I suspect many of us have become so accustomed to President Trump either casting aside or completely breaking the mold of past presidents that we are no longer surprised. We have routinely seen him do things in such a politically unconventional—but successful—way that I think we may not accept anything else from future American elected officials.
Trump is unorthodox but that’s an incomplete description of his governing style. He is simply a different animal. As the leader of the free world, he is generally unrestrained by tradition and precedent because he often considers them simply unnecessary or an obstruction. While he is highly pragmatic, he utterly rejects the typical lethargy and inertia of government and government leaders. He has a goal in mind and whether he needs to flatter or bulldoze to achieve it, he does.
What do I mean?
Numerous European world leaders, as well as Ukrainian President, Zelensky, spent time with Trump this past week immediately after his summit in Alaska with Russian President, Vladimir Putin. And, while I do not mean to mock those world leaders, when I saw photos of them sitting around Trump’s desk in the Oval Office to strategize ending the Russia-Ukraine War, I immediately thought that Trump looked like a schoolteacher lecturing his students. The visual symbolism was powerful enough but if it needed to be underscored it was by the praise of those same world leaders, every one of whom credited President Trump with the progress that has been made.
Finnish President, Alexander Stubb, (whose country shares a border with Russia and who, therefore, acutely depends upon a strong American president for his nation’s continued existence) stated that “I think in the past two weeks we’ve probably had more progress in ending this war than we have had in the past 3 1/2 years.” NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, also stated that “without President Trump this deadlock with Putin would not have been broken. He is the only one who could do this.” Putin, himself, has said that the Russia-Ukraine War would never have started in the first place if Trump had been president.
Let’s put this in perspective and review history: under President George W. Bush, Russia invaded Georgia; under President Barack Obama, Russia took Crimea; under President Joe Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine. However, Russia took no aggressive action in President Trump’s first term.
And, of course, none of this takes into account the historic Abraham Accords in the first Trump term, or, that Trump was the president (after numerous other U.S. presidents promised to do so) who formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directed the U.S. embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, or, the 7 global conflicts Trump has ended in the last 7 months.
But for the dishonesty of much of the so-called national media, Trump would be praised to high heaven—as any Democrat President would be. He should also receive any number of Nobel Peace prizes for his peace efforts worldwide. However, fortunately, the American people see through the dishonesty. This is why most Americans have simply lost trust in the national media.
This is what leadership looks like.
The world is a hard place and, the brutal dictators who rule much of it do respect President Trump, even if that respect is based upon military or economic fear. We saw George W. Bush tragically fumble on the Iraq War; we saw President Obama declare that if Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad, used the poison gas sarin on his own people, he would have “crossed a red line,” then did nothing when that occurred. And President Biden, when he was even coherent, projected weakness and indecision including his inexplicable and humiliating debacle in Afghanistan. (Even worse, during a press conference before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all the world saw Biden encourage the Russian invasion by indicating that ‘a small incursion’ into Ukraine would be acceptable.)
Again, Trump is what leadership looks like. The closest I have seen to Trump leadership in my lifetime is the original “peace through strength” president, President Reagan, who broke the Soviet Union in the Cold War and brought communism to its knees. In the same way, Trump has and is returning calm and peace to the world because he is fearless and decisive. Trump’s America First, ‘fight, fight, fight’ approach promotes world stability. We should continue to pray for his health and safety.
Royal Alexander
The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Red River Parish Journal.
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