Opinion: Time for Trump to grow up – Among other things, politics is a popularity contest


OKLAHOMA CITY – “The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.” – Sir Winston Churchill
With approval ratings in the thirties, President Trump learned that politics is just like eighth grade. It’s a popularity contest. The “cool kids” get it. They do what it takes to stay popular. They don’t alienate everyone. Then think you can invite them over for lunch and threaten to publicly humiliate them to force them into a vote. Members of Congress have been there before this President and they will be there after this President. President Trump misread their will to change.
They watched their colleagues’ town halls. Screaming people worried that some bureaucrat was going to once again “fix” insurance. The “Spin Doctors” called them hired guns. Obviously, the Congressmen saw this different. The first clue that this bill was going down in flames was the cancellation of Town Hall Events. This was the red flag. When a Congressman is afraid of his voters, he will pivot. The President missed this. It’s difficult because he is isolated from everyone. He only sees what people want him to see now.
A savvy businessman would have felt the tide turning and not tried to push this deal. The smell of death was already in the air. It was so easy to campaign against Obamacare; so hard to change the ACA. The President was naive about the forces against him. When the AARP and the Medical establisment are against you, come on now, grow up! You’re going to lose.
This is our President and I need him to succeed, this was an amatuer start. Only 17 percent of the people were for this plan and the quote from Trump aide Steve Bannon was “no choice but to vote for this bill.”
Mr. Bannon, sure there is a choice. They could be re-elected as usual.
Why does this matter? That’s the real question. 
Trump bluffed and didn’t follow through. He bullied and lost. This was public and ugly. This matters because it’s the backroom talk, the jokes, the memes, Art of the Deal, Dealmaker, Winning, you will get so tired of winning, etc. It’s the blame game. It’s a Saturday Night Live skit waiting to happen. Where is our next hero? Where is the next Truman with “The Buck Stops Here.”
My father had this quote, “If you are leading and no one is following, you are just out for a walk.” This may sum this up the best. This isn’t just about Obamacare. This is about leadership, and people getting tired of nothing working.
It isn’t even about the hypocrisy of one party being in charge and nothing getting done. Leaders always include the opposition. 
The President’s un-likeablity with Democrats is over 80 percent. Bringing the country together on something, anything, needs to be next. In the generation of divorce, we all know what this whole situation feels like.
Priorities Mr. President; please, priorities.


NOTE: Sean Cummings is an Oklahoma City businessman, and an occasional columnist for CapitolBeatOK.com and The City Sentinel newspaper.