“Up until the 1950s, American children yearned for adulthood. When their time came to be adults, they stepped into the role proudly, leaving childhood behind and taking up the mantles of responsibility, honor and dignity. They embraced and championed the ideals of those who came before them while valiantly tackling new ideas and problems that their families, communities and nation faced. Those days were long gone.
“Americans now shunned adulthood, preferring to remain in a state of perpetual adolescence. By failing to move forward with grace and dignity, they left a gaping hole in American society. They treated relationships like disposable lighters, tossing marriages away when they ran out of gas. Children were left without families, and even worse, they were left without adults who could be role models of responsible behavior.”
— BRAD THOR, “The Last Patriot”
There is something appropriate about considering this topic this week.
Call it the Revenge of the Bros, or the week the boys who never grew up took over in Washington. Forty-four other men have taken the oath of office as president of the United States, from great men to great mistakes, and I cannot imagine any of them issuing blanket pardons to people who attacked and trashed the U.S. Capitol.
People who went after police officers, assaulting many and killing a few.
People who intended to kill the vice president, chanting that they wanted to hang Mike Pence.
George Washington would never have pardoned them.
Neither would Abraham Lincoln.
Go all the way down the list and even James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson or others considered the worst ever would never have pardoned them.
Why not?
Because they were men. Good presidents or bad ones, they were at least men. Almost without exception, they were men who achieved things that made at least some people’s lives better.
Yes, even Richard Nixon.
But Donald Trump is different. Trump is an outlier, maybe the only man to become president who never took one action that wasn’t in his own interest. A man who would never have had a chance to be elected except that a television producer cleaned up his image for a reality show about a great businessman.
Trump may not be the only president who had daddy issues that shaped his entire life, but he’s the only one who talked about his dad telling him there were only two types of men — killers and losers.
It has always been apparent that Trump’s biggest fear is being considered a loser.
It’s the main reason he was so obsessive about claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him and it’s why he keeps saying his 2024 victory over Kamala Harris was a massive victory when it was actually a relatively close one.
Look at his business dealings.
Look at his marriages.
Look at his other personal relationships.
No one matters to him but himself.
He’s a boy and not a particularly happy one.
And at 78, it’s too late to grow up.