The challenge in online shopping is trying to evaluate the quality of a product that you can’t see for yourself. You know that the pictures and descriptions can be deceptive. You can’t hold it in your hand or try it on, so what can you do? Simple, right? You READ THE REVIEWS. But not even that is adequate because you don’t know the people writing the reviews.
The best you can do is to develop an instinct for reading the reviews, especially the negative reviews. There will always be some negative reviews — some people are just impossible to please. But if a product has many negative reviews that are all fairly well written, including a lot of detail, and many of them say essentially the same thing, then you probably should not order that product.
The same general idea can be applied to evaluating political candidates, but there it’s a little easier. By the time someone has had enough of a track record in life to run for political office, there’s usually a trail of current and former colleagues, associates, staff, and peers… I.e. people with DIRECT EXPERIENCE with this candidate. What do THEY say about the candidate?
And unlike with online products, in this case the reviewer isn’t always completely anonymous, so the reputation of the reviewers can add or detract from the value of the criticisms.
And, as with online product reviews, there will always be some number of harsh critics, but we need to develop an instinct for sifting through the evidence to arrive at a reasonable conclusion.
Trump’s Reviews
So what of Trump’s “product reviews”? What do people who have worked closely with him in the White House (cabinet, staff, etc.) say about him? What do other conservative Republican political leaders, past and present, say about him? Who are his friends? Who are his enemies?
Spoiler alert: It’s not good.
MANY – maybe MOST – of Trump’s former cabinet and staff now DENOUNCE him. MANY current and former conservative Republican senators, representatives, governors, previous Republican presidents, vice presidents, and their cabinet/staff members, former White House lawyers, former Trump campaign lawyers, NOW DENOUNCE HIM.
See List of Republicans who oppose the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign. It lists nearly 150 Republicans/conservatives of all those classes I just mentioned (former associates, other Republican leaders, etc.) who now oppose him.
If you consider yourself a conservative, Reagan Republican, basically MORE THAN half of your camp harshly denounces Trump. Even Reagan himself – via the proxy of his son Michael – denounces Trump.
Of course you would expect Democrats to criticize him, but these are almost all Republicans – many conservative Republicans.
Let’s consider another question: What do Biden’s “product reviews” look like? He’s been in national politics for over 50 years – have half of his former close allies and associates turned on him? What about Obama’s? Clinton had a few whistle blowers for his sexual misconduct, but his list of close associates-turned-detractors is DWARFED by Trump’s list.
What about past Republican presidents? Bush (41 or 43)? Reagan?
Do half of their former cabinet/staff members hate them and offer harsh criticisms?
A small sample…
Here are a few SPECIFIC quotes from some Trump’s highest level cabinet members – the people who dealt most directly with him.
PLEASE NOTE THE DETAIL. They don’t just say “He’s dumb”, or “He’s a birdbrain” — the kinds of things Trump says. No, they CAREFULLY DESCRIBE DETAILS… LOTS OF DETAILS… extremely plausible details. And many of them seem to overlap.
John Kelly – Trump’s Chief of Staff (2017-2019)
John Kelly is a life-long career military man, reaching the highest ranks, receiving the highest honors. He was Trump’s Chief of Staff. Here’s what he says of Trump:
[Trump is a] person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women, … A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about… A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
There is nothing more that can be said … God help us.
Source: Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump
James “Mad Dog” Mattis – Secretary of Defense (2017-2019)
James Mattis, another top career military leader, came out of retirement to serve as Trump’s Secretary of Defense. He resigned because he couldn’t take it. He says,
“… We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
Source: Mattis tears into Trump: ‘We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership’
See also The Man Who Couldn’t Take It Anymore.
William Barr – U.S. Attorney General (2019-2020)
William Barr served as AG for George H. W. Bush (i.e. Bush 41) and Trump. Trump SOUGHT HIM OUT for the AG position because of positions he took regarding Trump’s firing of Comey and on the Mueller investigation. But now Barr says:
[Trump] is a consummate narcissist. And he constantly engages in reckless conduct. … He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. Our country can’t, you know, can’t be a therapy session for you know, a troubled man like this.
Source: Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump
Rex Tillerson – Secretary of State (2017-2018)
Tillerson’s history was mostly in the private sector in the oil and gas industry. Prior to his post as Secretary of State his most prominent role was that of CEO of ExxonMobil.
[Trump’s] understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.
Source: Tillerson slams Trump as Pompeo sings his praises
It was challenging for me, coming from the disciplined, highly process-oriented Exxon Mobil corporation, to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, “This is what I believe.”
