"Thoughts on Donald Trump"

While cheerleaders for Mr. Trump and protesters who see him as evil are the nosiest, it is those in the middle – those who weigh his weaknesses, which are widely exposed, against his positives which are more hidden – who, in my opinion, are the more numerous. However, this essay risks alienating Mr. Trump’s fans as well as his foes. But that is why I have included the photo of the scales, so that his positives and negatives may be weighed.

 

    Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Thoughts on Donald Trump”

February 7, 2026

 

“I’ve led a school whose faculty and students examine and discuss every aspect of our legal system.

And what I’ve learned most is that no one has a monopoly on truth or wisdom. I’ve learned that we

make progress by listening to each other, across every apparent political or ideological divide.”

                                                                                                Elena Kagan (1960-)

                                                                                                Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

                                                                                                Opening statement, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

                                                                                                Confirmation hearings 

                                                                                                June 28, 2010

 

A quote that seems appropriate at the start of this essay is one attributed to British historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794): “I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.” I quote Gibbon because I do have respect for people who view President Trump through conflicting and contrary lenses, even as emotion rather than reason dictates opinions. Those who love him do so fervently, without hesitation, ignoring his most blatant foibles. Those who hate him do so vehemently, deaf to any possibility there may be a sliver of good in what he does. There is not a glimmer of compromise between the two groups, neither of which would conform to the wisdom offered by Elena Kagan or allegedly by Abigail Adams (1744-1818): “I’ve always felt that a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.” Trump is either loved or hated, in equal measure.

 

Trying to view Mr. Trump dispassionately is close to impossible. His braggadocio gets in the way. I found his op-ed in the January 31-February 1 issue of The Wall Street Journal enlightening and offensive. He closed out the op-ed in typical – and unsavory – Trump fashion: “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!” Hyperbolically, he defended his use of tariffs, which I have long opposed. However, he does use tariffs as bargaining chips, and foreign auto companies, semi-conductor manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies have committed to increased investment in the U.S. In any event and contrary to what many expected, U.S. GDP numbers reflected strong positive numbers for the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters. (Preliminary fourth quarter GDP numbers will be announced on February20th.) Tariffs did not create a recession or worse has some had predicted, but that was largely, in my opinion, due to fiscal policies. 

 

The tax bill passed in July of last year made the income tax cuts initiated in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, and regulations have been pared. According to a January 9^th release from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis the trade deficit (imports minus exports) has been declining all year. The U.S. federal deficit – the more important number – declined by 2.8% from $1.8 trillion to $1.78 trillion.

 

It is overseas, though, where he has had the greatest impact, he is the elephant in whatever room he enters, or, an analogy our European allies might prefer, a bull in the proverbial china shop. But, it seems to me, there is some reason behind his apparent madness. For the past thirty-five years, since the end of the Cold War and the concomitant publication of Francis Fukuama’s The End of History and the Last Man, the West has been living a false and dangerous lie. Evil has not been banished. After forty-five years, liberal democracies did defeat the tyranny embedded in Communist Soviet Union, but the peace dividend has been used to increase the welfare state and to satisfy climate fear-mongers. History did not end with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall; it is a continuum, with challenges from both the right and the left. Like good, evil is endemic to humankind. Whatever its origins and whomever it infects, it will always be with us. 

 

Could Mr. Trump have caused Europe to confront their minuscule defense budgets, their over-burdened welfare systems, their climate goddesses, or their immigration, demographic and cultural challenges through diplomacy and sensitivity? I don’t know, but I sense not. Would Islamic terrorists in Syria, Gaza or Iran, or drug runners in Venezuela and Colombia listen to reason? Do Putin and Xi Jinping admire anything other than strength? Again, I don’t know,  but I would guess not. The world is, has been, and always will be a dangerous place. Mr. Trump, in his bombastic way, has forced Europe to re-think their priorities. Mr. Trump’s unpredictability unsettles those like Putin and Xi Jinping. A strong military is our (and Europe’s) greatest safety valve. I will always remember the sign outside Pease Airforce Base – a former Strategic Air Command base that was closed in 1991 – in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: “Peace is Our Profession.” It was and it should be.

