If You Are Smarter, Kinder and/or Braver Than Your Favorite Political Leaders, You Will Have Problems Supporting Them.

Watching (and reading about) people defending the Trump Administration's actions (take your pick) as it becomes evident that said actions are not producing the promised results ("your life will get better!") reminds me of the times Biden's supports defended him, or Trump's during his first term. Or Obama before that, or George W. Bush before that or Clinton before that. 

What do they all have in common? They're worse people than their supporters. Their supporters are either smarter, kinder or braver than they are; sometimes more than one of these things (and in a rare case, all three). 

Clinton supporters claimed that Republicans going after him for "just a blow-job" was a witch-hunt, ignoring the abuse of power (a boss having a relationship with his employee) and the slander that was being thrown at the other party. NAFTA was cheered on despite the long-term impact on the economy and immigration. The Crime Bill was lauded despite the fact it condemned a generation of (predominately Black and Brown) people to prison, which broke up families, encouraged racial stereotypes and enabled the aggressive policing culture that led to an increase of police brutality. 

Bush supporters swore up and down that he was correct to see Iraq as an existential threat to the United States, when in fact Iraq was keeping a lot of the Middle East a bay. They claimed Bush was doing the best he could in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, despite the fact people went hungry, lost homes and in some cases, their lives. They argued that Bush's idea of moving Social Security to the Stock Market would help so many; instead the housing crash showed the dangers of investing your financial life in something so unstable would do more harm than good. 

Obama supporters celebrated their president getting a Nobel Peace Prize, but fell silent as he proceeded to bomb more countries than his predecessors. They used Obama's dealing with Henry Louis Gates' arrest as an example of how a leader can deal with racial tension, but ignored the fact that the the Black Lives Matter protests started while he was in office. They completely forget to mention how he downplayed the fact Flint never recovered from their lack of clean drinking water or never fought to make sure a Supreme Court Justice was nominated before he left office.

Biden supporters were quick to note that between being supported by stalwarts like Jim Clyburn and using the Charlotte riots as a campaign jumping off point where evidence of his race relation skills, but leave out that Biden was the chief champion of the Crime Bill that Bill Clinton ended up signing, and go mum when "and you ain't black" is referenced. They pushed the idea to dissatisfied leftists (mostly those burned by Bernie Sanders and the Squad) that Biden "could be pushed left" despite his political history of being (at BEST) a Reagan Democrat and his role in forcing the railroad workers out of striking. Last but certainly not least, Biden's role in the grind that is the Ukraine-Russia war and the genocide that is the Israel-Gaza conflict showed him to either be politically afraid or manipulated (or both). 

Foolish decisions. Heartless policies. Submissive actions (or inactions). Plenty of opportunities to do the right thing, and they all failed to met the moment. Trump is no different. And all the while, the supporters of these failed leaders twisted themselves into pretzels trying to defend their actions and explain their words. 

Some humble advice: if you want to follow someone, find religion. Do not hitch your wagon to any of the flawed human beings on this anguished Earth; it doesn't matter how cool they seem, act and sound. Odds are, you're a  better person than them.