The Price of Winning At All Costs
One of the greatest flaws of human nature is to so blindly seek victory that we ensure our own defeat.
Let’s face it—Donald Trump is a disturbing public figure. His demeanor emanates from a combination of character flaws and bare-knuckle tactics that have served him well in business and politics, to such an extent that his loyal supporters feel obligated to either explain or ignore his unsettling conduct. From paying off a porn actress and slandering opponents with demeaning nicknames (Lyin’ Ted, Little Marko, Crooked Hillary), to privately joking about assaulting women and bragging about the size of his genitals in a Presidential debate (yes, it actually happened), Trump has a brash way of sucking the air out of the room through shocking behavior.
Despite this obvious reality, the President has attracted both exuberant support and visceral hatred from the ever-widening ideological polarities of the American electorate. Trump’s aggressive and hyperbolic rhetoric resonates with those who feel threatened by what they see as a far greater evil encroaching from the far left, a totalitarian movement willing to settle for short-term victory with no concern the long-term consequences. Beyond that, Trump loyalists sense in the President a rare blend of courage and unwavering determination that they have often hoped for but not found in traditional politicians. They may not like his demeanor, but his follow through has won them over.
For good or ill, Trump supporters are far more concerned about “leftist fascism” than they are about Trump’s behavior, in particular because of the win-at-all-costs approach they perceive in their opponents. Consider some of the examples they cite:
1. In 2013, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed sidestepped the filibuster in order to confirm liberal judges with just a simple majority, despite the fact that this practice would inevitably be adopted in the future by conservatives hoping to ram through their own judicial nominees. And sure enough, when Republicans took over the Senate, they used Reed’s expedient precedent to approve Supreme Court justices. Reed won the battle at hand, but he lost the war by changing rules that would later be used against him.
2. Nancy Pelosi has recently refused to allow the House of Representatives to vote on impeachment proceedings surrounding Trump’s questionable conversation with the Ukrainian President. Pelosi knows that avoiding an impeachment vote in the House (which has always taken place to launch impeachment proceedings) will prevent Republicans from bringing forth exculpatory evidence, calling their own witnesses, and cross-examining witnesses currently being questioned. And of course, it will save Democratic Representatives in Trump-friendly districts from being accountable to their constituents for an impeachment vote in the next election. But for Pelosi and her allies, the possibility of undermining this President is worth the present course of action, despite the fact that the practice will likely be done in retaliation to future Democratic presidents. The victory of impeaching Trump is worth undermining the impeachment system itself, demeaning the practice to a partisan weapon to be wielded against the opposing party’s President. Pelosi wins the battle, but America loses the war.
3. Democratic Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke has recently declared that he would seek to remove tax-exempt status from traditional-marriage churches should he be elected to office. Even homosexual candidate Pete Buttigieg scoffed at the short-sightedness of O-Rourke’s proposal, reminding him that this would put the Federal government at war with not just conservative Christians, but Muslims as well. To Mayer Pete’s credit, he recognizes that such an immediate “victory” over Christian rivals would lead to a gigantic loss for religious freedom in America. But O’Rourke represents the extreme vein of impatient activists who simply don’t care.
Meanwhile, China stands as a giant specter in the eastern horizon, the living embodiment of short-term wins that amount to trading away a nation’s soul. Chairman Mao is still honored in a country that stifled dissent by butchering tens of millions of its own people, and which currently holds countless Christians, Muslims, homosexuals, and other "unfavorable" citizens in concentration camps. For the Chinese regime, control is the ultimate priority both domestically and internationally
How ironic that Trump is one of the few political figures to firmly oppose China.
When Houston Rockets General Manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted support for Hong Kong protestors in their fight against Chinese oppression, the NBA recognized that China would retaliate against the entire league and put billions of revenue dollars at risk. So tragically, when Americans finally have a battle worth fighting, in which real lives hang in the balance against a brutal, intolerant and totalitarian regime that oppresses citizens and belches a third of the world's annual greenhouse emissions, the otherwise politically active NBA apologizes to China and cooperates in its scheme to obliterate dissent. There is simply too much money to lose in the short-run to worry about the lasting consequences of selling out to China. Better to stick with anthem protests, bathroom debates, and anti-Trump rants than confront a bully who will actually punch back.
The net result of "win-at-all-costs politics" is that we no longer recognize friend from foe, good from evil, and right from wrong. Like impulsive teenagers with an underdeveloped frontal cortex, we rush toward the immediate gratification of defeating other Americans, even if we must turn a blind eye to global injustice or change any rule that gets in our way.
Will leftists be able to balance their emphatic disdain for this President enough to safeguard standards and structures that society will need in the future? Will Trump-supporters find the power to restrain their eagerness to fend off the existential threat they see on the left in order to hold this and every President accountable when necessary? The current road that we are on—which values victory at any price—does not lead to a destination worth bequeathing to the next generation.
When we cherish winning more than wisdom, we not only lose any semblance of credibility; we also sacrifice the human gift of rationality, which is paramount in any free society.