Everybody loves a good scandal. The media loves covering it. The public loves the validation a scandal gives to their belief in the wickedness of their leaders. And politicians on both sides of the aisle use scandal as leverage to pork up legislation with what benefits them and their constituencies.
The problem with the many Trump scandals is that there’s a lot of smoke but very little fire. And Congress is stuck staring at its own navel while potentially great tax reform and economic revitalization legislation languish in committee, never getting to the floor for a vote.
At press time (mid-July 2017) the media can’t seem to depart from the non-story that is the Russians and Trump.
Trump Jr. apparently met with somebody that had some dirt on Mrs. Clinton. For crying out loud! Who didn’t have some dirt on the Clintons? The smoke comes from the fact that these were Russians that had the dirt, and the Russians are back to being the boogiemen they used to be… at least for a generation or two.
Meanwhile back in the real world of true economic and legislative leadership, the visionary tax cut agenda put forward by candidate Trump is stalled with votes likely not coming until fall and some saying not coming until 2018 at the earliest. With this delay, it becomes much clearer why the markets have been getting a little jittery lately. Since November, the markets had priced in much of the expected benefits to business, wages and profits that the pro-growth, deregulatory, America First agenda candidate Trump not only proposed but what President Trump has attempted to pursue. That initial pursuit and focus led to a $3 trillion rise in stock values and an incredible upwelling in business and consumer confidence. Now, since the only thing anyone inside the Beltway can seem to talk about is Trump and the Russians that confidence has begun to waiver.
Respectfully, Mr. President, you need to tone down the “fake news” blame game and ramp up the Reagan style leadership you have shown in the past. Your tweets and lack of disciplined and focused goal-oriented communication keep giving the press opportunities to talk about what they want to talk about. It keeps their agenda relevant. If there’s one thing the press hates it’s being irrelevant. Make them irrelevant by your focus solely on YOUR agenda. Then the press will have to play your game. Your game is one you can win. And I believe winning your game will benefit the rest of the country as well.