Trump’s second term foreign relations has been… rough. Nothing indefensible, but if we’re going to criticize Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, we can probably squint and see the parallels to Trump’s…. whatever this is…. with Iran. Even if you want to make the argument that the base action was good, the lack of planning is evident.
His economy has also been rough, and he’s picking fights with everyone. It’s not good enough to look to other nations and point out that they’re doing worse either… Trade is not a zero-sum game, theoretically, people are unloading stuff they have too much of and getting stuff they have too little of. His tariff policy has extracted $300 billion dollars from the American economy, and how much better off do you all feel for it?
I think Trump-supporters are willing to overlook not just the small shit, but the massive, systemic problems in Trump’s administration, because you like some of the other things that he’s doing, some of the things politicians have been saying for years that they were going to do, but didn’t. Trump legitimately worked a miracle at your border, as an example, and that’s great, I just don’t understand the…. cultish loyalty to him. You could theoretically have the good stuff without the bad, they aren’t mutually dependent. More… He’s done. Regardless of what happens during the midterm, Trump’s presidency has an expiration date, and how much you love him now isn’t going to matter in 2028, because he will not be on the ticket. If you can’t even signal what you think are excesses to someone who will never run another campaign in their life, what’s the point? You’re just signaling that your party can take your support for granted.
Ethics Alarms 
I just don’t understand the…. cultish loyalty to him.
In the U.S. it’s: Choose one from Column A or one from Column B. No substitutions. At his worst, who’d a person rather have for four years, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Joe Biden or Donald Trump? Kamala Harris or Donald Trump? Simply not having a Democrat administration is manna from heaven and worth celebrating every day.
You could theoretically have the good stuff without the bad.
Not really. With Trump, what you get is what you get.
Oh, I agree. The same orneriness that makes him do stupid stuff is what allows him to be so defiant and bold. I remember everyone was telling me that Trump was insane to get the GOP to block the Biden “illegal immigration fix” that basically locked in regular border-jumpers, because nothing more restrictive was possible.
Very reasonable assessment but I question the statement that the Iranian issue is a result of lack of planning. Plans are a function of the quality of intelligence and the analysis undertaken. Furthermore, we cannot assess at this point if the actions taken this year against Iran will prevent a future nuclear attack on Israel or whether the world will be held hostage by Iran’s belligerency over the Strait of Hormuz.
As for his tariff ploy what something costs while not discussing what what gains occurred can be applied to every policy decision made by every president to render every decision incorrect. Do we know that the anti-poverty programs such as Head Start or SNAP are providing a net positive social benefit? Can we argue public education is valuable when more and more students cannot read or process information as well as children from many years ago who lacked the technologies each child today is provided.
Nonetheless, I can agree that if every decision is condemned then those of us that support the really serious issues like nuclear proliferation by Muslim fanatics, obscene increases in the debt spent on programs and services that cannot prove a positive return on investment and continuing subsidies to health insurance firms to create the fiction that they hard helping reduce household costs will ignore the narcissistic behaviors such as putting his name on things.
This support is not some cultish allegiance to Trump it is a reasonable reaction to the cultish behavior of the left which demands its followers to resist violently if necessary all policies of the administration.
The allegation of “cultish behavior” brings two expressions to mind. One, “beggars can’t be choosers.” Two, “He may be an asshole, but he’s our asshole.”
YB. I find the accusation that MAGA supporters are exhibiting cultish behavior nothing more than propaganda designed to maintain allegiance to their progressive ideals Failure to obey the commandment that anything Trump does is wrong, lawless or just plain contemptible is deserving of being ostracized from the true believers. Because progressives are fundamentally collectivists any penalty that threatens their good standing in the group must be avoided no matter what the cost. We term this TDS.