Seeing is Believing with Mr. Trump

 Religious people often say , “when you believe then you will see.”  I suggest with Mr. Trump, we adopt the contrary saying, “When we see, then we will believe.”  He has promised a number of very general high sounding almost messianic promises.  We shall see.

What a strange person! He is not a politician. He likes to be unpredictable and unconventional.  He loves to tweet and the more people tell him to stop, the more he keeps on.  He is indeed an unprecedented president. I have to say, he has some good instincts and some ideas which might end up helping the country. Other ideas sound bizarre and misguided.  We will give him a chance and we shall see.

He strikes me like a brash bullying businessman who never admits to failing or having made a mistake.  He over confidently trusts his instincts.  He makes the best deal he can and calls it excellent, defends it at all costs.  He uses all sorts of rhetoric, lies and bluffs at will as a tactic or strategy, changes his story, keeps on dominating the news by all his tweets, sending out his sycophants to defend his latest comments, which they routinely declare, is his way of speaking his mind.  He isn’t even in office yet and he’s already successfully confusing and managing the press. The press may not like him but he is definitely not boring; he is a shining novelty in a culture whose head easily turns to every shiny thing.

What can we say about him?  He’s a character and we love characters even when we mock them.  His erratic behavior gets our attention because craziness and unpredictability always has power and makes the News. 

Some hope is that his vice president, his family and Republican leaders will keep his craziness in check.  We shall see.

I am willing to wait and see but am skeptical about what the next four years will be like.  We'll have to watch him and see if he can remain on track. Will he get lost in his myriad of tweets instead of actually governing?  How many times have we heard that he will soon pivot?  And yet he has remained who he has always been.  We shall see.

Finally, Mr. Trump should be aware.  “All glory is fleeting.”  The shiniest of stars inevitably fade and become black holes.  The Republican party will play along for as long as they get what they want from Mr. Trump.  The Democrats will remain wary, regardless.  This is true of the American people as well.  We are still a young country with high hopes willing to take leadership risks, yet quick to grow tired of the very novelties we have created. Let’s give him a chance but keep our eyes wide open.  In this case the smartest religious view is, “seeing is believing.”