It Is Okay to Criticize Donald Trump If He Does Something You Don’t Like
If we can’t criticize our own politicians when we believe they’ve erred, then we’ve become sycophants or placed them on a pedestal where only one man should be placed.
Too often today, our tendency towards tribalism pushes us to oppose and criticize everything the other side does, as we support and praise everything our side does. That mentality is especially the case when it comes to Donald Trump given the non-stop onslaught he has faced over the last nine years, including so many hoaxes and lies. We are now wired to defend him zealously. With his imminent return to The White House, however, we on the Right must become comfortable disagreeing with Trump when he does or says something we don’t like. After all, what good is the First Amendment if our speech only points in one direction?
We may disagree on what we find disagreeable, but I will defend your right to criticize Trump rationally and reasonably (i.e., unlike the Left over the last nine years). I hope you will defend mine. I raise this issue because I’ve noticed over the last few days a stridency in defending Trump’s nomination of Congressman Matt Gaetz to be his Attorney General. The argument in Gaetz's defense runs along an “either or” spectrum: either you must defend Gaetz because the most salacious allegation against him is false or you are a pawn of the Left. There is no middle ground apparently.
I find that to be total bunk. I’ve never liked Gaetz. Sure, his grillings of Biden Administration figures are always entertaining, but he can be reckless and overly bombastic. I often wondered who would win between Chuck Schumer and Gaetz in a race for a television camera, as both have never seen one they didn’t try to be in front of. While I don’t give much weight to the claim he had sex with a minor, I do give credence to him spending far too much time partying with women far younger than he was in which is status and power as a congressman was ever-present. Some of you will dismiss such a prudish statement by pointing to him being a bachelor until 2021 so who and what he did was his own business. Fair enough, but let me ask you this question: would it have bothered you if your spouse or partner in his or her mid-30s partied frequently with members of the opposite sex who were ten-to-fifteen years younger, including some too young to legally drink?
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) needs to be torn apart and re-assembled from tip-to-tip. Its corruption runs deep. Having spent nearly two-and-a-half years in a federal department, I know first hand how entrenched the bureaucrats are and how hard it is to root the bad ones out. It will require someone willing to work tirelessly day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month, and year-after-year to fix what the Left broke. It will take someone more focused on the quiet work of burrowing into the bureaucracy than getting time on television. America desperately needs a functioning DOJ.
Maybe you believe Gaetz is the only person on our side capable of doing that. I don’t. I know scores of very talented, smart men and women who have spent careers steeped in getting results and fighting for our side. They weren’t in or near places they shouldn’t have been doing things they shouldn’t have been doing with people they shouldn’t have been with. Having been part of a presidential administration, the big names are rarely the ones who get stuff done. Those folks are far too accustomed to the frills, so become little more the figureheads. Trump’s nomination of Gaetz seems more like a middle finger to Washington, D.C., than a sober, serious selection of the most qualified, capable, and squeaky-clean person needed to have the credibility and skills to do what needs to be done. On Gaetz, Trump erred.
A good friend I’ve known for fifteen years owns a business that has been getting financially hurt by the Trump tariffs instituted during his first term and left in place by Joe Biden. His business could be crushed by additional tariffs. This guy is the most loyal and avid Trump supporter I know, but he thinks Trump is making a mistake when it comes to tariffs and unintentionally hurting the very people who put him in office. I get what Trump is doing on tariffs, as tariffs are likely the only tool to force recalcitrant countries to the table to negotiate truly freer and fairer trade deals. My friend’s criticism of Trump doesn’t make him disloyal and he should forcefully make his case to whomever in Trump World will listen to him. The one thing he shouldn’t do is keep quiet.
At the end of the day, if I am wrong about Gaetz, I will happily admit it. For Trump’s and America’s sake, I hope I am wrong. My criticism of Gaetz and Trump’s selection of him, however, doesn’t make me disloyal or a squish or a traitor or a coward. If we can’t criticize our own politicians when we believe they’ve erred, then we’ve become sycophants or placed them on a pedestal where only one man should be placed.
P.S. If you haven’t voted yet, please take a second to vote on this poll on who Mike DeWine should select to replace J.D. Vance in the U.S. Senate. Voting closes in one day.