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Trump Fatigue Syndrome: Is There a Cure?
I’m tired. And I take full responsibility for my condition. I’m not here to blame Donald Trump for my difficulties. I also think I’m not alone, and I care a great deal for all the people who are in the same dire straits. My biggest concern is that Donald Trump’s prospects for 2020 could be at risk. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First, let me explain how I arrived at this point. I’m one of those many people who was not a Trump supporter at the beginning, but I came on board early as I saw his many accomplishments: tax cuts, great economy, Supreme Court justices, cuts in regulations, demands that the Europeans pony up for NATO—and the list goes on.
But as I was on my morning walk, I realized I wasn’t alone. In fact, I’m a suburban woman—one of those females who is beginning to pull away. I know that Trump will need every vote he can get. I know he has every reason to attack the media. I realize that he’s a fighter and when he sees people do stupid things, he feels obligated to call them out. I get it.
But I’m tired of it.
I think that Trump Fatigue Syndrome is a kind of burn-out, the condition that describes people who feel they have to abandon their jobs because the life has gone out of them. Leaving their jobs, however, is not the answer. Burn-out is not about the job, but about unrealistic expectations for what the job can offer, or what they can offer to the job. For example, people who work in hospice sometimes burn-out. The reasons go beyond their watching people die (although that can be a factor); instead, they often feel they are not providing enough comfort to these people–that they aren’t doing enough. That they have no power to change their patients’ circumstances. They feel helpless.
I know my TFS comes from my frustration at watching Trump exaggerate, attack others, write outrageous tweets. I know he likely will not stop. But I know a part of me wishes he would. Nothing I do—nothing those other suburban women do—will change those behaviors. But I think we’re feeling tired of it.
For the record, I think I’m a pretty tough woman—not soldier quality, but realistic and resilient. But I’m tired of making excuses for Trump. I’m tired of trotting out all the many good things he’s done to compensate for his poor behavior. I know there’s a good man under the hyperbole and bluster, and even a reasonable man—I saw that man in his interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. I want to see more of that man. But I’m not optimistic. And I’m worried about whether those other suburban women will stick it out.
As a side note, I discussed this topic with my husband. He reminded me that a lot of Trump’s comments were intended to attack the swamp: the politicians, the media and any other related groups. Many of his supporters (including me to some degree) think they’ve deserved it. But in reflecting on the last several months, I wonder to what degree his ranting (following his election) has made any difference, except to put people on notice. Has it helped him attain any of his goals, as he suggests it has? Would he have accomplished as much without the negative rhetoric? My husband suggests that at this point, even if he wanted to change, his ranting and tweets are just bad habits. (After all, he’s in his 70s.) But then I asked, doesn’t he want to be re-elected? And my husband responded, “Does he?” This comment made me stop and think.
So I’m tired. Do you have any suggestions for me to realize a cure for what ails me? Is there a way to reach suburban women without a major change from Trump? I think there may be more than my feelings at stake.
Published in Politics
I love it, @jimmcconnell! Much wisdom and a smart perspective. Thanks!
Then don’t make excuses or trot out the list of good things. No one is asking for that. If you don’t like something then you’re not obligated to defend it. However, you’re not obligated to attack it either; I’d argue a bit more strongly that you might have some obligation to refrain from attack if the tradeoff is even more disastrous.
I’ve speculated before that he will not run a second time. I won’t pretend to any kind of certainty, but it’s definitely a possibility.
My gosh, @edg, your comment is chock full of wisdom! Excellent! I’m getting so much perspective from everyone and I’m loving it. This is what Ricochet is all about for me!
I know he was having a real adjustment at the beginning, saying the job was very hard. And he seems to be doing better (in many ways). But I can’t help wondering if there’s a small part of him saying, well, I’d like to win, but I want to do it my way and hey, if it doesn’t work, that’s the way it goes . . . but then, maybe not . . .
Then please start writing the positive he has accomplished. Did you note that Gov Moonbeam of CA actually stated this morning that President Trump was correct about the fires, not global warming, not the new normal, but indeed, bad management of the forest.
