Base Trust on Workable Policies, not Hollow Promises

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By Yu-Long Ling

Professor Yu-Long Ling, a Franklin resident, is an expert in foreign policy

Many Americans are interested to know why Donald Trump, a successful businessman without any public service experience, has become the front-runner in the Republican Presidential race?

In the past, a Presidential candidate usually has rich experience in political area and had otherwise held some political position.  This new phenomena has raised this question in many Americans’ minds.  Some people feel that name recognition is the answer  –  Mr. Trump is a very successful businessman, a billionaire and also the star of a popular reality show.  To many people, being rich represents success and in turn a good decision-maker, leader.

Others think that he has followed a good strategy – challenging the status quo (the establishment).  Because of the slowdown in the American economy, the rising powers in China, India and other countries, many Americans are feed up with our leaders in Executive and Legislative branches.   Mr. Trump openly calls our leaders “stupid” and not “cunning” enough to compete with leaders of other countries.

The dissatisfaction created by America’s decline has made many people welcome Mr.  Trump’s slogan – “Make America Great Again.” The final reason for Mr. Trump’s early success is the lack of other strong Republican presidential candidates at this time.  In all honestly, the fact remains that many voters do not like Mr. Trump personally, but like the others even less.

The purpose of this column is to explain why the early success of Mr. Trump’s personality and strategies will ultimately make him a loser in his bid for the presidential election.

Yes, it is true that many voters are disappointed with the current condition and frustrated with our leaders. So, some of those voters believe the rosy picture prescribed by Mr. Trump. He asks voters to trust him. Trust should be based on workable policies, not based on promise alone. We have to understand that we live in a political system which everyone can promise, but no one alone can deliver.

The Founding Fathers did not want a leader who controls all power in his or her hands. So, we have a separation of powers system to prevent all powerful leaders to rule this country. By using checks and balances, we have a system that limits the power of the government.

Mr. Trump does not seem understand our constitutional arrangement by saying that trust me, I will bring you to the promise land again.  Smart voters will question the blind trust.

Mr. Trump keeps telling us that our leaders are stupid and not cunning like leaders in other countries.  He has also told us how he would handle the terrorists (such as ISIS). To use his own words, “I will knock the hell out them.  I will take the oil for our country.”

While these kinds of statements will get many voters excited, it clearly demonstrates that Mr. Trump does not understand foreign policy issues. We are living in the 21st century.  No country can use war to occupy other counties and property.  Even though international law is weak, it governs international relations.

As we all know, Mr. Trump is a successful businessman.  Profit (winning) is his goal.  From what we have heard from Mr. Trump, it is pretty clear that he is a man who believes that the ends justifies the means.  Given a good end, all necessary means may be used to attain it.  In the first debate, he shamelessly admitted that he declared bankruptcy three times, and told the whole world that he took advantage of the law.

He also freely admits that he uses his money to “gain” influence. His actions show the world that he is willing to do anything to gain profit or achieve his goal. He certainly does not understand that there are ethical limits beyond which we should not go. We believe that certain acts are intrinsically wrong regardless of the end.

Because of this, it is clear that he does not understand what has historically made this country great – not only the physical power, but the values that we honor and practice (doing what is right).  Mr. Trump clearly wants to depart from our value system by saying that it is a waste of time to be politically correct.  This worries me a lot and should worry you too!

Mr. Trump seems to have taken notes from one of the most controversial thinkers, Niccolo  Machiavelli.  Mr. Trump thinks a good ruler should be cunning like a fox and strong like a lion. So far, all we have seen is the lion mentality and have yet to see the fox mentality.  If anything, this will be an interesting show.  Let’s enjoy the ride and see how it ends.