I heard where President Trump has proposed renaming Lake Ontario, Lake America. I’m just grinning from ear to ear, like the proverbial cheshire cat. Donald Trump gets that same expression from time to time. I’m thinking this is one of them.

Now you can call Donald Trump, Mr. President, the Donald, Donnie, Cheeto’s, orange man and any number of disparaging adjectives. With the exception of Mr. President, all of us would qualify for some of the adjectives being applied to him. I have personally been called many of them; I’m proud of that.

I’ve said it many times and stand by this assessment. Of all the things that Trump is; he isn’t a politician. He’s a businessman. You can take that any way you like, as a good thing, a bad thing or somewhere in between. It isn’t going to change what he is. I don’t believe people really change all that much, what is it they say, a tiger can’t change his stripes?

Trump, not being a politician, his main concern isn’t being popular, it is in being successful. Successful to him is, making money. The manner in which that is achieved isn’t nearly as important to him as the achievement. He just loves being the boss.

Regardless of how you feel about him, he has been quite successful in life when you measure success in dollars and cents. His net worth is estimated at 7 billion dollars. Yes, his father gave him 1 million dollars to start his career with. That million has increased by 699900%. Yeah, a pretty good return!

When I hear Trump saying things like renaming Lake Ontario and renaming the Gulf of Mexico, I do grin. I believe he is just doing what we would call, stirring the pot, back in the day. It means to bring things to the surface, as in stirring a pot full of vegetables or whatever.

There are those folks that love to stir the pot. Donald Trump is one of them. Donald Trump stands 6′ 3″. A big man. That’s a part of his personality, he is used to looking down at people, literally. He has also always been a wealthy person. Yes, the “upper class” whether you like that or not. He can afford to stir the pot, that’s why he isn’t a politician.

I’ve known a few others like that in my lifetime. None of them were as wealthy or as well connected as Donald Trump, as “the Donald” but were taller, bigger men with a sense of superiority because they were bigger. What some may perceive as an imposing figure. Combine that with wealth and privilege, you have Donald Trump.

Trump was elected to the presidency, twice. The sole reason being, he is a businessman. Government should be run like a business, not like a non-profit charity. That is where all the friction comes from. It’s like mommy or daddy saying no. But Jimmy got a new bicycle!

The purpose of any business is to make money. That’s what it does. Even government makes money. Governments make money in many ways. It all depends upon the form of that government. The United States briefly had a personal income tax during the civil war and then again in the 1890’s. In 1913 the sixteenth amendment was ratified giving congress the power to tax the people.

Prior to individual taxes there were fees, local taxes and tariffs collected. The monies collected were to operate the government. Funding was required for maintaining the military, for infrastructure and diplomatic relationships with foreign powers. Didn’t take long for politicians to begin using some of those monies for other purposes. That’s where the train went off the tracks!

Donald Trump comes along and begins stirring the pot! Things are starting to come to the top. Things that obviously don’t belong in that pot! The politicians are really angry. Removing the garnish is upsetting! It’s far more difficult to attract voters without the garnish, to get them to bite. It’s like fishing, you have to have the right bait.

Well, that’s the way I see it going anyway. I’ve been told I lack empathy. I don’t agree with that statement, but I’m not as sympathetic as others might be. I am more about tending to my business, than pleasing others.

Some call that being selfish, unless a therapist advises you to do so, then it’s simply affirming. And yes, I can’t help but stir the pot every once and a while. My reason for doing so being entertainment. I am amused. Then I’m gratified when I get to say, ” I told you so.” Yeah, we had another saying about all of that, the more you stir a turd, the more it stinks!

To sum up Trump and his presidency I would say this, we hired a businessman to do a politician’s job. The original job of being president, the chief executive officer as we call it today, was to run the business of government.

The job description changed once we started giving a salary to the congress. Then congress started making the final decision. This quote explains that: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.” 

Politicians make those choices, businessmen oppose them. It’s how that works.