Recently, prior to the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the entire buzz was about which one of his personalities would show up for the debate. Would it be the one who tries to act presidential or the one that flips off at the mouth and says the first thing that comes to his mind? Even the people in his camp expressed the same questions.
Now with the first debate being over, we see that “ two” different personalities showed up. The first few minutes of the debate he was calm and deliberate. But as the debate wore on he became obnoxious, uneven in delivery and even tried being a bully.
There are two traits that have been consistent with Trump, he is thin skinned, and will react when provoked. Secondly, he does not like to apologize and admit when he is wrong.
Now to put these observations into perspective, remember this man is running for President of the United States, the most powerful position in the world. You are not the CEO of a corporation or a reality show host. You will be faced with delicate worldwide situations and negotiations. You will meet all types of world leaders with different personalities and agendas. You will have to deal with Congress on legislations and positions. You will have to treat “all” Americans respectfully and deal with each component based upon their needs and aspiration. There are a myriad of interests and interest groups that you will have to relate too. There are a host of political appointments and directions to give to those who serve. Then there is the military, how do you deal with the generals who report to you or the nuclear codes at your finger tips. The list of responsibilities goes on and on.
You get the picture; you have to be even in temperament and disposition. That does not mean that some days you will not get mad, anxious or even overwhelmed. But you have to be rooted in sound mind, thoughts, words and deeds. You can’t flip off at the mouth or call folks names. The American people and the world must respect you and know on any given day that they can count on the “right” personality to show up and deal with each different situation. We don’t need different personalities emerging based upon how you feel that day. Or that you don’t like the person.
Now what is troubling here is that we have a significant number of folks who not only support Trump but defend him. This is what is scary. They dismiss his antics, support them or just don’t care because they like him. This is no game here. The consequences of the president calling someone a name or insulting a world leader affect the whole country. This is very serious business.
Let’s be more specific here about whom Trumps represents (Republicans) and how that affects Black folks. Here in Michigan the Republicans led the charge to deny straight party ticket voting. This facilitates voting and many black folks use it. District Court Judge, Gershwin Drain issued a preliminary injunction on that legislation, stating that it would directly impact the voting of many African Americans. Then we have the South Carolina and Texas’s Voter Picture I.D. Laws, proposed by the Republicans. This was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Research showed that these laws focused on Black populations and their voting patterns. The laws were developed with surgical precision to suppress Black voter participation. Instead of creating ways for more voter participation, they created ways to suppress the Black vote.
Now I’m not even going to raise the “ birther issue” relative to Americas first Black president not being an American citizen. Trump has stated repeatly that he is proud of this effort because he got the President to bring forth his birth certificate. This was an insult and foolish. But what Trump was doing was playing to a base of Americans who just didn’t like Obama. Trump knew exactly what he was doing.
So these points are raised to be clear that Trumps’ base of Republicans do not have the interest of Black folks in their agenda. If anything they target energies and tactics at trying to “keep their foot” on our neck. You know like during slavery.
It is clear, that Donald Trump does not have the temperament, emotional stability to be President. He is divisive and self righteous. Each day we would be wondering “Which Trump will show up today?
The greater issue is not should he be president, but should he be able to walk around among us?
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