TRUMPISM: EVALUATING “BOTH SIDES”

I typically travel by motor scooter. In New York City, however, since even before Congestion Pricing began, the right lane on major streets has been designated exclusively for buses. They move quickly there, as long as another vehicle isn’t stopped in front for whatever reason. In such instances, the bus quickly pulls into the general traffic lane, invariably slowing down the other vehicles traveling there — including me. Really annoying, right?

Recently, when taking the bus after not having taken one seemingly forever, I realized that bus traffic moves pretty quickly in the bus lane, except, yes, when another vehicle is stopped there. The bus then aggressively drifts into the adjacent left lane and quickly speeds up. I simply now look at the process with totally different eyes — the eyes of bus riders who too want to reach their destination quickly!

Why didn’t I appreciate the benefit of this lane-changing before? Simple — people perceive most things pretty much by how they affect them. Riding my own vehicle, I see it one way. As a bus rider, another. The limiting prism of one’s own myopia.

A silly story to introduce my point? Maybe. Still, perhaps, a microcosm of life. On both the important issues du jour and the seemingly mundane things (like getting to work) that get our blood racing, we typically explore them almost exclusively through our idiosyncratic thoughts that come to determine that our ox, not the other guy’s, is being gored.

So, let’s explore, more importantly, the critical issues at play in America today. Do we really concern ourselves with the critical aspects of DEI unless, perhaps, we somehow have skin in the game as minorities, women, members of the LGBTQ community, or supporters of these constituencies? Do we perceive the Middle East conflict entirely through the eyes of our own genealogy or, contrastingly, because our own race, ethnicity or something else somehow connects us to one side in the skirmish or the other?

Likewise, is law enforcement our enemy or friend? Do we assess Trumpism solely through the prism of how we are personally affected by what its leader seeks to impose on America — e.g., regarding race or gender issues, government shrinking, reduced tax rates for the wealthy, tariffs, social security, Medicaid?

Do we only see President Trump’s speech to Congress as offensive, but not the sophomoric reactions of some Democratic legislators? Or vice versa? How about judges? Do we only see them as upholders of justice or as politically motivated functionaries who favor the incumbent administration? Put differently, do we ever really consider “the other guy’s” viewpoint when we evaluate the critical rhythms of society?

Are our personal intolerances regarding how the world responds to us with such narrow-mindedness that we never really think beyond what uniquely affects us? Indeed, why do the members of the Senate vote in lockstep with their party’s leadership over virtually every presidential nominee (of both Presidents Biden and Trump) and every piece of legislation they respectively have proposed? As with us individually, do Democrat and Republican legislators really never find any merit in anything the other side advances?

So, the seeming insanity of so many things that President Trump has done and will do notwithstanding, should we disregard, for example, the reality that the current ceasefire in Gaza and partial hostage return was accomplished by him (but, significantly, not his predecessor)? Or that it was Trump who rushed Covid vaccines past regulatory red tape during his first administration?

All this said though, way too often, Trump and Trumpism radically propel us in a questionable direction that defeats our ability to fairly weigh what he has in mind. It’s, unfortunately, the nature of the beast that Trump is and will continue to be with us until his term ends — there are no recall votes for American presidents. We might wish to eliminate his troubling “bus lanes”, if you will, but we can’t afford to reflexively reject each lane without meaningful thought and consideration.

Yes, metaphorically, I hate it when the bus invades my lane when I’m driving my vehicle. Yet, a lot of people are simultaneously riding the bus. On this and most things of moment, we need to at least consider both sides (indeed, however incautiously and often offensively Trump pushes his agenda)!