No, because the answer is that suburban women have been repelled by the Republicans for something like twenty years already and it’s only gotten worse. Think of all the major cities with their once-solid collar county and suburban Republican strongholds. Were those Republican strongholds so strong even in the 90’s? Certainly not since then. Since then, places like Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, etc have become more blue or all blue. That was happening long before President Trump. Why? I don’t know exactly, but I suspect that the Dem strategy of making Republicans and conservatives the equivalent of Puritan Nazis has had effect. In my area, Chicago, there is simply a default baseline of disgust at Republicans even when the people expressing such disgust would likely be solid Republicans if it were only based on policy and principle.
Well, it depends on who is quoting him, doesn’t it? We really do need to do something about our dishonest news media in this country. But I don’t know what.
100 LIKES!!!!!!!!!! We can always count on you, @misthiocracy, for the perfect message!
So stop watching so closely. Hell, put any of us under a microscope and none of us are likely to come out favorably. Take a broader view instead of the 24 news cycle view.
However, if the left keeps making “white women” their new bogey
menpersons, they could end up driving women into the arms of the Republicans. Let’s hope Republicans don’t respond the way they did to the blue-collar Tea Party movement.I did see it, but it wasn’t good enough for you not to write a long critic.
Decorum….. I think it’s a myth. Was it decorum when the press incessantly harangued Reagan about being a dunce, a cowboy, a madman? What about when Bush refused to counter any haranguing out of decorum yet was still referred to as a chimp and as Bushitler? Was it decorum when Dem presidents were getting bj’s and other tawdry things in the White House? (sorry for the shocking language there). Was it decorum when the press started the fake witch hunts big and small against Trump while ignoring the legitimate questions about Hillary, Obama, and the Dems? No, there is no such thing as decorum – only capitulation to the left’s narrative and worldview. Yes, it sucks that the battle is never ending, but that isn’t our fault and it isn’t Trump’s fault either. What’s the alternative? To go back to sleep in the Matrix? Take the blue pill instead of the red?
Yes, Happy Birthday! God bless you on your birthday and best wishes for a great year.
Hey, speak for yourself! ;-)
That’s unfortunate, since I write what I believe, just as you do. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.
I get tired too sometimes. I’m going to stick with the man but what’s more worrisome, I’m seeing people who are getting tired and may not, or have already decided not to. Our elections are increasingly run on thin margins so every vote counts. Trump won in 2016 because of the decisions of 80,000 voters out of a total of 130 million.
Trump (and we) have benefited in that his worst enemies are progressives and they’ve been so over the top they usually sound insane. Their reaction to his election has led him in a more conservative direction which is all to the good.
But Trump’s second worst enemy is himself. It’s great to have a president who fights back, but he fights on everything big, small, important, unimportant. Sometimes that’s a good thing (Fake News, for instance), sometimes it’s bad (he recently decided for some reason to take on the guy in charge of the SEAL mission to kill Bin Laden). Part of it is his nature, part of it from his experience in reality TV where you always need to do something to keep the audience’s attention.
It is tiring defending him when it is his indiscipline and verbal mush that often gets him into trouble. Take Charlottesville for example – the reporting and excerpts from his press conference gave a misleading impression, something I only realized after wading through the entire transcript and deciphering what he was trying to say amidst his linguistic chaos. So, I can defend him but it’s like trying to explain a translation from a foreign language. And, please, don’t let him anywhere near Putin again. He sounds like a starstruck teenage girl when he’s around Vlad.
It is also tiring because I know that while I agree with much of the substance of what he has done, I know it is not based on any long standing principles (other than trade – I remember him in the 80s predicting Japan would crush us). For now, circumstances, his instincts, and progressive craziness have led to an alignment between his actions and my views. But there are no long-term guarantees that alignment will last for the next 2 or 6 years. And who knows when he might run completely off the rails?
Thank you. That hits the spot!
