MY TURN: Battle of the Strong Men

I am hearing more and more about how important it is to have a strong leader, a strong man, who can protect us. In fact, the term “strong man” being is often idealized. 

This idea makes me think of my father. When I was in my early youth, my dad was a strong man to me. He had no negatives in my naive youth. As I got older, I started to see that perhaps he wasn’t perfect, there were chinks in his armor. But, my love and trust for him never wavered. Later, I learned how his self-interest threatened our beautiful family unit. I never ceased loving him, just came to realize his humanness. 

Over its history, the United States has been fortunate to have many strong leaders who worked toward the best interests of our country. The obvious leaders have been Washington, insisting on only two terms in office so this country would not become another monarchy; Lincoln, who guided us through the Civil War; Reagan’s call to Mr. Gorbachev to bring down the Berlin Wall; Kennedy’s vision of landing on the moon. These and many others were great leaders and great men. 

But being a great leader is not what is meant by being a strong man as used in the first paragraph of this writing. With regard to my beloved country, I am wondering what a strong man would do to the U.S.? What is currently meant by strong man? 

A political movement that made sense to many people has spawned into a dangerous scenario. A businessman and TV personality became a president; he had never held a political office. He challenged our political conventions, our heroes, our institutions, our laws, our common sense. In reality, most every faction of the United States were mocked, all in the guise of Making America Great Again. 

Political norms that sustained the America over the last two centuries are now questioned. Former President Trump’s lack of political understanding, his preconceived views of his world and his personal biases regarding success created a chaotic atmosphere in his presidency and in the Republican Party. 

Is America “Great Again?” In my mind, the United States has been great for over 200 years. I am aware of what the presidents and politicians in the United States have done in the past that could be construed as egregious to the overall good spirit of the U.S. And yes, even the great leaders mentioned above had chinks in their armor. 

As Uyless Black’s wife, I read all he writes. His latest published book, "Fractured, Volumes One and Two," has brought to the forefront of my mind how egregious some actions the U.S. perpetrated have been. That notwithstanding, I believe the actions of our prior presidents were done in the best interests of this country and its people, not in the president’s best interests. 

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican candidate, the uncontested strong man of the party. I have come to realize his political influence over the whole Republican leadership is to the detriment of the current government’s ability to run our country, a dangerous chink in his armor. 

There are other examples of chinks in Trump's armor. His insistence that he won the 2020 election, even though efforts to prove it never won a legal challenge. The Jan. 6 Capitol riots were handled horribly. His handling of his many civil and criminal indictments. Mr. Trump’s self-interest, priorities, need for money, power and prestige are threatening to ruin this beautiful country. 

In today’s language, there is the Political Strong Man scenario, an autocrat or dictator, the sole ruler of the nation-state. Examples are Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Nouth Korea’s Kim Jong Un. 

Recently, there are countries democratically electing a strong man. These strong men have been legally co-opting their countries’ laws to enhance their own positions, which are now turning their countries into autocracies. Examples are Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungary’s Viktor Orban. It is with great concern that I now hear segments of our society speak to the necessity of the United States needing a strong man, making reference to Erdogan and Orban. 

I have never heard former President Trump speak against any of these strong men, a chink. In fact, he usually praises them for their strength while denigrating leaders of our allies countries’, a chink. Trump has a desire to disengage from U.S. alliances and treaties including NATO, a chink. Trump has suggested the United States needs a strong man and he believes he is that man, a worrying chink. I have heard the Republican Party’s elected officials ask, “What is wrong with having a strong man lead us?” A Republican Party chink. There are so many chinks that Donald Trump has proven to have been a weak former president. Weak in that he was interested in his own ego satisfaction and personal goals rather than the interests of the United States. 

My father’s self-interest led to a divorce and great hurt in our family. Mother moved on to a wonderful marriage and happiness. We five children also grew to lead successful and productive lives. We reconciled with Dad. We love and appreciated him, knowing he had not meant to hurt us. 

But, what of Donald Trump’s self-interest to the United States? Can the U.S. succeed if a strong man wannabe is elected? Do we fully understand Donald Trump’s goals to use Project 2025’s support to get back to the Oval Office? This is an organization that plans to reorganize the whole U.S. political system including dismantling DOJ, FBI, military, National Guard, etc. I suggest you look up Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise. To me, it is scary. Their stated goal is to put the right people in their proper places and that means Donald Trump as president. 

Donald Trump has proven by his actions that his goals are for himself and are not tied to the Constitution of the United States. He has said that the Constitution might need to be suspended, even rewritten, a disastrous chink. He has said that he may need to be dictator on day one of his presidency, a frightening chink. His legal issues are such that the easiest way for him to succeed against them is to be re-elected as president and not have to go to trial. And the best way to hold those legal issues at bay is to be sure that he stays in office … forever? He sees how that is being done in Turkey and Hungary. 

I really like the way America has operated the first 200+ years of its existence. The genius of the Constitution and Bill of Rights has moved this fledgling non-entity to the greatest democracy in the world. Why would we change that? 

Anyway, I have come to believe the United States cannot survive the self-interests of Donald Trump. I have also come to believe he is putting in place the devices necessary for his personal interests to succeed. 

As a registered Republican, I have followed and supported Mr. Trump. His aura, charm, charisma, grand theater and even his outrageous words can be spell-binding. But, gradually, the chinks have added up. I now have to say, as Annette Benning said to Michael Douglas in "An American President," “Mr. President, you have lost my vote.”

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Holly Waters is a Kootenai County resident.