It’s starting to become more clear, but it still doesn’t make any sense.

I’ve posted several times that I simply don’t understand why anyone would vote for Trump to be President. He’s unqualified, both experientially and by temperament. He’s never held political office and yet he’s going to be taking charge of the most important political office in the United States (and arguably the world) in a few days.

Turns out that it’s precisely his lack of qualifications that his supporters were looking for. I heard “He’s an outsider politically. He’s rich, so he can’t be bought by the wealthy or by special interest groups. He’s going to fight for the little guy and get things done because he’s not beholden to any political group. He’s his own man.” And he said he’s the only person who can fix the problems the US is facing.

It’s clear that the people who voted for him (and were not part of the “Anybody but Hillary” crowd) wanted an “anti-politician.” OK, I can understand that; the perception was that politicians were the problem. Following the Recession, the only people who seemed to really recover were the wealthy. Middle class is shrinking, and the American Dream seems to be getting farther and farther from reality for most people. So I see why people want an anti-politician. But that’s only half of the need. Wouldn’t you want someone who has the potential to be able to turn that around?

Instead, what did we get? The guy who was going to “fight for the middle class” has appointed some head-scratching doozies, if his goal was to protect the middle class. To “oversee” Wall Street and presumably to rein in the greed that led to our crippling Recession, he’s appointed his uber-wealthy cronies, who came from the very institutions blamed largely for our economic collapse. To care for our environment, Trump selects for the head of the EPA someone whose career has been made suing that very department to ease regulatory oversight. (Remember that environmental laws are there to protect citizens from the damage to our lands, water and air caused by those whose only interest is profit.) This gem of an appointment has the added “benefit” that he refuses to accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that our climate is being changed by human activity. Trump has appointed a woman who believes in a voucher system to run the Department of Education. On the surface this sounds like it should work, but in practice vouchers hurt the poor. Wealthier parents move their kids to private or religiously-supported educational systems because they can afford to make up the difference between the value of the voucher and the cost of the non-public schools, which poor people cannot afford. So money that would have paid for good schools in the inner cities is syphoned off. And don’t forget, a good education is the foundation of a healthy middle class.

By his early choices in his cabinet, Trump has made it clear that he has no intention of “fighting for the middle class.” So back to his other “qualifications.” Yes, he’s rich (how rich is in some question), and he’s said over and over how he’s the only person able to fix what’s wrong, but in what worldview does wealth and arrogance make someone appropriate for the Presidency? Turn it around:  how likely would it be for a career politician to succeed in running a large company? Or would you expect the head of a prestigious university to be able to run an airline? Or a construction company? The experience and knowledge a leader brings to the position is exactly what make them the right candidate. A little over two years ago my company announced that our then-CEO was leaving and we would be searching for a new CEO. We were told it would take at least 6 months, probably closer to a year to find the right person (it took just under a year). And this is a fairly small company with a couple thousand employees and sales under a half a billion. Not insignificant, but our annual budget is dwarfed by every single Cabinet department, and would be a rounding error in almost any governmental budget. Anyhow, our search was for someone who had global experience, in the nutrition field, with a deep understanding of the market (not just “nutrition,” but specifically the doctor who would use nutrition as a therapy.

We took a year to find just the right person, because understanding our market and product was considered essential to success. Our new CEO is a very bright and capable man, but he also recognized that he needed to understand our particular niche so he brought in experts to help him. He is a fast learner, and humble enough to listen to people who know their trade. Trump doesn’t understand government (and doesn’t care to, by all evidence). He refuses to consult experts, nor even believe them when they talk about their area of expertise. Right now he’s warring with the Intelligence community, impugning both their motives and credibility following their report that Putin’s agents hacked into DNC email servers with the express intent of influencing our election. (I think the reason that threatens him is obvious.) He says “he knows things the generals don’t” when it comes to conducting war in the Middle East (this from the draft-dodger who used “bone spurs” to get four consecutive exemptions from military service). And on and on.

So while it’s clear what people were upset about, it still makes no sense that they would turn to Trump as their solution.