January 30, 2025

Three of President Donald Trump’s promises

 

            Somewhere among my shelves of books is a New York Times best-seller, circa 1987. I helped to make it popular by being one in the masses who purchased the 372 pages about a Big Apple real-estate phenom, Donald J. Trump.

            The Art of the Deal catapulted Trump into the national spotlight and helped to make the enterprising entrepreneur a household name. You know the rest of the story. And we are learning more every day, as he is wasting no time plowing into his second term behind the big desk in the Oval Office.

            Let’s pause and go back nine years.

            In 1976, one of the most popular TV commercials was “You asked for it; you got it—Toyota.” (The featured Toyota Corolla listed for $2,789.)

            Last November’s election results are a first-cousin flashback to that commercial. “You asked for it; you got it—Trump.”

            “The Donald” (as he was first known) and I were born into different worlds—two years apart. He came out of his mother’s womb clutching a silver spoon. My mother clutched my sister and me, as we bounced to church in the funeral home’s gravedigging truck that belonged to Big Dink’s boss.

But I wouldn’t change a thing, and I definitely wouldn’t switch places with Donald J. Trump in 2025.


In President Trump’s inaugural address he said that he was saved from a would-be assassin’s bullet for a reason. I quote from his transcript, “I was saved by God to make America great again.”  I am grateful the man behind that Pennsylvania rifle was a lousy shot. Violence has no place in America, including what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol, outside and inside.

There’s something else—besides Trump’s 78 years of gilded life —that is different between us. It’s his leadership style. One of my beloved mentors was Dr. J.W. Fanning, co-founder of Leadership Georgia, who introduced me to the philosophy of Gen. George Marshall.

The World War II hero described a leader as a person who exerts an influence that makes you want to do better than you thought you could. President Trump’s autocratic, proverbial bull-in-a-china-shop approach doesn’t do that for me.

But evidence so far—whether you like it or not—demonstrates that President Trump is determined to keep his campaign commitments. Here are three of those promises that I hope won’t be forgotten in his frantic scramble to shake up Washington and the world:

§  On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump declared in his inaugural address that there would be a “revolution of common sense.” He added, “It’s all about common sense.” I am an advocate for common sense, too, but our definitions may differ.

§  President Trump promised that America would have the cleanest, safest water and air on the planet. I would say to that, “Yes!” Among the liberties sacred to Americans should be the assurance that the air that they breathe and the water that they drink will cause no harm. Whether you are rich or poor, those two are absolute necessities for a “great” America.

                    We cannot afford to let the MAGA slogan morph into “Make America Greedy                     Again,” as in allowing polluters to put profits ahead of responsible stewardship of                     our natural resources. During President Trump’s first administration, he installed                     foxes in our nation’s environmental henhouse. I believe common sense would                     suggest, “Let’s not do that again.”

§  President Trump promised to restore free speech in America. I thought we had that freedom since the ratification of the Constitution’s First Amendment on Dec. 15, 1791.  But, if our 47th president wants to champion that right, common sense suggests we shout, “Hallelujah!”

I respect Donald J. Trump’s right to his own opinions.

And I hope that he respects my First Amendment rights, too.


 

 

 

 

 

 

dnesmith@cninewspapers.com