Trump: Business Success, National Failure

Since the early eighties in the United States when you heard the name Trump two words came to mind: Rich and successful. Visions of massive gleaming towers with the name Trump boldly laid across them came to mind. To some maybe even vaults packed to the brim with hundred dollar bills and gold bars was the image that appeared. Beyond his name and brand he seeps into popular culture with a phrase I still say today “You’re fired!” While taking the business world by force through clever tactics, hostile buyouts, and manipulation Trump gained an aura of invincibility about him. He could do no wrong when it came to the financial world so why not try an even harder arena. One few dare to tread into and many people consider a person crazy to enter into. Trump decided to step into the world of presidential politics by choosing to run in a general election to become the next President of the United States.

Following the financial and housing collapse of 2008 where the bedrock of the US economy was shattered faith in the federal government reached new lows. Public opinion turned sour as the average citizen saw the government as too big, too powerful, and too slow to act. What they wanted was quick fixes to complex and difficult problems that had been compounding for decades. Fast forward eight years to today were we have a heated presidential race with Trump promising just what people want. Easy to understand solutions to the problems facing our country that seem too good to be true, how do we fix the problem of illegal immigration? Simple, build a wall to keep immigrants out and make them pay for it. What can be done to insure that Radical Islamists are unable to execute a terror attack on US soil? All we have to do ban all Muslims from entering the country and register all the ones already here. But what about the debt the US has accrued over the decades surely only tough choices could lower it to manageable levels? Nope all we have to do is cut taxes, cut social security, increase military spending and cut all aid to our allies.

All that being said I am not trying to convince you not to vote for Trump if you want to, as a citizen I respect your right to. However you should always research what your candidate stands for and how they plan on enacting policies. It may seem attractive to believe the US just needs to be run like a business to solve all of our problems but government is not that simple nor should it be. Our founding fathers created a system that was intentionally slow and deliberate to insure that no one person or group could not make rash decisions. Rash decisions are motivated by fear of the unknown in our world. We live in a scary time for many people with nations the world over engaged in civil war, terrorist groups becoming stronger in developing nations, economic uncertainty the likes of which has not been seen since the early 1970’s, and more. However as Americans we don’t give into fear and hate, we rise above the fray to follow a moral and just path. At times we stumble but that should not deter us. Trump is the manifestation of our fear and doubt; he is a business success but a national failure.