Promises made, promises broken
“If I’m elected, you won’t lose one plant. You’ll have plants coming into this country. You’re gonna have jobs again. You won’t lose one plant. I promise you.”
–– Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, Oct. 31, 2016, Warren, Michigan
Last week, General Motors announced it’s closing five of its plants, including the one in Warren, Michigan.
That happened to make yet another of Donald Trump’s campaign promises null and void.
That wasn’t the first, and it certainly won’t be the last of his broken promises.
He was a Promise Machine out on the campaign trail.
His most ardent supporters refused to take a long look at the man behind the promises, and his lack of understanding about how government and public policy work.
He might’ve gone to Michigan and Ohio with pie-in-the-sky notions about enhancing the auto industry, but as a president, there’s little he can do about it.
If sedans are growing out of favor with the American public, and a plant in Ohio makes sedans, all of Trump’s promises (or threats, for that matter) can’t convince GM to keep that Ohio plant open.
That’s just where we are these days.
We’re stuck with a president who thinks he can wave a wand and get things done.
“Let me tell you folks in Ohio and this area, don’t sell your house. We’re gonna fill up those factories or rip them down and build new ones,” he said in July of 2017.
Unfortunately, there’ll be as many as 15,000 workers who might lose their jobs if GM shutters those factories.
It’s not much of a secret that Mr. Trump has an over-sized ego.
He brags about stuff that nobody else would even dream of bragging about.
“I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me,” he boasted in November of 2015.
No, he doesn’t.
“Nobody knows more about trade than me,” he announced in March of 2016.
If that’s the case, why have those tariffs he’s imposed caused many of America’s farmers to rethink their support of him?
In general, nobody likes a know-it-all. But, for some reason, Trump gets a pass.
Last week, when that comprehensive “Fourth National Climate Assessment” was released, it presented a startling outlook for the future of the planet.
But not for Mr. Trump.
When he was asked about the work of over 300 federal and non-federal experts, he replied, “I don’t believe it.”
“One of the problems that a lot of people like myself — we have very high levels of intelligence, but we’re not necessarily such believers,” he told reporters.
Trump is wholly dependent on his “gut.”
Rather than spending his time reading a document that comprises the work of some serious-minded scholars — he defers to his “gut.”
His “gut,” I assume, runneth over.
That’s the kind of thing that allows him to deny the undeniable.
Or, he becomes an automatic expert – depending on who he’s trying to impress that day.
“I’m very highly educated. I know words. I have the best words,” he famously said during a discussion of the Middle East back in 2015.
Saying you do something, is one thing. Doing what you say you do – is altogether different. TRANSLATION: He really isn’t known for having “the best words.”
There’s nothing wrong with thinking highly of yourself.
There is something terribly wrong, though, when you feel compelled to compare yourself (favorably) to just about everybody you mention.
And he mentions his predecessor, Barack Obama, with every chance he gets.
That’s a problem.
Obama, during his first two years in office, enjoyed much higher job approval numbers than has Trump.
Last week, in fact, Trump’s job disapproval numbers matched their highest of his presidency. (60 percent)
Perhaps Mr. Trump would do better if he kept his braggadocio at a minimum; stopped engaging in wild hyperbole, and he just did his job.
None of that’ll ever happen, though.
He’s built his presidency on those things that only his supporters believe.
He’s proven he’s not interested in expanding his support.
It’s just him and his “gut.”
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.