 

From where I sit, and unlike the Roman God Janus (or many of our sanctimonious politicians), President Trump does not present two faces, but he does elicit two strongly held and opposing views. He is either the savior of the West by exposing Europe’s and the West’s economic, military and cultural weaknesses and the booster of America, or he is the megalomaniac who will destroy the world order so carefully constructed after the devastation of World War II. I find myself disagreeing with both his fans and his foes.

 

He gets correctly admonished for his bullying and boorish behavior and impolitic words. He refers to his opponents as “radical left lunatics.” Is he trying to be funny? I am not sure. Grimly, they return the favor, calling him a “fascist, Nazi, or would-be dictator.” While pejoratives don’t resolve differences, Mr. Trump does confront problems many have chosen to ignore. He belittles Europeans, even as that continent’s realists recognize they have a problem, even if they will not admit it: climate pietists, an expansive welfare system that has hampered economic growth, limited defense spending and a tsunami of debt that may be unpayable. Yet the EU seems to have been listening, at least in part, to his message. Defense spending has increased and border-tightening has been implemented. However, there is little assimilation of Muslim immigrants. And there is a reluctance to admit that debt and welfare spending are a problem, especially as populations age. Birthrates in France have fallen below death rates for the first time since 1945.  

 

When Mr. Trump speaks of invading Greenland, sending troops to Minneapolis, or forming a Board of Peace to replace the UN, my inclination is to not get upset but wait for the next shoe to drop – for him to retract his initial obnoxious statements (without apologizing, of course), find another way, open another negotiation. He is not, I believe, tied to an ideology, apart from a desire to increase his family’s wealth.

 

Many of his policy prescriptions are answers to real problems. Take Greenland. It is strategically important, commercially and militarily. Denmark has a population of six million, a land mass one fiftieth that of Greenland, a GDP per capita of $71,000 (about 15% below that of the U.S.) and a standing army of 9,000 active troops. With both China and Russia active in the arctic, would Denmark or the U.S. best defend it? And, by the way, Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, is 200 miles closer to Washington, D.C. than Copenhagen. Yes, Mr. Trump could have been (and should have been) more tactful, but Greenland and the arctic were issues before Mr. Trump made his outrageous bid. As for Minnesota, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, there is little question in my mind – admittedly without knowing all the facts – that ICE over-reacted. On the other hand, people or government officials cannot decide which laws they choose to obey and which to flaunt. As well, common sense tells us that Governor Walz was anxious for the media to be detracted from the welfare fraud that has consumed $9 billion of tax payers money. 

 

Mr. Trump is what Will Shortz would call an oner – a one of a kind, for better or worse. He is not a man with whom I could ever be friends. On the other hand, he is not the evil dictator-in-waiting his critics fear.

"Spoiled by Convenience"

 With an old-fashioned winter storm arriving Sunday, I thought it appropriate to show the beauty winter can bring. The photo is of a painting by one of our grandchildren. It depicts the house in Old Lyme we lived in for twenty-five years. Our talented grandson begins an internship next week with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.

 

Enjoy the weather and stay indoors – a fire in the fireplace, a hot cocoa and a good book!

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

More Essays from Essex

“Spoiled by Convenience?”

January 24, 2025

 

“I have known some people of very modern views driven by their distress to the use of theological

terms to which they attach no doctrinal significance, merely because a drawer was jammed tight...”

                                                                                                                                G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

                                                                                                                                All Things Considered, 1908

 

We have all been reduced to the use of profanity when things go wrong, often over minor inconveniences. A few weeks ago, it was the hot water. It wasn’t as though we had none, but it trickled, not gushed. Shaving was difficult and showering more so. I swore and felt better

 

Nevertheless, I was able to shave and bathe. And I thought of how my life has become easier over the decades. If I am warm, I adjust the air conditioning. If it is cold outside and must go to the grocery store, I start my car remotely. So, I ask myself: have I become spoiled by convenience?

