I'm a loser
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
— Opening lines to The Beatles’ I’m a Loser
I'm winning
And I don't intend on losing again
— Chorus to Winning, by Carlos Santana
Make America Great Again! Winning! Win for Trump. Win for Democrats. Win for the Republicans. Loss for the Democrats: how will they regroup? etc. Everywhere in the news and in our everyday lives, everything is looked at as if it is a football game. If Trump gets a particular crappy piece of legislation passed by Congress, he and the press will trumpet it as a win for his administration. In some cases it will be labeled as a loss for the Democrats.
Both labels are wrong, and we as Americans need to stop thinking of politics like they’re a football game. Instead, we should look at what our politicians do and ask a simple question: Is this good for the country?
Below is just a sample of headlines from various publications where issues are treated as football games.
In this first headline, the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are treated like a war, a battle being fought, with only a winner and a loser. The thing is: this is not a battle, and it should not be about one side winning or losing. It should be about determining the fitness of the current White House resident’s nominee for the court.
The man who is currently occupying the Oval Office has nominated someone for the court, and it is up to the Senate to determine his fitness for this seat. It is not about winning or losing. Granted, we are dealing with a Republican Party that has gone to a “win at any cost” mentality—and it’s is driven further by headlines like this. If they do not get this nominee through the nomination process then it is perceived as a loss for their party, when it should be looked at for what it is: a court nominee who turned out to be a poor choice.
This headline is a direct quote from Trump ,and it shows his mentality: win at all costs. He is blaming Justice Department investigations of two Republican candidates for possible losses in upcoming elections. They were being investigated for breaking the law:
... the tweet was apparently referring to the indictments this summer of Reps. Chris Collins of New York and Duncan D. Hunter of California, the president’s two earliest congressional endorsers.
Collins was charged with insider trading, accused by federal prosecutors of tipping off his son about a biotechnology company’s failed drug trial to avoid significant investment losses. The alleged tip-off took place not during the Obama administration, as Trump’s tweet suggests, but in 2017, after Trump had become president.
Hunter was charged with using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, including family vacations, school tuition and theater tickets.
Trump does not seem to understand the rule of law, and should be called out on it. The investigations did not cost him wins—the law-breaking candidates did.
Who cares if Trump wins. What happens to America, and Americans? The current Oval Office resident has decided to use 18th century economics in the 21st century in order to “win” something. His escalating a trade war with China may be viewed as a win for him personally, but this will only hurt the American people in the end.
Again—he has won nothing, this is not a game, and winning a “round” hasn’t done anything positive for the United States.
Newt Gingrich is the disgraced former House speaker, a man who can only see the world as winning or losing—just like his buddy, the current un-indicted conspirator in the White House. The “leftist” media is not losing, nor is Trump winning. He is the current occupant of the Oval Office and his party controls both houses of Congress—of course he is going to get legislation passed, and yes he will sign it into law. That is going to happen regardless of the press, and yes, Republicans will win Republican primaries … which is somehow showing the left something or other.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is clearly not playing a game. He is investigating criminal activity. These so-called wins have actually been criminal indictments. This headline should read, “Why the Mueller indictments haven’t shaken Trump voters.”
This may seem petty, and I am sure some of you will disagree with me, call me naive, or think I am curmudgeonly about how the media treats politics as winning or losing. Still others might argue that this is not something new, that it has been happening since the beginning of time—and you would be right. But that doesn’t mean that we have to like or accept it. Instead of asking if the Democrats won, or if the Republicans won, we should be asking: Is this good for the country?