It is no surprise that I am not a fan of our POTUS. Now, he is receiving accolades for his participation in the Gaza cease fire. I’m listening to him speak with his cabinet and a press corp, while he lauds himself in every other sentence. 

I feel so torn and anxious with my personal reaction to his public optics. Of course I want peace in the Middle East, but I wonder to what end the process is in place. Is it enough for our POTUS to compliment himself publicly for current events? I have a real hard time with that.

In democracy there is always disagreement with one party to the next. The idea of bipartisanship is always a goal, but politically has seldom been the case in our society, more decidedly in recent terms of office. 

People react to leadership. There is a lot of argument that suggests despite your own political leanings, we must still respect the office of the presidency. So in other words, if I don’t agree with something, I generally am dissuaded from using dangerous rhetoric to articulate my disagreement. What happens then when that potentially volatile rhetoric comes directly from the President of the United States? I understand opinion, and I respect a person’s ability to not agree. What I do not understand or accept is our current President’s words as they shape and discredit the society around him, while spending ample time complimenting himself. I find it difficult to follow his lead when every other sentence is meant to insult any entity surrounding him. I remember thinking Kamala Harris lost her election due to her constant barrage on the POTUS’s credibility. She didn’t focus on the issues at all which left voters choosing an easy out rather than challenging their choice The substitution was far too little, too late.

I think the nervous part for me is not necessarily that I cannot agree with his leadership, it is his and his alone dangerous manner of presentation I’ve already spoken to. His words don’t simply welcome a contingent of our society. It gives allowance to that contingent to forget what it means to be kind as voters in our country. I don’t even want to begin to discuss ‘woke’ for all of its infallible content. I do want our society to respect one another in a manner that gains growth rather than learning or being given permission to hate and disagree with one another. That in itself creates the violent conflict in our country today, including Chicago and Portland. Excuse my disdain with sending troops into our cities. That’s a discussion meant for another time.

We were taught to be kind as kids growing up and not be a bully. We were cautioned and punished for openly trying to discredit one another without any acknowledgment of personal opinion or evidence. We need that kindness to return, and that can only happen when our leadership practices a similar philosophy.