A Few Thoughts on Nothing

I am, without doubt, a bit of a curmudgeon.  I am not a full-fledged  curmudgeon mind you, just a bit of one.  For example, I don’t believe I am always ill-tempered, or surly.  In fact, I generally keep my thoughts on my surroundings to myself, except when I write them down and push them in your direction.  Candidly, I find most things amusing, but generally in that cynical way that would upset the individuals if I always pointed them out.  I’ve learned through trial and error not to do that too often.

Today I am wondering, has it always been the case where we attribute every action, event, or circumstance that occurs within the country, or is done by the country, to the President of the United States?  I recall a scant few years ago the outrage of the partisan left over the right’s blaming the President for something, and now the roles are reversed the right is all fired up.  For example:  John Cho, an actor, tweeted out “It’s hard not to see the connection between the environment Trump has created and what happened on that @united flight.”  This was met with a number of derisive responses within the twitter confine of no more than 144 characters.  Among my favorites was “Trump is an incompetent dolt and can alter the behavior of private airline employees AT THE SAME TIME.”

Let’s talk, for just a minute, about the environment President Trump has created.  He surely used some bad words, and was not very flattering to other politicians as he campaigned, but stop and think for a just a moment, who has actually told people to go beat up others, who has actually taken to the streets to damage property and display their dislike for the reality of the election?  It sure is easy to blame the President, rather than admit to the failure of a political agenda that advanced the desires of a vocal minority over the general good.  So much for “Love Trumps Hate.”

Another line in the news these days, “Trump drops a MOAB.”  Some on the left are condemning this as abuse of power, while it has his supporters on the right – applauding.  Does no one stop and think of the fallacy of this statement.  With the logic of these headlines, we should rewrite history to “Truman Wins Second World War,” or "Lincoln frees the slaves!"  Oh wait, Lincoln actually did take an action in the form of an executive order to free the slaves.  He actually had a direct role, not just an implied one.
     The United States Armed Forces dropped this bomb, acting on the direction of the Unified Commander of the area, General Votel, who works directly for the Secretary of Defense, who works for the President.  By the way, General Votel was appointed to his position during the Obama administration.
     Accurately we can say the United States dropped this bomb, inaccurately we choose to say the President did it, as if he was aboard the aircraft.  The only time I know the President has flown on an MC-130 was when it saved President Ford, (Harrison Ford) from certain death in the movie Air Force One, and spared us from having Glenn Close as our President, although I am sure she would have been a good one.