Friday, December 22, 2017

Now let's see if they follow through

I'd be OK with that.  Trump increasingly represents those who want to call it like it is, rather than like it ain't.  When he said the US will call Jerusalem what it is, and that's the capital of Israel, and we'll therefore move the embassy because it makes sense, the world freaked out.  Because the world is having a ball kicking sand in the face of the dying West, and insisting we continually call squares round and ham kosher or else.

Ambassador Haley said we will note who votes against the US in this 'call it like it ain't' vote at the UN.  Exactly what was meant, we don't know.  Many have assumed it means next time the world comes to our door begging for handouts that we ever and always give, this time we might shut the same door.

In some ways, I'm OK with that.  Christian charity and humility does not mean being a doormat.  And being a giving nation -which the US is almost always near the top of most charitable nations on the planet - doesn't mean letting people kick us, hit us, spit on us and then demand we keep giving to causes that are sometimes against our own interests.  That's more akin to the battered wife syndrome than dignity or regard for human life. 

Think of this.  Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.  Several presidents said they would say as much, but backed down.  Because of pressure from the international community and threats of potential violence, we decided that telling O'Brien he had five fingers would be good for future relations and the non-existent peace process we insist exists because we say so.

I'm not sure what to think about Trump.  I don't want to like him, or support him.  He has done and said too many things I find abhorrent.  He represented, in many ways, the worst of both the left and right stereotypes through my years of growing up.  And yet he is dealing with a real world that exists, and calling spades spades, and telling it like he sees it.  It's as if we're used to a world where we lie, tell lies, celebrate lies, and use lies to avoid things like confronting real evil and threats to our posterity.  It's almost as if we just hope whatever goes down does so after we're dead and gone.  And we were content with the status quo in the meantime.

And suddenly here comes Trump.  Whether it will work or not, I don't know.  Most of the push back comes from [former?] allies, Americans, and "conservatives" as much as any.  We'll see.  Perhaps we've come to the point where we like the lies, because they are easier to live with than the troublesome truths.

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