This country has very big problems, and none of them – at least not the serious ones – were created by Donald Trump.
Take your pick. The debt, the unfunded entitlement obligations, the messed up health care system, the crime, the cultural disintegration, the tax code . . . the political class gave us these problems over the course of many decades. Whether by neglect or active foolishness, they have imperiled our fiscal stability, our economic vibrancy and even the safety of ordinary people. They’ve also made it harder for us to protect ourselves against external threats.
These problems are mountains. Mountains can be conquered, but it takes someone who is not only willing to climb the mountain but has the strength and the courage to see the challenge through when it gets difficult. Whatever Donald Trump’s faults, he ran for president because he understood the nature of these problems, and he was willing to climb the mountains.
So what did you hear in the news over the past week about these mountains? Nothing? Why not? Because you were hearing about molehills. A memo-to-file by the former FBI director. A conversation in the Oval Office. A tweet. The matter of who invented the term “priming the pump,” which for some reason was a major story for several days.
I’m not saying things like this can never have any significance, but they pale in comparison to the mountains mentioned above. Dealing with the mountains is what we send people to Washington to do. It’s what they all claim they want to do when they get there. It’s certainly what Trump said he was going there to do.
But once we get past an election campaign, all we hear about are the molehills. And don’t think for a second that this is an accident.
Since the Beltway crowd created the mountainous problems we face, and has no interest in solving them (since that might endanger their political security and access to money), their worst conceivable enemy is a man who comes along and doesn’t care about their priorities, but wants to do what’s right for the people of this country.
That’s Donald Trump. They’ve always been able to stop people like him from taking power before, but they didn’t stop him. He became president. But while he got the big prize, there is still a lot the political class can do to damage him. They still have the bureaucracy. They still have the news media. If the former leaks to the latter, they can create a steady stream of bad news cycles for the president. The stories themselves may be molehills – in fact, they all are – but if there is enough of it, they can create the impression that the administration is in chaos and can’t govern.
In reality, what’s going on in the White House may be nothing like the impression you’re being given. They may be simply doing their work every day. Yes, they’re trying to fight the leaks and correct the record, but they’re not running around like their heads are cut off like you’re being led to believe. They’re doing their jobs, and they’re working on dealing with the mountains.
This is a massive exercise in manipulation and distraction. People tend to be focused on what’s being talked about, so even though the molehills are relatively unimportant, they seem like the most important thing happening at the moment if only because everyone keeps talking about them.
And if the political class can distract you that effectively, they can make you forget that the country’s real problems are the ones they created – the ones Donald Trump is trying to solve.
Are you able to get your eye off the molehill and see the mountain? Because there’s one of the two that’s worth paying attention to.
his country has very big problems, and none of them – at least not the serious ones – were created by Donald Trump.
Take your pick. The debt, the unfunded entitlement obligations, the messed up health care system, the crime, the cultural disintegration, the tax code . . . the political class gave us these problems over the course of many decades. Whether by neglect or active foolishness, they have imperiled our fiscal stability, our economic vibrancy and even the safety of ordinary people. They’ve also made it harder for us to protect ourselves against external threats.
These problems are mountains. Mountains can be conquered, but it takes someone who is not only willing to climb the mountain but has the strength and the courage to see the challenge through when it gets difficult. Whatever Donald Trump’s faults, he ran for president because he understood the nature of these problems, and he was willing to climb the mountains.
