At any rate, one question piqued my interest, even though I can't recall what it was specifically. Mr. Trump has a way of answering the question you asked and then a few more in the course of answering yours, so the question itself actually wasn't important.
But I recall it centered around the way he was handling the impeachment trial going on in the Senate, as he was representing the country and his spectacular economic performance at the World Economic Forum there.
President Trump talked about that for a bit, and while I can't quote him directly, he did point out that he thought his actions during the "witch hunt" were going to be among the most important things he did in his presidency.
I had to think about that a while, until the context gave me the clues to what he actually meant. And then I agreed, so much so that it had to become a column here.
I think it is fair to say that Donald Trump has done a whole heck of a lot of things as president, both on the executive policy and legislative side, and on the conduct-of-office side. And one of the most critical aspects of the latter has been in his conduct with the press.
Let me not beat around the bush. President Trump has exposed the national media for what they are -- corrupt, thoroughly biased, almost invariably to the left, and far more interested in themselves and their own power than in actually reporting the facts. We saw White House sessions where reporters preened for the cameras rather than asking substantive policy questions.
The USA now knows what "fake news" means. While the average American might not appreciate the distinction between a news medium's editorial and reporting areas, or understand the meaning of the necessary "wall" between them, he or she now views any reporting -- actual news coverage -- from the major media through a lens that presupposes bias by the reporter.
Because of what the president has exposed, we know that the media do as much damage by what they do not report as what they do. When the major networks spend almost (or actually) no time on the economic success of the Trump program, and hours by contrast on impeachment (which we all know to be a hoax), we now see it. And we can thank Donald Trump for making sure we see it.
I would like to think that today, when he was referring to his handling of the impeachment process as being a significant part of his legacy, he was actually thinking along similar lines.
Donald Trump the candidate pledged to "drain the swamp", and we all understood that he was talking about an entrenched Washington bureaucracy that was effectively accountable to no one, and which included much of Congress, people elected over and over with little challenge, and who had grown rich and fat on working the system for their own gain.
I believe that what the president meant was that, unlike before, we now truly understood the swamp and how pernicious its entrenchment was. The impeachment? The president has actually used it to expose the corruption of the people serving as "leaders" of the swamp -- the Schumers, the Pelosis, the Schiffs, and the Nadlers of the DC swamp.
These people who cannot possibly believe that Donald Trump has committed an impeachable offense -- they couldn't even include an actual crime in the bill of particulars -- still blather on in public, making up things and lying about what we have in front of us. Yet on they blather.
And now, because of Donald Trump, we see them in a different light. We realize that it is not merely opposition to this president that drives them, but rather preservation of their entrenched positions. We get it, now. We get it, because this president has brought the swamp to light. We understand that a Nancy Pelosi has made millions off her office, and is horribly afraid of losing those golden eggs and attendant goose.
We get it now. Maybe we thought we knew it before, but we really know it now, because this president does not come from a world of entrenched power-by-election, and thus has pointed out to the USA -- consistently -- that there is indeed a swamp, and it needs to be drained.
The impeachment nonsense shows that. We know, because the Democrats have been talking impeachment since before the inauguration. We know, because Maxine Waters (another who has made a few bucks off her office) has been screaming "impeach 45!" since 2017. We know, because even though there is no crime being found anywhere in the articles of impeachment, the Democrats pressed forward with trying to get rid of President Trump.
We know that there is no bigger threat to the swamp than President Trump. He has exposed that, and his conduct during the long process, consistently pointing out the corruption of those leading it, is what he was talking about.
It will be a part of his legacy that we no longer trust the press and view Washington with great skepticism. It will be a significant part of that legacy, and we need to thank him for it -- including this November.
Drain the swamp. MAGA.
Copyright 2020 by Robert Sutton
Like what you read here? There are over 1,000 posts from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com, and after four years of writing a new one daily, he still posts thoughts once in a while as "visiting columns", no longer the "prolific essayist" he was through 2018, but still around. Appearance, advertising, sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton
Like what you read here? There are over 1,000 posts from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com, and after four years of writing a new one daily, he still posts thoughts once in a while as "visiting columns", no longer the "prolific essayist" he was through 2018, but still around. Appearance, advertising, sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton
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