Trump’s Presidential Bid

by Will Espero

Happy New Year! January has arrived, and I wish everyone good health, prosperity, happiness, peace, and friendship for the coming year.

War in Ukraine, the Israeli/Hamas conflict, the battle over abortion rights, the indictment of Donald Trump, high interest rates, inflation, China’s global impact, and a compromised U.S. Supreme Court were some of the national events and issues that held our attention and interest in 2023.

Lack of affordable housing, the opening of Oahu’s rail operations, the closing of the Navy’s Red Hill operation, Maui’s devastating wildfires, and the announcement of the sale of Hawaiian Airlines were some of the issues and events that also made the headlines in our local news.

With a presidential election coming up this year, politics will be at the forefront again in 2024. Mayor Blangiardi is up for re-election on Oahu, and at this time, no strong contender has come forth to challenge the mayor.

No great accomplishments have occurred under the mayor’s watch, but no scandals have plagued his administration so his re-election bid looks promising.

The corruption in the county’s planning department had been ongoing before the mayor started, so let’s hope he can clean up the mess left by others and make the Department of Planning and Permitting an efficient, well-run agency.

I’ve heard many stories about delays and long waits for permits because of this agency’s problems, and these delays have impacted home builders and small businesses.

The City Council and Mayor need to stay on top of this department to ensure incompetence, corruption, favoritism, and laziness are weeded out and eliminated.

Delays mean lost revenues and higher costs, and this should not be tolerated in 2024.

The Republican race for president is an interesting race despite Trump’s commanding lead in the polls for the Republican nomination.

His faithful and loyal supporters seem to disregard or ignore the legal trouble he is involved with, and their support is unfortunate in my eyes.

Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie are doing their best to gain some traction against Trump, but their efforts are falling very short of even making a small dent in the Trump armor

With only Chris Christie making significant meaningful attacks against Trump, I’m guessing the others might be vying for a possible vice-president nomination.

If the effort to keep Trump’s name from even being on the ballot is successful, the field of Republican nominees suddenly becomes legitimate and credible.

This issue should go before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, and we voters will anxiously await the Court’s ruling. Until then, the hold Trump has on his base of supporters is frightening and disturbing.

Trump’s relationship with Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s Kim, the ruling finding Trump liable for sexual assault against columnist Jean Carrol, Trump’s support and advocacy in the January 6th Capitol insurrection, Trump’s alleged payments of hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels, Trump’s efforts to have election results changed, Trump’s New York problems with his questionable business dealings, and his past negative comments against women, disabled persons, and military families depict a man who has no business being president again.

Trump’s recent sharing of a word cloud featuring the words ‘Revenge’ and ‘Dictatorship’ reveals an individual whose state of mind is immature, vindictive, and controversial.

We surely do not want this man in the White House for another four years.

There will be much political grandstanding, rhetoric, and propaganda prior to the 2024 presidential primary and general elections, so it is imperative that all voters pay attention to the words and actions of the candidates.

I expect Trump will receive much publicity and news due to his legal problems and loose mouth. A man of his caliber with his reputation should not be running for president.

The last thing the world needs is a divisive figure having a residency in Washington D.C. again.

WILL ESPERO retired from the Hawaii legislature after serving 19 years in the state House of Representatives and state Senate. He is currently a novelist, poet, and supporter of the arts. Lingering Thoughts provides a glimpse of his perspective on current events and issues.