 

Innovation, fostered by individual initiative, abetted by aspiration and fueled by capitalism, has led to products and services that have made our lives easier and more comfortable – everything from flush toilets, refrigeration, heated sidewalks to instant communication. We don’t think about them; we accept them.

 

Man has been around for, perhaps, 300,000 years, yet as recently as 500 years ago life for most people had not changed. Yes, cities and governments had been established, cast iron plows were used in Europe in the 14^th Century, and Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, but estimates are that in 1500 half of Europe’s population were homeless or lived in poverty and only about 7% of Europe’s population could read. Disease, wars and accidents killed millions. The Black Plague (1346-1353) killed somewhere between 30% and 60% of Europe’s population. In 1700, life expectancy was still under forty years.

 

The Industrial Revolution radically changed people’s lives. Health improved. A vaccine for smallpox was invented in the last decade of the 18^th Century. Anesthesia was first used in 1846. Antiseptic practices, which we accept as commonsensical, go back only to the 1860s – to a time when my great grandparents were young adults. Communication and transportation changed, with the development of the telegraph and railroads. Central heating dates back just to the late 19^th Century.

 

Autos replaced horse-drawn carriages, steam ships replaced sailing vessels, and air flight made the world smaller and more accessible. Air conditioning only became widespread in the 1950s. There is so much that we take for granted that earlier generations never knew – frozen foods, gas ranges, movies, television and penicillin. And the proliferation of labor-saving inventions, from dishwashers to push-button windows in cars, to on-line shopping, and the streaming of movies have made life easier.

 

Maps have disappeared as auto navigation systems became ubiquitous. “Find my Friends” app allow parents to track their children. One downside is that cell phones have replaced telephone operators. 

 

Standards of living have risen beyond what previous generations could have imagined, and today we have the free time that only the wealthiest could have imagined a hundred years ago. Yet we complain. Polls measuring happiness indicate declines. Have we become spoiled by convenience?

"Separating the Wheat from th Chaff"

Today is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. It is also the 40^th anniversary of the first Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday signed into law by President Reagan on January 20, 1986.

Sunday was wintry in Essex, Connecticut, a good day to get one’s mind off politics and curl up with a good book. Thus, the photo. The stump in the lower left of the photo is from the first log I chopped, a memento saved by my parents almost eighty years ago.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Separating the Wheat from the Chaff”

January 19, 2026

 

“The wise will strive to manifest a brave new world, while

the foolish and unkind will suffer for their lack of common sense.”

                                                                                                Anthon St. Maarten

                                                                                                Divine Living: The Essential Guide to Your True Destiny

                                                                                                2012

 

The title of this essay comes from the Bible, Matthew 3:12: separating the wheat (useful grains) from the chaff (useless husks). It means we should distinguish between the good and the bad, what is important and beneficial from what is superficial and harmful. To the media, it should mean to report the truth of events and restrain biases. To politicians, it should mean to focus on the agendas that are important to the people and to avoid the mean-spiritedness of personal attacks. 

 

The world always faces threats. History does not end. There will always be people and nations attempting to accrue power, to unseat the United States of America. That is the wheat that we should target. While Russia is a nuclear power with a recidivistic leader, China is the biggest threat. Russia has an aging and declining population, engaged in an unending war, and with an economy that faces hurdles. Keep in mind, the EU plus Britain have a population 3.5X bigger than Russia, with a GDP almost ten times that of Russia.

 

The bigger threat comes from China. They have a population of 1.4 billion, and a GDP almost equal to the EU and Britain. Over 150 countries and international organizations, spanning five continents and Oceania, have signed cooperation agreements with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Norh America’s Canada has not signed up as a full partner, but last week’s trip to Beijing by Prime Minister Mark Carney – and given President Trump’s disrespect for the man – suggest that Canada is looking to forge a new strategic partnership. No one should underestimate the goals of Communist China. It is why President Trump wants to halt their expansion in South and East Asia, limit their incursions into Central and South America, and stop their progress in the arctic. Past Presidents have underestimated the will and the aims of the Chinese. As well, at home we face unsustainable debt and the lure of Socialism with its promises of false hopes. 