Source: Tillerson, Who Privately Called Trump ‘Moron,’ Pretty Much Confirms It in Public
John Bolton – National Security Advisor (2018-2019)
John Bolton has served in significant government posts starting in the Reagan administration, with his most significant expertise in the area of foreign relations. He was recruited by Trump to serve as National Security Advisor.
Nearly every pro-Ukraine conservative Trump supporter (as I once was) defends Trump’s position on Ukraine by pointing out that Trump provided more military aid than did Obama, and that Putin did not invade during Trump’s presidency, but rather on Obama’s watch (2014) and Biden’s watch (2022). Bolton was presented with this logic in a Newsmax interview:
Newsmax: There is something to be said though, about the simple fact that there was not aggression during the four years. I mean, you were part of that administration as well, and there was not aggression from Russia and they waited him out, it seems, and made a move. I mean, we have a list of things, the Brookings Institution says that the “Trump administration implemented 52 policy actions against Russia,” was pretty tough on Russia in a lot of ways. Forcing NATO members to pay up; as we know, sanctioning Nord Stream 2; oligarchs close to Putin were sanctioned; selling anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, so arming Ukraine; withdrawing from the INF treaty; and expelling Russian officers from this country as well. In 2018, he looked NATO members in the eye and talked about the reliance on Russian energy by Europe and how horrible that was. I mean, he took a very tough stance against Russia. I’m surprised you don’t think that he would’ve handled this better than Joe Biden.
Bolton: No, he did not. He did not. We didn’t sanction Nord Stream 2… we should have, we should have brought the project to an end. We did impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs and several others because of their sales of S-400 antiaircraft systems to other countries. But in almost every case, the sanctions were imposed with Trump complaining about it saying we were being too hard. The fact is that he barely knew where Ukraine was. He once asked John Kelly, his second chief of staff, if Finland were a part of Russia. It is just not accurate to say that Trump’s behavior somehow deterred the Russians…
Source: Newsmax tries to defend Trump, but John Bolton blows it away
Bolton says in an interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz’:
There really isn’t any guiding principle that I was able to discern other than what’s good for Donald Trump’s reelection. There’s no coherent basis, no strategy, no philosophy, and decisions are made in a very scatter-shot fashion, especially in the potentially mortal field of national security policy. This is a danger for the republic. …
It’s one thing to be erratic and impulsive and episodic and anecdotal on day-to-day stuff. It’s when you get into crisis situations or very high-stakes circumstances where it becomes not only important, but potentially dangerous if the president doesn’t maintain the focus on what’s in front of him.
Source: ABC News, June 21, 2020: Bolton says he hopes Trump is 1-term president, warns country imperiled by his reelection
Anthony Fauci
In a slight change of gears, let’s now consider Anthony Fauci.
Is there even ONE raw meat MAGA Republican who does not LOATHE Anthony Fauci for his role in the Covid-19 response? Is Anthony Fauci not the poster boy of big-government tyranny and everything MAGA Republicans HATE?
Trump had a lot of turnover in his administration. He fired a lot of people. BUT HE DIDN’T FIRE FAUCI. HE KEPT HIM, AND HE LISTENED TO HIM, and even awarded him a Presidential Commendation.
I might add that for Fauci’s signature issue, Covid vaccines, Trump still wants credit for that.
What would Reagan think of Trump?
The hypothetical “What Would Reagan Say?” question gives us a check on our moral and political values. Reagan is rightly regarded as the father of modern conservatism and one of this country’s greatest presidents, so his opinion should matter.
He’s not alive to tell us, but his son, Michael Reagan is active on social media and directly addresses this question.
During Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016 Michael Reagan said, “This most likely would be the 1st time if my father was alive that he would not support the nominee of the GOP” (Twitter/X, Michael Reagan @ReaganWorld, Jun 6, 2016).
Michael Reagan’s own opinion is a little softer, but still fairly negative. In 2023 he said, “I’m not a Never Trumper. I voted for him twice and I think he did a good job as president. But like everyone else with an un-MAGA-fogged brain, I’m worn out by his antics and personal legal troubles.” (Mr. Trump, it’s time to step aside – By Michael Reagan Apr 28, 2023)
He goes on in that article to convincingly argue that Biden’s dream would be to run against Trump again. He says “The only person he could beat in 2024 is Donald Trump, and he’s only in the race because Trump is.”
Conclusion
My old self would have swept this whole argument aside by just labeling all of Trump’s critics as RINOs, Deep State, D.C. Swamp creatures all conspiring to keep their power, and they hated Trump because he was defending US – the people – FROM THEM.
But now that my fever has broken I see how ridiculous these arguments were. If the majority of Trump’s past colleagues, cabinet, staff, and other political allies all give him lengthy, detailed harsh critical reviews, there must be something to it.