Success -- the Best Neutralizer

As we are a scant four days away from the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, and as Barack Obama is barfing on his own legacy by releasing, in the middle of the night so it won't be reported, another ten war criminal terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, the nation is convulsed by critical issues.

That would be who is going to perform at Mr. Trump's inauguration.

For example, some lady named Holliday, whom I had never heard of, suddenly discovered that people -- leftists, mind you -- would actually threaten her and threaten to stay away from her performances, if she were to perform at the inauguration.  So she showed marvelous courage by saying that "Oops, I didn't know ..." and backing out of her commitment.

Now, I know that I certainly had never heard of her, nor would it have mattered, since the singing (save the national anthem) is of no moment to me whatsoever, and of no real contribution to the ceremony.  So truth to tell, I really couldn't care less who sings, again, except for the brilliant young talent Jackie Evancho, who is more than happy to sing the anthem at the inauguration and who will do a great job, especially if she does the notes as written.

But it is a story nonetheless.  Celebrity X makes a public statement that he/she will not perform if invited, as if they would be.  Celebrity Y says he/she was invited but will decline because of something about Donald Trump.  Celebrity Z says ... oh, who really cares.

All of the reasons these performers are giving for not performing, or declining an invitation to perform, or declining to perform even though not invited, or whatever, are based on nothing.  Donald Trump has not been the president yet; his only semi-official actions have been to nominate his Cabinet (and those are some pretty awesome, very successful people who for the most part are taking huge pay cuts to serve and need the job like a third nostril).

Miss Holliday, who apparently is a Broadway performer, which is why 99% of the country never heard of her, made a point that her "gay fans" would stop coming to see her.  Now, there are plenty of gay Americans who are perfectly happy to have Donald Trump as president, especially since he is the guy who actually gave air to their situation on the podium at the Republican Convention.  To not see him as a "gay-friendly" Republican is to live in one seriously isolated bubble.

Still, the issue is the protesting and the celebrity back-outs, and all that.  And I have a view on all that which has been the topic of a piece or two before.  Here is what needs to happen.

Mr. Trump, just be successful.  Do what you said you would do.  Bring back jobs.  Build the wall.  Defeat ISIS.  Rebuild our friendships with allies.  Gain the respect of our adversaries.  Instill fear in our enemies.  Cut the debt.  Grow the economy.  And make some progress in the inner cities.

At all stages of your presidency, Mr. Trump, remind us of those goals, and let us know that we are making progress in each.  Tell us now the metrics against which we can measure your success (we know Obamacare was a failure because Obama gave us metrics like "saving $2500 per year" that ultimately he failed miserably against).

Your success will shut up the protesters.  Your success will neutralize the impact of those celebrities and show them up for their cowardice and moral deprivation.

Just be successful.  It's the best weapon.

Copyright 2017 by Robert Sutton
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