Trump needs to act presidential
Dear Donald, I know I’ve said some mighty terrible things about you over these past 18 months.
Believe me, I meant every one of them!
You deserved them.
But since you’ll be handed the reins of the presidency in 68 short days (for those of us who didn’t support you), or 97,920 long minutes (for those Americans who did) – it’s time to say something nice about you.
When I figure out what that is, I’ll get back to you.
For now, Donald, or should I say President-elect Donald, I’d like to take the time to ask you what the heck are you gonna do?
You’ve ridden to victory, using the thrust of an electorate that’s split smack dab down the middle.
If you happen to believe that you can sharply move the country in a direction that angers half of the country, beware! More people voted against you than those who voted for you.
We all know that the grind of a hotly contested presidential campaign can cause the participants to shoot from the hip. Serious governance demands much, much more.
You’re in the hot seat now President-elect Donald.
That Twitter nonsense isn’t going to fly when the American people are looking for serious answers to complex problems.
True, you’ll have a Republican dominated U.S. Senate and the U.S. House at your disposal when you prance into that Oval Office.
But you’ve managed to tick-off half of the members of your own party.
I’m not sure you’re quite capable of it, but you’re probably going to need to do a little fence mending.
This I gotta see.
While we’re discussing fences, President-elect Donald, what about that wall?
Half of this country sees no need to undergo the enormous expense of building a border wall.
You’ll have to convince that half of the country that it won’t be expensive, and that Mexico will, magically, pay for it, since hardly anybody ever believed you were serious about that in the first place.
Are you still willing to employ the power of your presidency to extract certain people from the country, and to restrict people from certain religions from gaining entrance to it?
Checkout the U.S. Constitution first.
You’d better tread a little lightly when you decide to dismantle Obamacare.
I’ve been told that lots of people like having health insurance.
Can I offer you a little advice, Mr. President-elect?
Lose that darned teleprompter.
I know how it helps you appear to be sane at times, but you’re just not that good reading from it.
Try this. When you give your first State of the Union address, just wing it.
You say you know all of the “best words,” so, you shouldn’t have a problem entertaining, er, making us all feel “Great Again.”
President-elect Donald, you’ve bragged that as soon as you get elected, America would soon get tired to “winning.”
I’m here to report, I haven’t won anything yet.
When will it be my turn?
Do I have to wait until you raise your right hand, and somebody asks you to, “repeat after me,” before that winning feeling hits me?
Speaking of hitting things, when do you think you’ll get rid of ISIS? Those folks are getting on my nerves.
You’ve promised that you’d bomb them into the stone age when you take office, so I know it won’t take long. (Unless calmer, more reasoned heads prevail)
On a more serious note, there was some talk about you becoming a little less, how can I say this, divisive, when the election ends.
Do you think you’ll be able to glue our country back together?
I know it’ll be tough. You caused lots of bruised feelings from coast-to-coast.
But it probably won’t be nearly as tough as leaving Trump Tower, and moving into that little fixer-upper down there on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Well, I’ve taken up enough of your time President-elect Donald, so I’ll just leave you a piece of my mind.
You are about to become the President of the entire United States – so grow up!
Sincerely, Al.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net