Seriously, though, I’d also follow up to say that rational discourse with those amenable (all too few actually are amenable) is more effective than invective. Agree where there is agreement, shine light where there is darkness (of ignorance), and avoid the people who won’t change and the people who can only hate.
I’d have to write the length of another OP to adequately address all these thoughtful remarks, @gumbymark. A very fine analysis that fills in the holes in mine. Thanks.
I’ve found my opinions have changed on a number of occasions because of folks with well-reasoned arguments. I sometimes disagree, but I try not to be unkind. With change comes growth, maturity and wisdom. Can’t get much better than that! I hope I have plenty of time to keep working at it!
Except that in those cases it’s not his indiscipline and verbal mush that got him into trouble. It was the misleading and outright fake reporting which got him into trouble. Indiscipline and verbal mush should have lead to clarifying questions, but instead we got a high tech lynching.
And was he really in any kind of trouble anyway? With who? How? It’s all manufactured, and it isn’t Trump doing it. Trump has used it. What’s the alternative? The alternative is whatever narrative they want it to be instead of at least having to go to the trouble of actually torpedoing Trump and appearing insane themselves.
You do realize that your fatigue is exactly why the left keeps this up? They want to demoralize and alienate Trump’s support.
I know, it ends up sounding like ‘If only Trump had more decorum, was less abrasive, never said such provocative things, then the world would be a nicer place to live in’. But of course, the pragmatic result of that is what we saw for the last 20 or so years. The left attacks, the right politely ignores the attacks, and the lie goes around the world 10 times before the truth gets it’s boots on.
Trump is fighting. It’s an ugly fight, and nobody involved will come out unscathed. But in the end, it is either fight or lose. For too long, we have said that we aren’t willing to do what it takes to win. Trump is the change to that attitude.
So, as hard as it is to swallow, it isn’t nearly as unpalatable as the alternative… Hillary, Pelosi, Schumer, and Watters.
This is a fight for the soul and culture of this nation. It will get uglier before it gets better. The left has no problem keeping it up. Do we have the stomach for it?
The nastiness sure energizes them; it’s pretty ugly. I hope I have the stomach for it. Or maybe even if they’re willing to keep it up, they’ll implode. I can hope, @phenry.
But as you note, you had to wade through reporting and excerpts to find the truth. The same is true with Putin. The press plays up any time the President pays Russia a compliment, but they seem to avoid mentioning the number of times the President has had some very tough words for Russia. Now, why wouldn’t they report that? Because their narrative is that Trump is Putin’s puppet, and they can’t tell the truth — that Trump is far harder on Russia than Obama was or Hillary would have been.
So what you need to do — what everyone needs to do — is check out the sources themselves. The press reports that the President said some awful thing? Look it up yourself. Was it really that awful? Or was that just press spin?
I, too, found that I really had to be my own fact-checker, because the press is totally insane in their hatred for the President.
We all must separate what the President actually says and does from what the press, Democrats and the TDS-afflicted say about him. It requires work, but the only other option is to let yourself be brainwashed.
Trump is not the problem here. He took the time and made the sacrifice to show us what the problems are. We can take it or leave it. It’s clear where the country goes if his efforts are in vain. I see little in the progressive Left that will defend the essence of what this country stood for at the founding, that is, individual liberty. That means choice, not mandates. The GOPe goes along to get along, not very special for anything. We’ll see if Trump’s sacrifices pay dividends or not.
There is no possible way he can help himself. Even if he became as corrupt as the media, they would still hold it against him that he once despised them. Just like Stalin, who eventually got rid of all who had once opposed him, or who might pose a danger of opposing him again, or who need to be served up as examples to encourage the others. He is already on the list and he can’t get off of it.
Melodrama much? This all isn’t about anything higher or nobler. It is just defending a disgusting politician for political expediancy. It’s the Clinton years all over again but with less economic growth and fewer Republican policies being implemented.
There is a third option: ignore the daily back and forth and concentrate on the broad substance. I’ve been somewhere in between your suggestion to be my own fact checker and my third way of ignoring the unnecessary detail.