President Trump’s tweets became a trademark of his presidential campaign and, now, his presidency. I cringe at some of them but I applaud others like those that hit back at the liberal media hive, elements of which, like CNN and MSNBC, have effectively declared war on Donald Trump. As such, they have forsaken any 
pretense of journalistic objectivity and fairness. And this, no doubt, has contributed to the decline in public regard of the media which, polls show, has dropped to historic lows, especially among Republicans and conservatives. (Not surprisingly, Democrats and progressives hold the dominant liberal media, which echoes their bias, in far higher regard.)
This isn’t to say that Trump doesn’t give the media plenty of cause for criticism. He’s often careless with facts, simplistic and sometimes flat out wrong. Nonetheless, that doesn’t alter the fact that ethical journalists are no less obligated to treat him fairly when that’s warranted. Far too many don’t.
I was talking about Trump on KOA radio the other day and speculated that what appear to be lies in some of his tweets may be just that. Or perhaps he actually believes them, which might be delusional on his part. At that point, I took a call on air from a listener who demanded to know how I could vote for a man who’s either a liar or delusional. Touché, she thought.
I explained that I didn’t say he was delusional about everything, maybe just about some of his more hyperbolic, impulsive tweets. As our conversation evolved, she admitted that she voted for Obama ─ twice. I asked her whether he was lying or delusional when he told the American public that under Obamacare they could keep their doctor and insurance policy. Of course, she dodged the question. Another popular presidential Democrat lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. It’s not uncommon among politicians who are prone to self-serving embellishment, prevarication, equivocation, exaggeration, fabrication, misrepresentation, dissembling or fabulousness. Pick your euphemism.
So, let me answer her question straight on. How could I vote for a president who lies or is delusional about some things? The short answer is, there are many worse traits. Personally, I think anyone, Bernie Sanders for example, who honestly believes that socialism is compatible with human nature or can work productively as a system of political economy is delusional.
But l
et me tell you where I sit before I tell you were I stand. I voted for Trump because, as I’ve long explained, party trumps person (no pun intended). The choice was easy. A President Hillary or, heaven forbid, Bernie was unthinkable for me. Any Democrat, even a moderate one, who sets up shop in the Oval Office will unfailingly serve the Democrat coalition and its agenda. That’s what electoral politics is all about.
The Democrat coalition includes, but isn’t limited to, intransigent labor unions (especially the teacher unions), the liberal media, government workers, leftist academia, plaintiffs-lawyers, net tax-receivers, identity-politics minorities, feminists, gender activists, radical enviros, Naderites, nannyists and a hoard of guilt-ridden liberal malcontents who are “anti-” all kind of things from capitalism to guns to white people who aren’t sufficiently “progressive.”
Their agenda, which is lately lurching wildly leftward, aggressively embraces socialism, an all-powerful administrative state run by elitist bureaucrats independent of Congress who over regulate businesses and the lives of individuals, identity politics, political correctness, racial preferences, suppression of free speech and religion, open borders, gun control, diminishment of the U.S. military, subordination of U.S. autonomy in foreign affairs to international bodies. I could go on but you get the point.
Whatever his flaws, and there are many, Donald Trump is clearly the antithesis of all of the above. The proof of which is the hysteria and maniacal behavior of the anti-Trump so-called “Resistance.” I’m not a “Never-Trumper” nor am I a Trumpkin who believes he can do no wrong, and I have issues with his style. But, on balance, I approve of most of the changes in public policy in the Trump era to date. I was repulsed when Barack Obama declared on the eve of his election that he would “fundamentally transform the United States of America,” presumably into some kind of imaginary collectivist, progressive paradise on Earth. I much prefer Trump’s vision of making America great again.
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for CompleteColorado.com.
