This past Friday, President Trump made a pretty long and well-received speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at their annual meeting in National Harbor, MD. I'm sure you heard it; I did, and there was a lot of interesting content. President Trump is nothing if not a different kind of speaker.
But that was not what I noted for Friday, as far as his speaking.
On his way over from the White House to National Harbor, as he was leaving to head there to speak, there was a brief impromptu exchange with reporters. The content of their questions was mostly in regard to gun control, but it isn't so much the content that mattered.
It was that it happened at all, and how, and with what attitude. As brief as it was, there were a few questions when the press corps started calling out to the president and he stopped and replied. He did not look rushed, and he appeared to be wanting to give thoughtful answers, which I felt that he did.
It absolutely struck me at the time that this exchange seemed unusual, not for this president, who does it repeatedly but for presidents of many years. I can't recall Barack Obama, who promised to be His Royal Transparency, ever giving much unscheduled press time like that, and if he did, it ended up being a lecture. That's, of course, the typical liberal approach to questions; answering something other than was asked and going on for a long time. Hillary Clinton raised that non-answer to an art form.
Donald Trump appears to answer questions of reporters as president exactly as he would have while a civilian businessman. Here's the answer, here is "what", here is "why." If he only has two minutes, he'll hang out for three, to take another question. At this stage of his presidency, he appears to have something to say about most all of what he is asked.
So what is different?
Well, I tend to think that it has to do with the sincerity of the answers, that they tend to reflect the actual beliefs of the man. President Trump answers X, Y and Z because he believes that the solution to the problem is X, Y and Z. He is not being deceptive; his real motivation is not some hidden agenda of money or power, but to solve the problems he was elected to solve with the solutions he said he was going to use.
Democrat leaders, on the other hand, are in a different position. Their "solutions" don't work, since liberalism doesn't work anywhere (and certainly not here). So their thirst for power is for power's sake, not to solve the problems -- otherwise, they would have actually addressed immigration, gun control and the like when they had the power, more, in fact, than the Republicans have now with their thin Senate margin. Instead, they went after health insurance in a way that didn't solve the health insurance problem but simply added a lot more government.
President Trump appears only motivated to address and solve problems; he is already wealthy and powerful. As I wrote recently, he has the businessman's approach that says to do it better, cheaper, faster. He will feel successful as president if he can accomplish things for our country and our people, not if like thinkers are elected to office just for power's sake.
And so it seems comfortable now for him to take questions informally and unscheduled, because he can speak sincerely about the issues and solutions. Since he is interested in the issue more than just power, he is open to having those solutions changed if the argument is there.
The left cannot do that -- they can speak to the press but not really answer questions, although the press is typically their ally and the questions are softballs. They seek power, not solutions; more government and more tenure, not a better life for the people of the USA.
President Trump said a lot of good things at CPAC. But the few minutes before leaving the White House, chatting with reporters, said equally as much, if we chose to listen.
I did.
Copyright 2018 by Robert Sutton