At the height of his popularity, Donald Trump was always a mixed blessing. He advocated a more popular strain of conservatism and dissed the obvious lefty losers - all of that was very positive. On the other hand, he was also a bully and a braggart, and had an ego the size of Texas - not so positive.
If he’d married a string of three supermodels, he’d also had children by them and appeared to love and be loved by those kids - more positives. On the other hand, while married he’d also had various liaisons with Playboy models and strippers that were basically one-night or weekend stands - again, not so positive.
He’d made a great deal of money in real estate development and building, and kept enough of it to be genuinely wealthy - again positive. On the other hand, he’d also started more failed businesses than successful ones, typical of entrepreneurs but not entirely positive because the start-ups that failed hurt some others along the way.
He’d been successful in show business, in what is facetiously called “reality TV,” and that was okay. He’d also been involved in professional wrestling which is definitely show business posing as athletics, not so okay.
In 2016, Trump was a mixed blessing, but a blessing on balance. He took us beyond the failed corporatist GOP of George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and John McCain - an excellent policy change and one long overdue.
However, once elected some of his Covid policies didn’t look great in the rear view mirror, and his failure to anticipate the shenanigans associated with the 2020 election and his petulant reaction to losing that election have tipped the balance for a lot of us.
Now it is easy enough to imagine a 2024 GOP presidential candidate who espouses Trump’s populist/nationalist policies without dragging behind him- or herself all of the Trump baggage. And perhaps one who understands how to get things done in the public sector, never a Trump strength.
It is time to sincerely thank Trump for what he accomplished, including the originalist judges nominated, and ask him to accept senior statesman status. He needs to leave the governing to younger Republicans.
If Trump is the party’s nominee in 2024, I’ll vote for him as the lesser of two evils (2 weevils?). Sadly, doing so will not be a new experience for me.
