By James Wilson
Donald Trump is his own worst enemy. He was foolish enough to comment on a prejudicial judge’s ancestry instead of limiting his comments to calling out the judge for bias alone, or just keeping his mouth shut in a spitting contest he could not possibly win. He was crude and foolish enough to be recorded in the most obnoxious trashtalk against women. In so doing he tests – and proves – Murphy’s Law. What he needs to do is apologize for being a boob in 2016 and an absolute jerk in 2005. He has made the apology. Now he needs to affirm the transformative impact of giving his life to Christ last summer and focus on the dramatic differences between his qualifications to lead and the lack of same in his opponent; what he does is invite the press to one feeding frenzy after another.
It is difficult enough – the press cannot be faulted for reporting – when he charges like a bull running into a river full of piranhas. But they go too far when he behaves responsibly and the press simply lies about it. They have learned nothing from the lies about George Bush that cost Dan Rather his career in 2004 and even less about the whoppers that have fueled race tension more recently – from the manufactured 911 call in the Trayvon Martin Case to media fabrications from Ferguson to Baltimore about police vendettas against minorities. They fail to learn because there is no sustained public outrage against their revealed deceptions. The present campaign continues the tradition.
These past few days Washington Post headlines depicted Trump trashing veterans with PTSD. They say he called them weak and incompetent. I have watched the video of what he actually said; he expressed nothing but compassion and concern for America’s finest who suffer; he vowed to do whatever it took to see them whole again. The New York Times fact checkers claim he got it wrong when – in the second debate – he accused his opponent of sleeping with Wall Street and calling for utterly open borders, as two examples. Reality is the leaked e-mails proving him right are all over the internet and even the BBC acknowledges this. Media piranhas are hungry and have no scruples about feeding methods. The question is when are we in the public going to cut off their supply? When are we going to laugh these clowns out of the press club? When are we going to call them to repent or starve?
Hillary Clinton would disagree heartily with what I write. Why should she not? While the Post puts words in Trump’s mouth he neither speaks nor believes Time Magazine fawns over “the Hillary no one really knows.” Do I think the Post and others are leagued in conspiracy for Hillary and against Trump? No – they are competitors not allies. But they are linked in a maniacally tunnel-visioned mindset that Democrats are good and Republicans bad – unless they act like Democrats. They are driven – like a school of piranhas – to attack the meat they identify. There is no other logical way to explain why they compete as fiercely as they do and end up in the same old place.
The current narrative is – personal deficits notwithstanding – Clinton is more qualified than Trump to lead the nation. After all, he is only a billionaire businessman and she has devoted her life to public service – as First Lady, US Senator, and Secretary of State. But what has she accomplished? As First Lady she was the architect of Hillarycare – the national health program so incompetently crafted it never came to congressional vote. As Senator she authored no significant legislation. And as Secretary of State she backed the Muslim Brotherhood’s near destruction of Egypt, the premature withdrawal from Iraq that triggered civil war, and abandoned Americans – including the ambassador – to death in Libya. While she was at it she compromised God-knows-how-many secrets with her illegal handling of e-mail and launched disastrous negotiations with Iran. Her track record boasts uninterrupted failure wherever she has turned. But she does have favor with both press and fatcats.
Donald Trump – on the other hand – has negotiated scores of contracts all over the world and created untold thousands of jobs while making his money. He has known spectacular failure – but against a normative pattern of major league success. He has repeatedly demonstrated his qualifications for leadership.
What should the press do – if there be decency in its decision makers? “Speak the truth…render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil…and love no false oath…” So says Zechariah 8:16-17, and so does the Lord promise blessing to those who observe His commands. Of course the scriptures also guarantee this comes to pass only when a historically irresponsible electorate obeys these commands and trusts in this promise. Until then the bull always gets eaten by the piranhas.
By the way, Trump is not the bull. We voters are.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships, The Holy Spirit and the End Times and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@gmail.com
