A president who aims to look out for this country has to think of its well-being in terms of something more than talking points, and look at it in terms broader than for himself alone.
Donald Trump's campaign has given us repeated examples to the contrary, enough that several allied points can be drawn from them.
But focus here for a moment on one in particular - the largest catastrophe the United States has faced in at least the last decade.
That was the 2008 crash of the housing market and finance system, a crash foreseen, to one size or another, by a good many people (though not nearly enough of those in a position to do something about it in advance).
Two years before it happened, developer Trump said he doubted a crash would happen. You could ding him to some extent for a lack of foresight, but he was hardly alone on that count.
Where he was unusual, if not totally alone, was on this: He hoped such a crash would happen.
Never mind the terrible effects on millions of people, the collapse of huge businesses, the devastating effect on the United States.
Trump said this:
"I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy," Trump said in a 2006 audiobook from Trump University, answering a question about "gloomy predictions that the real estate market is heading for a spectacular crash."
As CNN reported, "The U.S. housing bubble burst two years later, triggering the stock market crash of 2008 that plunged the U.S. economy into a deep recession, leaving millions of Americans unemployed. Trump was speaking with Jon Ward, a marketing consultant who "masterminded all the initial education programs for Trump University," according to his website. The audiobook is available on iTunes."
Trump continued: "If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know you can make a lot of money," Trump said in the 2006 audio book, "How to Build a Fortune." "If you're in a good cash position - which I'm in a good cash position today - then people like me would go in and buy like crazy."
Don't count on him to help the United States avert the next crash. - rs