FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS...
In another forum, a contributor passed along the following item, original source not certain. It sets forth two radically different perspectives on the most controversial personality of modern times - Donald J. Trump:
Wherever this piece came from, the author does a superb job of characterizing the radically different ways people view Trump. How are we to account for such diametrically opposed assessments of the same individual? Could the opinions on Trump possible be more contradictory? Is he a saint or a sinner? A savior or a destroyer? An angel or a devil? A patriot or a traitor?
Depends on whom you ask.
But, in the real world, the man is what he is and isn’t what he isn’t. Is he an aspiring “Hitler”, or is he not? Does he seek to be a “dictator”? Does he really want to “a king”? Is he an “insurrectionist”? A “threat to democracy”? In the real world, he either is or isn’t. Which is it? How might a fair-minded, thoughtful person go about getting to the truth of this man, around whom swirls the most vicious and bitter winds of controversy?
Everyone, of course, is entitled to his own opinion but, as the saying goes, not to his own facts. Facts - facets of objective reality - stand independent of opinion. Reality isn’t a function of opinion but is built of actual facts - the characteristics and manifestations of things as they really are and really work in the objective, real world.
In that real world - the world of facts - who and what actually is Donald Trump? As certainly as there is a truth about each one of us - who we really are, what kind of person each of us is - good, bad, or, most likely, some combination of both - there is a truth about Donald J. Trump. What is that truth - and, most importantly, as the November election looms large on the horizon, how does that truth relate to the well-being and future course of the United States of America? When it comes to electing a president, that - the well-being of the country - ought to be the voters’ only concern. Which candidate will do the best job for the country?
I would argue the only way to account for these extremely divergent views on Donald Trump is, first, not to focus on the man. He is what he is and doesn’t transmute from moment to moment so as to accommodate and correspond to each differing view and opinion of him.
No, the answer has to be in the lens through which each individual views the former president. That lens is a construct of the intellectual, moral and spiritual stuff each individual is made of. In the fundamental opportunity and test of life, each of us sees the world and everything in it through his or her own custom-built lens, different from any other, and, because we differ radically in the quality of our intellectual, moral and spiritual makeup, so do our views on any subject differ dramatically in terms of their quality - quality being measured not arbitrarily but by the degree to which a given opinion corresponds to hard, cold, non-negotiable, unforgiving, objective reality - the proof being in the pudding. At the negative extreme, there are those who see evil and call it good, and see good and call it evil.
Now, consider what I believe to be the driver of our national fate - the individual and collective intellectual, moral and spiritual substance of the people - all the stuff the people use to build the lenses through which they view and judge the world around them. In that regard, what kind - what intellectual, moral and spiritual quality - of people take the positive view of Trump, and what kind take the negative view? How does the quality of their minds and character differ? Let me suggest the difference may be found in the way people relate to objective reality - the world of facts.
In the realm of opinion, one opinion is as good as another. In that world, people will never agree because they don't have to. Nothing compels them to acknowledge one opinion as superior to another. In the domain of opinion, there is no absolute truth - there are no facts to settle the argument. In fact (pun intended), facts are not allowed - they tend to get in the way of and slow down the free flow of opinions.
The world of facts is radically different. Independent of opinion, facts - facets of objective reality - tell us the way things really are and really work. Facts are stubborn things and cannot be avoided or dismissed by anyone interested in getting at the truth. In the objective world, opinions can be tested for quality by exposing them to facts - a test that invariably reveals that not all opinions are qualitatively equal. The higher the quality of an opinion, the closer it corresponds to hard cold reality, and vice versa.
But back to our problem. Will the real Donald Trump please stand up? What is there in the real world, the world of objective facts, that might tell us with some considerable degree of confidence which of these two differing slants on Donald Trump - one positive, one negative - harmonizes better with things in the real world - things as they really are and really work - again, with the presidential election soon upon us, keeping in mind what this man might do for - or to - our country should he be re-elected?
Conveniently, for those who take a positive view of Trump, he has a track record, chiseled in marble in the annals of history - what he actually did for the country in his first four-year term as president. On the assumption that his first term provides a logical guide for his second, his first-term record moves him, his accomplishments, his pronouncements and intentions going forward, out of the realm of opinion and solidly into the realm of the real world.
Here it is:
Trump Administration Accomplishments – The White House (archives.gov)
Studying this record provides a real-world frame of reference to consider critically each of the contrasting points concerning Trump noted in the item this piece opened with. Is it the positives in that piece or the negatives that correspond best with the reality of what Trump actually did for the country during his first term? Rhetorical question, folks. In terms of what he did to promote the liberty, prosperity and security of our nation, Trump, as the record shows, was, in his first term, one of the most successful presidents of modern times - notwithstanding the intense opposition he had to face all the way along.
Moreover, those who are paying attention will also note that Trump's 2024 campaign platform (scroll down on the linked-to page to see a list of 20 critical agenda items) - what he promises to do if re-elected - is remarkably consistent with what he actually did, what he actually accomplished during his first term. If it works - and it did work - don’t fix it. He did it before and he’ll do it again - if we give him the chance.
On the other hand, what citizen with a few firing synapses in his brain would vote for a continuation of the disaster inflicted upon us during the past four years by the illegitimate, lawless, seditious, treasonous Biden/Harris regime? Sadly, tragically, there are millions who will…
It thus becomes clear that those who take the negative view of Trump are forced to turn a blind eye to history and magically redact from their irrational, Trump-hating, deceitful La-La Land surreality the man's real-world record - his great accomplishments on behalf of the America people during his first term - secure borders, low taxes, broadly shared economic prosperity, military strength, no wars, low energy costs, international respect and much more - exactly the opposite of what the illegitimate Biden/Harris regime has served up to the people of America.
Thus, these denizens of Trump-hating La-La Land inform us not only regarding their obtuse, grossly biased opinions but reveal the intellectual, moral and spiritual darkness and corruption of their minds and souls that generates those opinions in the form they take. In the process, they reveal the real problem America faces - a massive qualitative rot in the character of the people - or certainly a great many of them.
Torquemada