Trump - Winner of the 2021 Lincoln Award

Relax, I'm not elevating Trump to Lincoln stature by giving him this award. 

But . . .

though the dissimilarities between DT and AL are certainly even great, there are some similarities. Both are/were Republicans that came from another party (Lincoln was a Whig, Trump was originally a Democrat). Both were hated not just by their opponents, but by many in their own party. Lincoln was held in contempt, not only by the Confederacy, but by many of the radicals in his own party who wanted the South utterly destroyed (so much for union - sounds like the Squad today). Lincoln, who wanted to "let 'em up easy," was often pilloried and mocked by his own allies. The magnificent political and communication skills he employed to win two elections and run the gamut from the Confederacy in the south to the radicals and Copperheads in the north is now legendary and so far past Trump's political abilities, as to be on a completely different plane. But, they also both believed deeply in the continued existence and prevailing of America, and in resisting those who would tear it apart.

The main reason I am giving Trump the 2021 Lincoln Award (and yes, I do know the award is a figment of my imagination) is that Trump has been attacked more viciously than any president since Lincoln (give me a rational argument otherwise and I'll amend my statement), not just by his natural opponents, the Democrats, but the media and the never Trumpers on the right, some of whom were Bush family devotees. Trump had no political abilities absent the one single quality of playing the Trump caricature we know so well, with which to contend with it. 

In my opinion, Trump was helped to the presidency in 2016 by multiple a lot of factors. 

One, was the despair of so many at the incessant bungling of the Obama administration in domestic and foreign policy. I've written years ago a number of pieces on I why I thought Obama was the worst president in modern times and won't repeat myself on that topic (Biden is on a path, if he hasn't already succeeded in surpassing him). Two, was the very common occurrence in the last thirty years of Americans shifting back and forth from R party to D party and back after one or two terms of a president. Three, was the overkill of the anti-American and very anti-Trump media to destroy him, which let him run a campaign without the usual need for a candidate to make an effort to put  himself in the limelight - they made everything about Trump. Four, was his bombastic personality, which while hard to like, for many people it was entertaining and made them believers. Fifth was the awful campaigning of his adversary, Clinton, who, though protected by the FBI from prosecution, just irritated people with what seemed like a very phony personality. And, of course, the bungling of that modern day evil twin of Jacques Clouseau, Comey, who probably unintentionally played a role too. I'm not saying there weren't other factors, or that some aren't more important than others. Who can ever really know. Those seemed to me the largest. If I had to pick one to be the biggest factor, I would say it was the media's constant attack on him. 

Once he became president, and partly because of the behavior of his adversaries, including the media, you'd think they might change. Those who made fools of themselves laughingly declaring he wouldn't run (oh ho ho ho), then wouldn't win the nomination (oh ho ho ho) and finally, couldn't win the presidency (oh ho ho ho), were not just disappointed, they were devastated and enraged. There seemed, initially, to be some internal recognition by some of them, probably not remorse, for their behavior, but it was brief. They doubled and tripled down, perhaps more than that, on their attacks on him, the lack of fair reporting and outright lies. The behavior of the Ds in congress was probably the worst behavior I've personally ever seen in politics (it seems I must mention the Kavanaugh hearings every post or so, but RussiaGate, the two ridiculous impeachments, Nancy Pelosi's own personal insurrection in trying to interfere with the nuclear chain of command, to name just a few). 

I like to refer to the statement of some anonymous person I read in the comment section of an article in the New York Times (back when I'd bother to read them) as defining part of the left's attitude with Trump. When some commenter dared suggest that Trump be given credit for some small thing, another commenter replied - "No credit for Trump ever." 

I am not suggesting that comment had any effect on the world at all. For all I know, only I read it, but more likely just a few thousand people at most. But, it sums up for me half of what the left determined to do, perhaps intuitively, without the need for a grand plan that 100 million people needed to sign onto. They sensed that they had their  perfect "villain" that every political party desires. They would not give him credit for any of the good work he did. In the unlikely event you are a Trump hater reading this - I recognize you do not accept anything he did was good. But that was only half of it. The other half was to attack him relentlessly, pretend every stupid remark was a declaration of war on minorities, act as if a phone conversation of which many listened in, was a crime (they did pretend it was, and when that didn't work, they pretended other things leading to the first impeachment). In fact, everything he had to do was a crime for them - it didn't matter what it was, it was enough that Trump did it. As way too many people acknowledged to me during that time - they wanted him assassinated or, at least, they wouldn't mind so much.

And that was what happened. Virtually no credit would be given to him no matter what he did. As a perfect example, when Trump's team, in particular, his son-in-law and his adviser, a 33 year old lawyer named Avi Berkowitz, was able to craft the first peace agreements between Israel and Arab countries known as the Abraham Accords, it was met with staggering silence by the press and the supposedly pro-Israeli Democrats. No credit for him, plus non-stop attacks and insults. No Nobel Prize either, which they had already actually rendered completely irrelevant by giving it to Obama before he did anything (Obama's words). Trump's incredible work under vicious and hypocritical attack getting Mexico and El Salvador to police their borders (now undone by you know who), his holding China, Russia, Iran and N. Korea at bay (our foreign enemies are almost as relentless as our domestic ones), his forcing China to the economic table and getting concessions they know they don't have to live up to and no consequences for not doing so, under Biden), his literally keeping a decades' old promise to Israel to move our embassy to Jerusalem (met with shouts of horror - end of the world!), his allowing our armed forces to defeat ISIS, his managing of the economy, including modern record low unemployment for minorities (which, of course, we are told by the left, was really Obama's doing), and his quick recognition of Covid-19 coming from China and Operation Warp Speed, for which the press and Biden have immediately tried to take credit. He talked to N. Korea even stepped over the border with its - it's the end of the world, the left said. He left the Iran deal - the one which did not close off Iran making a nuclear weapon and which used - RUSSIA - as Iran's guarantor of good behavior, and the left said - it's the end of the world. It wasn't. He left the Paris Accords which allows China, our deadliest enemy, to out-carbon footprint the whole world. He stopped modern fascism from being taught to the employees and agents of the federal government (don't worry - no details this time). Horrible public figures cut the heads of effigies or called him "Scumbag" or fantasized about his death.

Despite his own boneheaded statements, the media (and his political opponents) simply lied or exaggerated almost everything about him. They lied about Russia (including, as we know, the FBI) and what his supporters did, they lied about Ukraine, reducing the impeachment clause in the constitution to the equivalent of a kangaroo court, they lied about Jan. 6th incident - the allegedly Trump driven armed insurrection which turned out to be neither armed (no  firearms), nor an insurrection (maybe a few idiots had wild ideas) nor driven by Trump (who expressly asked for peaceful protests) and lied about Trump supporters murdering Brian Sicknick. The attacks were relentless, every single day. They tried to stop him from forming a cabinet, they tried to stop the Kavanaugh hearing. They even claimed he was responsible for 400,000 Covid deaths, which is up there with the dumbest things I've ever heard.

Though Trump lost, every day under Biden reminds me of how lucky we were to have Trump. I don't think I will ever be able to like him personally. He's not someone I can imagine having dinner with. But so what?  I have a lot more respect for him than I did 4 years earlier (I did not vote then; I did vote for him this time). The left cannot give him credit for anything, but I give him credit. A lot. 

He accomplished many things and in the face of the most ferocious attacks since Lincoln, earning him the 2021 Lincoln Award. 

Congratulations, Mr. President.