Commentary

Every now and then, during my research for this blog, I discover a writer who I have never heard of before.  He’s David Solway, 80, a Canadian poet, who is also known for his essays and critical pieces. Although he has been in print since the mid-seventies, sadly, only now have I discovered his talent.

As a Trump supporter, the headline, “Cutting to the Chase: Why Trump Was Driven from Office,” over his column in PJ Media caught my attention. However, before I began reading it, I had to know more about this guy Solway. 

Normally, I’m not particularly interested in poetry, but chose to read his poem entitled, “Leaf blowing,” published in The New Criterion. It was a short piece about “Steve,” a guy who shakes up the peace and quiet of a neighborhood morning with his leaf blower.  I liked it.

In Solway’s lead into his Trump column, he notes that there has been no end of commentary dealing with Donald Trump’s turbulent presidency, from the day he came down the escalator to today as a private citizen.

He began with a baseball analogy.  “Three called strikes against him, all that was needed to count him out.”

I must admit a bit of hesitancy to continue reading.  Was this going to be another hit piece?  It wasn’t, and I was glad that I continued to read.

Strike one. “He was not ‘presidential.’ He was considered crude in speech, rough-hewn in manner, and given over to bluster and hyperbole unbefitting the highest office in the land.  For these transgressions, he could not be forgiven.”

Strike two.  “He was an outsider, the first president in American history with no military or political experience.  He wasn’t a politician, a general, a lawyer or a holder of political office.

“He was never a member of the Beltway club, whether Republican or Democrat.  He was not followed by a train of professional lobbyists, owed no political debts, did not accept a salary, and did not enrich himself when in power.  For these transgressions, he could not be forgiven.

Strike three.  “He was competent and proudly patriotic.  He put America first, cutting taxes, negotiating bad trade deals to the nation’s advantage, reducing a red-tape regulatory nightmare, making the country energy-independent and a net exporter of energy, rebuilding the military, defending the southern border, reestablishing global prominence, and connecting with the commons.  For these transgressions, he could not be forgiven.

“There really is no need, then, for the discursive tsunami of books, essays, articles, evaluative documents and position papers analyzing in minuscule detail all the intricacies, controversies, intrigues, diplomatic obscurities. Nor personal records, intimate relations, interior struggles and historical precedents purporting to explain the rise and fall of the 45^th president.

“The question of Trump factors down to the three elements for which he was held accountable – personality, independence, ability – and, of course, to the unbridgeable rift between the “anointed” and the “deplorables.”

Solway concluded with his view that “Trump was hated for the qualities that made him an excellent president, for Making America Great Again, for being a towering, if controversial figure.  He was hated for not sinking to the indescribable ineptitude of Joe Biden and for not being on the take. He was hated for his efforts to clean up the political swamp.

“From the point of view of America’s “ruling class” – entrenched political parasites, so-called “opinion leaders,” media collaborators, and wealthy oligarchs- such attributes are high crimes and misdemeanors for which the chosen culprit must be made to pay. 

“There can be no absolution,” Solway says, “He upset the apple cart.  He fractured and exposed the inner circle.  He offended the elites.  As if in a parody of the Book of Amos (2:4) whether for three transgressions or for four, Trump remains anathema for rejecting the law of the lords that be.”

So, how does Solway view Biden?

“The question that many Americans are now asking themselves is whether the United States can survive another three and a half years of a Democrat administration,” Solway says. “Under its stewardship, a short period of merely a few months has seen the country sink into a morass of increasing social dissention, mounting debt, growing unemployment, the dismantling of central industries, gross mismanagement across the board, military embarrassment, policy failure, and international humiliation.”

Solway views the nation being ruled by a president who seem to be “in the terminal stages of galloping dementia,” and says Vice President Harris resembles “a cackling witch with the intelligence of a feral child.”  Further, he writes that Chuck Schumer is by all reasonable accounts, a candidate for intensive psychotherapy.”

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you can be assured that I will be publishing quotable quotes from David Solway.

PONDER THIS – Rasmussen’s daily tracking reveals a 55 percent disapproval of President Biden’s performance, while in 28 years of polling by NBC, the network says that “no other new vice president has been welcomed so coldly by Americans,” with a low positive rating of 37 percent of Harris.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.