In Defense of Donald Trump
Now that the Republican National Convention has
painted President Trump with a new brush, we can see him as a different person
from the one most of us think we know.
He is, some claim, sweeter and softer, rather like a new flavor of
cupcake, and kinder and more compassionate, sort of a Father Teresa. It’s about time to emphasize a number of other
unappreciated qualities he has modestly hidden.
A simple list of some of his words and deeds, in no particular order,
should suffice to dispel some of the common reactions to his personality.
At the convention he did NOT mock any disabled
people.
He set an example for hard working Americans by
taking on an extra job, selling Goya products in the Oval Office.
He may not own a dog, but as the Access Hollywood
tape demonstrates, he has expressed a fondness for felines.
He has welcomed several immigrants from Eastern
Europe, married two of them, and taken a whole family into his own family.
He has generously contributed a substantial sum of money
and provided a good deal of publicity to assist the career of a previously little
known young film actress whose work had been limited to a narrow genre of the
cinema.
He is a great defender of marriage, has done it
three times.
Apparently pro-life, he has fathered at least five
children by at least three women; like King David, to whom many Evangelical
Christians compare him, in John Dryden’s words, he spread his Maker’s image
through the land.
Although with his typical diffidence he has not
claimed it, he is no doubt the most ecumenically minded president in history. In addition to being so warmly embraced and
blessed by a flock of Evangelical pastors, a couple of months ago he made two separate religious pilgrimages, one
on foot through a valley of danger, visiting both a Protestant and a Roman
Catholic site. On top of all that, interrupting his statement on another
subject, he also gave a shout out to the Jewish community, “Yo Semite.”
Think for a moment of what he’s done for the
publishing industry, those dozens of books he has inspired, and his consequent support
for all those writers.
By courageous example, he has also, in these
difficult times, endorsed the makers of hair dye and pancake makeup.
For a man who modestly claims not to read, he has
uttered some spontaneous poetry that can only be termed Dadaist. The disquisition on windmills some time ago
and more recently, the showerhead speech, provide unique examples of his mastery
of this difficult and often baffling literary genre. (If you doubt me, read the texts).
Finally, in light of his comments some time ago
about how he spent the Vietnam years avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, which
as he said was his “personal Vietnam,” we should understand the true depth of
his learning: in what must be a reference to the classics, he was actually of
course fighting the Trojan War. Those
expensive prep schools are worth every penny.
