Character Matters
I am still in a state of disbelief and hoping we discover that the Russians or someone did hack into computers in states and altered the vote tallies. Unfortunately, today the fact is that the 46 percent of the country that chose to participate in the franchise gave Mr. Trump most of the Electoral College votes. How did half of the voting electorate reconcile the despicable things he said and the even more despicable things he promised to do and concluded he represented the change needed in America?
Strident supporters continue to say that he is not that man who said all those awful words. My question remains, who is he? The one thing we must judge a person by is what he tells us about himself.
A constant refrain is that Donald Trump is not a racist. I’ve been on the losing end of racism for a long time, and I know racism when I see racism. I don’t believe everyone who voted for Donald Trump is a blatant racist, however, that his racism was not a deal breaker for them is still problematic. How did Trump’s character not play a major role in selecting the most powerful position in the world?
We have a world looking at the United States, and as the pundits like to say, elections have consequences. Trump spent months ridiculing the current president while at the same time heaping praise on Russian President Putin. How can the allies of the United States trust him? What is his real plan for NATO, for the Iranian deal, for our military? Is there a plan, because what he told us was that he was his own counsel and that he knows more about ISIS than the generals? Trump is the president elect who still uses Twitter but refuses daily national security briefings.

The second thing we can judge a person by is the company he keeps. One of his campaign promises was to drain the swamp. His appointment of a self-proclaimed, white supremacist as his chief White House strategist is enough to stoke fear in the heart of most people. The billionaire does not make the average American feel confidence in this administration. It looks like a bait and switch to me.
Remember the uproar and anger when one of Jeremiah Wright’s sermons was used against Barack Obama? Today we have Mr. Bannon likening himself to Darth Vader and Satan.
Then there is the issue of the conflict of interest between Trump’s business dealings and the presidency. During the campaign, he promised that his children would run his business as a blind trust. So much for that promise. Since the election, he says as president he can run his business and run the country because as president he can’t have a conflict of interest. His children are serving as part of his transition team. These same people will determine who’s appointed to the agencies and regulatory commissions that will impact how Trump Corporation does business around the world.
At the end of the day, we will see if Mr. Trump has the temperament, character and intellect needed for the most powerful position in the world. I hope so!