Government By Spite

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

I had intended to write about the 10/7 anniversary this morning, but the host has done such a thorough and masterful job that there is nothing left to say.  Here is the key sentence, “That Israel has conquered all its enemies, on all seven fronts, should not dull the sense of shock about what happened two years ago.”  Read it all.  Consequently, I’ll turn my attention elsewhere.

More heinous murder by an illegal immigrant.

I cannot think of anything less sensical than the open border policies of the Biden administration.  I do not understand the “why” of it.  What were their aims?  What did they hope to accomplish?  The cynical will answer that second question by saying they hoped to import Democrat votes.  That might very well be true among the political operatives, but the average voter would have other motives.

As best as I can figure the whole thing was wrapped in some vague sense of humanitarianism, but was in reality simply based in spite.  Trump wanted tight control of the border, so by golly, we’ll make it cease to exist.  Honestly, no nation can survive an open border, so the real reasons must be somehow irrational, and that is the best I can think of.  And that is troubling.

Irrational policy opens the door to purely political policy – which is the road to corruption.  Policy born of spite is the first step down that road.

Successful politicians always enjoy enemies – it is an inevitability of how politics works.  Now, let’s be honest, to stand for election requires a certain level of self-regard and the higher the office, the greater the self-regard.  So, things can get very personal.  That said, no president that I can think of has suffered more personal animus than Trump. He is a bare knuckle fighter and as such has exposed much of the game, which formerly involved stilettos clandestinely stuck in important places – a game of stealth and misdirection.  Hence the animus.  Trump is also a counter puncher.  You hit him, he is going to hit back.

Trump has already accomplished the greatest political comeback in American history.  That makes him among the most consequential presidents in history.  But consequential and great are different yardsticks.  To be great he must avoid letting the personal get in the way of the rational.  Barack Obama, by virtue of his race, was also highly consequential.  But the personal clearly got in the way of the rational in his administration and hence he will never be thought of as a great president.  In fact, it can be argued that Obama governed very much out of spite – much of it racial – and did far more damage to the country than he did good.

Given the animus aimed at Trump, and his counter-punching tendencies, it would be highly tempting for him to operate out of spite. If he can avoid the temptation, history will smile upon him – widely.