to help the USA achieve its objectives. In so far as racism is concerned, I hope the next three years usher in some meaningful change made possible by the Trump Administration.
After eight years of the USA’s avoidance of stepping on relevant people’s toes under Barack Obama, Donald Trump is a breath of fresh air. What good is power and leadership if those to whom it is entrusted will not even attempt to use it? Responsible use? Yes. But only power that is used can be used responsibly.
