Trump to kids: Be crude and succeed
Americans don’t choose presidents to serve as role-models for children. That would be silly.
No, we vote presidents into office to raise or lower taxes, to start or stop wars, to speed up or slow down those social, economic, or political movements we either support or oppose.
Otherwise, we choose presidents on some vague notion that the election of this one individual “will be good for the country”, because “my wife says we should”, or simply because “he seems like a good guy.”
(I tend to favor the latter. I remember canvassing for a candidate whose campaign provided canvassers with quick and ready arguments to use to persuade fence-sitters. I went with my own “he’s a good guy” line instead. For one thing it seemed more honest. You never know what you might get, decision-wise, from a president. Electing a president is frequently a matter of throwing caution to the wind. Above all, the answer was simple. I was saying, “I trust this guy; you can, too.”)
Still, there is the matter of the children. I was just a kid when I saw on TV the tumultuous reception accorded Dwight Eisenhower by the Republican National Convention in 1956, for Ike’s second nomination. I was impressed.
I was impressed again six years later when, again on TV, President Kennedy was given a rousing ovation when he appeared at old Pitt Fieldhouse for a campaign rally. I was 14, and truth be told, I was already deep into Kennedy. Jack was the man, as far as I was concerned.
This was true for me, and it’s no exaggeration to say that Kennedy transfixed countless other young people – Baby Boomers exposed for the first time, like me, to the whirlpool of American politics.
I sometimes like to think of myself as a Hubert Humphrey Democrat. (You figure it out.)
In truth, I’m a Kennedy camp follower, a JFK true-believer.
I suspect Franklin Roosevelt had a devoted band of youthful enthusiasts. We know Ronald Reagan inspired millions of young people. Max Boot, the conservative columnist, was eleven when Reagan was elected president in 1980. Boot later wrote, “Ronald Reagan was what John F. Kennedy had been to an earlier generation: an inspirational figure who shaped my worldview.”
Boot continued: Reagan “was optimistic and gentlemanly” in addition to being “pro-free trade … pro -immigration … and that’s what I believe in, too.”
It would not shock me in the least to learn that a Republican the age of state Rep. Matthew Dowling, say, was inspired by Reagan. Both Dowling of Uniontown and his fellow Republican state Rep. Ryan Warner of Perryopolis, given their ages, seem like candidates for a little of the Reagan stardust.
My daughter was in Atlanta over the holidays. She happened to visit a public place that was also being visited by Jimmy Carter, his wife Rosalynn, and other members of the Carter family. She texted me a photo of the old president. She said Carter had waved and wished everyone a merry Christmas.
Carter was elected president in 1976; my daughter was born two years later. “I’m not sure as a kid had any personal feelings about a president,” she told me after the Carter sighting in Atlanta. “I think I felt respect.”
Maybe the fact that she never felt the kind of personal presidential connection I did as a kid speaks to the diminished nature of all presidents after Nixon and Watergate. Pre-Nixon a kid could idolize a president. Post- was more difficult.
(She did tell me that she felt a kinship with first ladies of the period, so maybe it’s a gender thing.)
Before Christmas this year, Barack Obama visited children who were sick and in the hospital. He wore a Santa cap and passed out gifts. One little girl, sitting up in bed, realizing who it was, placed her hands in her face and cried. She was overcome with joy.
It was about a good a demonstration of the moral authority of a president, and the presidency, as you are likely to see.
Which brings us to Donald Trump. Now, my beef here with the president goes way beyond the unfortunate incident proceeding Christmas this year, when he was on the phone with a youngster and marched right up to the line, telling the kid that at 7 it sure must be hard to believe in Santa Claus.
(Young Barron Trump’s gonna write quite a book one day, I’m afraid.)
If Kennedy and Reagan inspired young people, what about Trump and the affect he’s having on the minds of voters of the future? I can’t imagine even his most ardent fans having anything good to say on this front. (But, hey, I’ve been fooled before.)
If George Washington could not tell a lie (a fairytale told to kids), Donald Trump – besides being crude, lewd, and rude – hardly ever tells the truth. Kids, hide your eyes, cover your ears. Don’t listen to this man.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.