Promises made, promises kept by President Trump - Linda Chambers: Speaking from the right
By Guest Columnist/cleveland.com
on February 16, 2017
MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The hand-wringing hysteria of some Americans at the election of President Donald Trump doesn't surprise me, but I wish Trump-haters would calm down enough to consider some facts.
Trump has no use for political correctness, it's true. I, too, cringed a few times at his crude expressions. He could have chosen words which would not have offended an American public accustomed to the oh-so-carefully-chosen words of other presidential contenders, and of Barack Obama, who made honey-toned obfuscation an art form. My goodness, a guy running for president bluntly and inelegantly says what he really thinks, without subjecting it to the P.C. filter? Unthinkable. Maybe refreshing.
Trump's promise -- that we will build a wall on the border, and Mexico will pay for it -- engendered jeers and guffaws. But Marc A. Thiessen's excellent column, carried Jan. 22 in The Plain Dealer, shows Trump's assertion to be not ridiculous bluster, but a realistic proposal.
Just announced were vast increases in border agents and a schedule for building the wall.
How about that promise to repeal and replace Obamacare? Skeptics, dismissing this as impossible and warning that Republicans "have nothing to replace it with," have painted a dire scenario featuring poor Americans, suddenly deprived of health care, dying from neglect. But even as I write this, specific replacement proposals have surfaced, such as those crafted by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins and by Sens. Richard Burr, Orrin Hatch and Fred Upton.
And the promise to stop the hemorrhage of American jobs to other countries?Trump had not yet taken the oath of office when Carrier announced that it wouldn't be moving after all, and Ford followed suit.
On Day One, Trump began eliminating the hopeless tangle of regulations which have strangled businesses for eight long years. He met with unions and businessmen to reassure them that his promised tax cuts are in the works.
Candidate Trump vowed to quickly nominate a constitutional conservative to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat and then did so.
Promises made, promises kept, it seems to me, in Trump's presidency.
But most significant to his supporters is his in-your-face honesty. The current slavish adherence to political correctness, and the weight of ignominy crashing down on those who stray outside its ever-narrowing boundaries, are far more frightening than is any crude Trump statement.
In the current climate of hypersensitivity in which a careless word is guaranteed to offend someone, somewhere, much of Trump's appeal comes from his directness and his refusal to toe the P.C. line. Many Americans trust Trump because they resent the hijacking of the First Amendment by those who prefer that free speech become a distant memory.
Do I trust President Trump? Do I believe his actions will live up to his promises? Judging by his first weeks in office, you bet I do.
Linda Chambers is a retired English teacher and mother of three who volunteers at Seeds of Literacy and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
About this project: As part of an effort to bring a greater diversity of voices to bear on timely issues, Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer are reaching out to 18 published letter writers every few weeks -- five who appeared from their letters to be conservatives, five liberals, and eight who wrote in apparently neutral ways about issues. For this installment, we asked for brief commentaries either on Trump's words versus his actions or on the $140 million Quicken Loans Arena upgrades in Cleveland. Eleven of the 18 said they would write; all had submitted their essays as of Tuesday morning. We also received a Trump essay mailed in by one person we'd reached out to in the prior round, for 12 essays in all -- two on the arena upgrades, which we posted separately, and 10 on President Trump. Several of the letter writers whom we contacted did not wish to write on either topic and asked us to reach out to them with another set of questions as the project continues, which we will do.
By Guest Columnist/cleveland.com
on February 16, 2017
MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The hand-wringing hysteria of some Americans at the election of President Donald Trump doesn't surprise me, but I wish Trump-haters would calm down enough to consider some facts.
Trump has no use for political correctness, it's true. I, too, cringed a few times at his crude expressions. He could have chosen words which would not have offended an American public accustomed to the oh-so-carefully-chosen words of other presidential contenders, and of Barack Obama, who made honey-toned obfuscation an art form. My goodness, a guy running for president bluntly and inelegantly says what he really thinks, without subjecting it to the P.C. filter? Unthinkable. Maybe refreshing.
Trump's promise -- that we will build a wall on the border, and Mexico will pay for it -- engendered jeers and guffaws. But Marc A. Thiessen's excellent column, carried Jan. 22 in The Plain Dealer, shows Trump's assertion to be not ridiculous bluster, but a realistic proposal.
Just announced were vast increases in border agents and a schedule for building the wall.
How about that promise to repeal and replace Obamacare? Skeptics, dismissing this as impossible and warning that Republicans "have nothing to replace it with," have painted a dire scenario featuring poor Americans, suddenly deprived of health care, dying from neglect. But even as I write this, specific replacement proposals have surfaced, such as those crafted by Sens. Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins and by Sens. Richard Burr, Orrin Hatch and Fred Upton.
And the promise to stop the hemorrhage of American jobs to other countries?Trump had not yet taken the oath of office when Carrier announced that it wouldn't be moving after all, and Ford followed suit.
On Day One, Trump began eliminating the hopeless tangle of regulations which have strangled businesses for eight long years. He met with unions and businessmen to reassure them that his promised tax cuts are in the works.
Candidate Trump vowed to quickly nominate a constitutional conservative to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat and then did so.
Promises made, promises kept, it seems to me, in Trump's presidency.
But most significant to his supporters is his in-your-face honesty. The current slavish adherence to political correctness, and the weight of ignominy crashing down on those who stray outside its ever-narrowing boundaries, are far more frightening than is any crude Trump statement.
In the current climate of hypersensitivity in which a careless word is guaranteed to offend someone, somewhere, much of Trump's appeal comes from his directness and his refusal to toe the P.C. line. Many Americans trust Trump because they resent the hijacking of the First Amendment by those who prefer that free speech become a distant memory.
Do I trust President Trump? Do I believe his actions will live up to his promises? Judging by his first weeks in office, you bet I do.
Linda Chambers is a retired English teacher and mother of three who volunteers at Seeds of Literacy and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
About this project: As part of an effort to bring a greater diversity of voices to bear on timely issues, Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer are reaching out to 18 published letter writers every few weeks -- five who appeared from their letters to be conservatives, five liberals, and eight who wrote in apparently neutral ways about issues. For this installment, we asked for brief commentaries either on Trump's words versus his actions or on the $140 million Quicken Loans Arena upgrades in Cleveland. Eleven of the 18 said they would write; all had submitted their essays as of Tuesday morning. We also received a Trump essay mailed in by one person we'd reached out to in the prior round, for 12 essays in all -- two on the arena upgrades, which we posted separately, and 10 on President Trump. Several of the letter writers whom we contacted did not wish to write on either topic and asked us to reach out to them with another set of questions as the project continues, which we will do.
