No, of course not.
Seriously, you have got to stop watching only action adventure movies. Well, sure, they’re the best but Man does not live by shoot ’em ups alone. Need some more fiber in that diet.
No, you’re not going on a documentary diet. What kind of a fiend do you take me for?
But we do need to round out your media diet so that you stop expecting that one hero will save the world. At least pay better attention – no hero wins the day without a great sidekick and a sassy gal.
Okay, okay, I’ll stop. For now.
But it does illustrate a serious point. We have gotten so used to the idea of a single person making all the difference that we have lost sight of just how many people it takes to back up that single person. About 77 million voted for Trump in the 2024 election, giving him both the win and a mandate. He’d still be fighting frivolous lawsuits in hostile jurisdictions if not for all those people.
He also wouldn’t have gotten his nominees. Parts of his own party in the Senate are still hostile to Trump. I guarantee a lot of that hostility got tossed once calls and emails started coming in from constituents wanting their senators to support Trump’s nominees. Elected officials can only push their limits so far and ticking off voters by not supporting your own party’s president is way past most limits.
Now, don’t think that Trump doesn’t deserve credit for all he’s doing. He certainly does. That Executive Order blitz was genius. Straight shooting with both Canada and Mexico was perfect – people who actually say what they mean are scary to most politicians used to doublespeak. So far, Trump has played a perfect round.
But no one scores an 18 in golf or bats 1000 in life. People only come in Size Human. They all make mistakes and Trump is as human as the rest of us. He’s going to fumble. He’s going to miss a basket.
I’m going to quit mixing sports analogies eventually, too.
The point is that when Trump does make a misstep, his political enemies will pounce. If we want Trump to succeed and, more importantly, to improve our country, We the People have to step up to the plate. Hitting a double is cool but it doesn’t score until it’s batted in. We’re the heavy hitters. We the People are the one force no political party or congress can ignore.
In other words, if we expect Trump to do all the batting himself, we’ll lose. But if those of us who agree with his policies take the bat, we can keep knocking in grand slams.
Okay, no sports analogy. No president is successful without public support. A president doesn’t have to have everyone supporting him but he does have to have enough people that not only say they agree but will email their representatives and even vote them out. Those idiots on Capital Hill couldn’t care less what Trump wants. But they absolutely care about what their constituents want. Trump does have some power and knows how to use it, but constituents are the only ones that can keep a congressman in office or boot him to the curb.
And every single one of them knows it.
NOW is the time. Congress is a lot like a mischievous horse; it’ll get away with as much as it can when you’re not looking. Right now, that horse is on its best behavior because it knows everyone is watching. For the next few months only having a tiny majority in the House won’t matter. No representative wants to upset the voters at home but especially not the Democrats that only barely kept or got their seats. They cannot afford to tick off constituents, not even those who voted for the other guy.
If you want Trump to succeed, help keep the pressure on. Keep up with the news on issues important to you – right now, as fast as Trump is moving, you’ll have your hands full with just that! – and make sure your representatives know how you want them to vote on those issues. A simple email or social media post to their page will do nicely.
Make sure that dad blasted horse knows you’re watching it!
Yes, the process works both ways which is a feature, not a bug, but how many of the three of you that follow this blog are Democrats? Really? You are? What part of the Democrat platform do you agree with? Nothing? Um, next week remind me to explain what an identifier is and why you aren’t a Democrat after all.
Seriously, the system is designed to let both sides have a say. If Democrats take a page from the playbook, that’s fine. It’s not a Republican playbook; it’s the American playbook. Anyone can play.
Whichever way you’re trying to get that congressional nag to move, make sure it knows you’re not only watching, but you know where the spurs are and how to use them.
For the next few months, those of us who support the President have a golden opportunity to influence Congress. Congress, like that stupid horse, gets cantankerous and unresponsive at times, but right now, it’s the most responsive it’s been in twenty years. We usually have to kick the daylights out of it to get it moving; right now, just a light touch and that horse will fly.
As long as it knows we’re watching.