 

But President Trump has failed to cull the chaff. The prosecution of his political enemies consumes too much of his time. I understand that he was unfairly treated in his first term, but he should move on. Closing the border and deporting criminal migrants are to be praised. But jailing and deporting law-abiding people who have jobs and families undermines the good he is doing. Fighting with the Federal Reserve in senseless and, in fact, dangerous to our economy. His spat with Jeremy Powell is part of what I call chaff. I recognize that the Fed has become politicized. In the fourth quarter of 2008, in response to the credit crisis, Fed Funds were reduced to .25 basis points from 2% in the third quarter (and 4.25% in the first quarter.) Despite the fact that the economy recovered in the 2^nd half of 2009, and remained positive for the next ten years, Fed Funds were not raised again until late 2015. When President Obama left office in January 2017, the rate was still only 1.50%. Does anyone believe that Mr. Obama did not pressure the Fed? Low rates for so long have been a boon to asset prices, including speculative ones like crypto currencies, and they helped give rise to our unsustainable debt.

 

There are other issues that either distract or harm us, more chaff. That the Supreme Court should be forced to define a woman is the peak of silliness. We are not assigned – as was the question on a medical form I recently filled out – a sex when we are born. We are either male or female. Perhaps doctors and nurses no longer study anatomy? Allowing men, who claim to be women, to compete as women in sporting events, or to use their bathrooms, is unfair and an expression of deviant behavior. There are public schools where equity is deemed more important than Shakespeare or calculus. Sitting where it sits, and atop rare earths, Greenland is strategically important militarily, a fact that did not seem to concern the Obama and Biden Administrations. But Denmark is an ally. There is no need to bulldoze our way in. Moving on. Jeffrey Epstein was a pervert. Too many leaders of both parties were his friends. They all should be ashamed of themselves, but the story titillates; it does not inform. Tariffs, no matter how defined, are a form of taxation. For consumers, they raise the price of imported goods. To classify them as an asset, as Mr. Trump has done, is the height of ludicrousness. Should the $4.9 trillion raised in federal taxes in 2024 be considered an asset? It is on the federal government’s balance sheet, but for citizens taxes are a liability.  

 

Back to the wheat. Fraud in Minnesota confirms government corruption permeates our society. It shows how much we need a department devoted to uprooting governmental dishonesty, graft and inefficiencies. Violent protests in Minneapolis and other cities against ICE contrast with Martin Luther King’s call for peaceful protests. The shooting of Renee Good was unfortunate. There should be an investigation into her death, and it should include both federal and local officials. Let the legal system prevail. We are, after all, a nation of laws. However, the responses of Minneapolis Mayor Democrat Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz remind me of Southern governors like George Wallace of Mississippi and Arkansas’s Orval Faubus when they refused to adhere to the nation’s anti-segregation laws.

 

The number one issue for voters, as is almost always true, is the economy. Polls reflect nervousness. We are in the midst of a technology revolution. Jobs are threatened by Artificial Intelligence. While down from its highs, inflation remains above the Fed’s target. Raising minimum wages discourage small businesses from offering “starter” jobs. Birth rates below replacement will have negative economic consequences a decade or so out. Gallup finds that 68% of Americans say the economy is worsening. According to Morningstar, the U.S. has fallen from 11^th place to 24^th in global happiness rankings. 

 

I am unsure what this means for the future or for midterm elections, though it does not look good for Republicans. According to Gallup, President Trump’s approval ratings have dropped from 47% last February to 36% today. Things can change; that I know. But my advice to Mr. Trump: ignore conservative pundits. Instead, take heed from the Book of Matthew, and start separating the wheat from the chaff.