Trump’s Mistakes & A Florida Democrat Free Fall – Top 3 Takeaways – July 18th, 2023
- Admitting mistakes. We’re all fallible human types which means we all make mistakes. The most successful among us tend to fall into two camps. Those who seldom make mistakes and those who make a lot of mistakes but that are able to overcome them with many successes which are greater than the failures. As an example, your successful corporate executives who worked their way up the corporate ladder are often the first type. Highly successful entrepreneurs are most commonly the second type. Regardless of which type of person one is, the key to success comes in admitting mistakes. In admitting one’s mistakes, successful people are able to learn from them as opposed to doing what most unsuccessful people do, which of course is repeating them. Successful politicians, especially those in executive offices, are no different. Some are measured leaders who try not to rock the boat and minimize mistakes carving out political careers. They seldom alter history and may be easily forgotten after they’re gone but the masses may still view them favorably (remarkably the gaffe machine that is Joe Biden was elected on the predication that he was that guy). Dwight D. Eisenhower would be a presidential example of this. Press people of a certain age who lived through his presidency and they’re as likely to mention his accomplishments as a general in World War II as they are any of his accomplishments as president. Nevertheless, his average approval rating during his two terms was 65% - one of the three highest approval ratings since the advent of the polling age in the 1930’s. Then you have the opposite of that...
- The ones who aren’t afraid to push the envelope for meaningful change and that aren’t deterred after suffering failures along the way because they know that what they’re fighting for will be worth it. That type of president is most successfully personified by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for (what are hopefully) obvious reasons. It’s safe to say that our former president and perhaps future president is far more the personality type of the latter than the former. Donald Trump will make a fair share of mistakes. He has in his personal life and yet he has a wonderful family. He has in business, with multiple bankruptcies and yet he’s one of the richest people in the world. And there’s no doubt that he made several mistakes when he was president as well. But then again, we had near record low unemployment – including record low minority unemployment, huge wage gains for the average family with nearly nonexistent inflation and relative world peace. Had it not been for the ‘vid there’s little doubt he’d still be our president right now. But back to his mistakes for a moment. Trump’s mistakes as president were almost all because of the same type of issue. It’s the one I still have the greatest questions about. His picker. Trump’s issues when president largely stemmed from putting the wrong people in the wrong places within his administration. I’ve also thought it’s where he’s most vulnerable to attack within the Republican presidential primary. That’s why it’s encouraging to hear from the former president that it was “probably” a mistake to have appointed Christopher Wray as FBI Director – when questioned by Maria Bartiromo. But then there was something else that was revealing about why his picker was broken – at least in regard to Wray. Who was it that recommended Wray to Trump? None other than one-time supporter and confidant, turned never-Trumper and current presidential candidate, Chris Christie. Having never been a politician and learning how to be one in the most important and powerful position in the world was always going to require lots of trial and error and reliance on others for advice and recommendations (which is also necessary for any highly effective leader regardless of experience). What’s most revealing in Trump’s admittance to making a mistake with Wray, is that his biggest mistake was in trusting people for advice that didn’t necessarily have his best interests – or perhaps those of the countries’ in mind. Admitting to a mistake is the first step towards fixing those mistakes and not repeating them. This issue in my eyes was his biggest failure as president, but if he’s truly learned from that mistake and has the right people in the right places advising him and that he’s truly listening to (or will if/when the time comes), imagine how good of a president he could be. Speaking of politics...
- Democrats are in a free fall in Florida. It’s not the first time Tom Petty’s come to mind when parsing through Florida’s voter registration information, however what we’ve seen over the past month is about the most dramatic example of Democrats free fallin’ in Florida. As you’re well aware, last November was the worst election cycle for Democrats in Florida’s history. So badly beaten were the dems with record numbers of Republicans elected top to bottom in Florida, even most conservative political analysts suggested it would be the high-water mark for Republicans and the bottom of the barrel for Democrats. The argument, based on the results, sounded logical enough. What’s happened since by way of voter registrations in our state says something else. Democrats didn’t bottom out last November. They’re still in a free fall today. The latest voter registration information from the Florida Division of Elections, reflecting statewide changes in voters entering July, shows Democrats have lost over 206,000 voters year-to-date with a loss of nearly 94,000 last month alone. And since their voter registration peak – they're down close to 600,000 voters. And then consider that this is happening in a state which has gained about a thousand new people per day. Democrats are in a free fall in Florida and if what we’ve seen since the last Election Day continues – they're heading for a Wipe Out- que The Surfaris.