President Trump

David G Hickman My wife tells a story from her nursing school days that has application to our political system. Two patients sharing a room in her hospital when she was a nursing student were talking while the head nurse was in the room. One of them made the statement, “I want HER doctor. He comes in and holds her hand when he talks to her. Mine rarely even visits me.” Hearing this, the head nurse stepped over to her bedside and said in a hushed tone, “Honey, I’ve been in the operating room with each of those doctors more than a hundred times. Trust me — you want the doctor you have. He’s the best surgeon in his specialty here. Don’t worry about his lack of a bedside manner. You want HIM operating on you. Trust me. It’s the results that count, not his sweetness.” It’s no different with political leaders. Do you want the sweet bedside manner that’s accompanied by rampant inflation, weak foreign policy that invites disrespect and aggression, unnecessary dependence on foreign oil, uncontrolled borders, and still two million fewer Americans in the workplace than before the pandemic — or do you want a leader who, in spite of his crass demeanor and “tough love” bedside manner, held off potential foreign aggressors through his perceived strength and personal unpredictability, held down inflation, led the nation to energy independence, controlled the borders, and at the same time garnered a record of the highest employment rate for blacks, Hispanics and women in the nation’s history? Like your surgeon, trust me, you really want the most skilled one who gets the best results, not the one who gushes nice words but doesn’t come anywhere near the success of the other. If you choose emotion alone, well…you get us where we are today. And good luck to all of us with that.