Guest Columnist Martin Hackworth: Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good?

“There’s a question that’s been bugging me for nearly a decade. How is it that half of America looks at Donald Trump and doesn’t find him morally repellent? He lies, cheats, steals, betrays, and behaves cruelly and corruptly, and more than 70 million Americans find him, at the very least, morally acceptable. Some even see him as heroic, admirable, and wonderful. What has brought us to this state of moral numbness?” – David Brooks, The Atlantic

Last summer, David Brooks, every liberal’s favorite conservative columnist, wrote an essay for The Atlantic, Why Do So Many People Think Trump is Good? In this essay, Brooks blames the rise of Trump on the decline of what were once the shared moral values of Western civilization. Brooks draws on the works of Alasdair MacIntyre, a philosopher who studied the manner in which the Enlightenment redefined morality as a palette of choices for individuals as opposed to a set of shared cultural mores.

Brooks’s piece amounted to a lengthy expansion on the idea of blaming Trump on deplorables. It’s also, IMO, completely off the mark. We’ll get to that presently. Nonetheless, the usual suspects hailed this piece as a masterpiece, though with minor quibbles over things that Brooks, in their opinions, missed.

Not me. The usual suspects may navel-gaze, philosophize, rant, rave or pontificate all they want about the reasons for Trump being elected twice, and they’ll continue to get it wrong as long as they embrace the notion that there is something fundamentally wrong with his supporters—something from which they, themselves, suffer no ill effects.

Trump’s supporters might actually be some of the most discerning individuals out there. The way that I see it, the reason that about half of America (according to Brooks) supports Trump isn’t because of moral turpitude. It’s also not because he’s a compassionate conservative, a great orator, a policy wonk who’s been in government for decades, a congenial uniter, or has the right vibes.

People support Trump because he delivers on what got him elected in a way that no other politician of my lifetime has. Second place isn’t even close.

On whether any of this is good or bad, I am agnostic. As I remind everyone with virtually every mention of Trump, he’s not my kind of guy. I think that Trump is a childish, petulant, corrupt megalomaniac and somewhat of a bully who has a weird fetish for La Cosa Nostra. He’s often his own worst enemy when it comes to getting things that he wants done. Listening to him talk gives me the heebie jeebies.

But having said that, I also think that if you can ignore all of the bombast and animus and focus on nuts and bolts, his actual record of accomplishment as POTUS is pretty good.

There’s that, and the fact that many of Trump’s foes are some of his most effective boosters. One simply cannot overestimate the degree to which the left is capable of self-immolating over TDS. In all things concerning Trump and politics, just consider the alternative. That proposition makes Trump’s foibles a lot more tolerable.

Trump is popular with supporters because he follows through as president on what he promised on the campaign trail—even when it’s hard. You are generally not going to hear Trump complain about how Congress is preventing him from doing what he wants because he’s good at leveling political obstacles—with glee. Trump has put the bully back in bully pulpit. Love him or not, you have to admit that not a lot gets in Trump’s way. I think that resonates with many voters. Even I cheer when I hear him go after woke.

Trump ran on border security, fighting woke, limited government, strengthening our military, restoring American prestige around the world, a strong economy, fighting crime and not being Kamala Harris. He’s delivered across the board.

Illegal border crossings have dropped by over 80% and ICE operations are generally popular outside of blue cities and Capitol Hill.

Woke and DEI are in retreat. The bubble of madness surrounding gender identity has burst. Pronouns are no longer de rigueur in professional circles.

Just this week, it has emerged that the Trump administration is moving to repeal the EPA’s Obama-era “endangerment finding,” eliminating the legal basis for federal regulations that target greenhouse gases. You may believe, as I do, that climate change is real and driven by greenhouse gas emissions and still believe, also as I do, that there is no mandate in the Constitution for the government to do anything about it.

Our geopolitical enemies are learning to worry about our military once again. You may feel some discomfort at the way that Trump is using the military to go after “narco-terrorists,” but you should then think about why he uses that particular term in describing targets. Then look up the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, wherein President Obama gave himself (and any future president) the right to do whatever they pleased with anyone they could, by any stretch, label a terrorist. Obama handed Trump all the tools that he needs to get after virtually anyone he dislikes, with all of the tools at his disposal.

American prestige is, I suppose, in the eye of the beholder. But there are two ways to cultivate respect: fondness and fear. Of the two, fear is more immediate and leaves a much more lasting impression. I couldn’t care less if Iran loves or hates us. What I care about is that they are way worried about what we’ll do if they keep killing their own people for insufficient piety and building nukes. Kumbaya can wait until later. Ditto for Hamas, Britain, the EU and the UN.

The economy still has some issues, but job growth is strong, inflation has retreated, interest rates are declining and the DJIA has been over 50,000 for most of this week. Newspaper headlines are filled with descriptions of declining crime statistics (though I would suggest some caution in treating these as anything other than preliminary).

And lastly, Harris really was for they/them. Trump is for you.

No president of my lifetime, which goes back to Eisenhower, has delivered on his promises like Donald J. Trump. No excuses, no bullshit. He’s pretty much done exactly what he said that he would do. I have to admire that even if I think that as a complete human being, he’s got some deficits. I respect people who do what they say that they are going to do. I’m not going to let perfect be the enemy of good.

As much as you and I may get this, as long as the left and the chattering classes continue to imagine that their contempt for Trump and his supporters is rooted in some virtue inaccessible to the hoi polloi, they are going to continue to miss the boat. Trump’s support is strong not because people generally love him as a person; it’s because they respect him as a politician who does what he said that he’d do if they voted for him. That’s unique enough to be worthy of respect.

Associated Press and Idaho Press Club-winning columnist Martin Hackworth of Pocatello is a physicist, writer, and retired Idaho State University faculty member who now spends his time with family, riding bicycles and motorcycles, and arranging and playing music. Follow him on X at @MartinHackworth, on Facebook at facebook.com/martin.hackworth, and on Substack at martinhackworthsubstack.com.