Donald J. Trump was the best POTUS in my very long lifetime.  His policies were effective, making America prosperous and energy independent and lowering minority unemployment to record low levels.  Everything he did, with the possible exception of the COVID lockdown, was quintessentially Trump: competent, encouraging, and salutary for America and her people.  We were blessed to have him in the White House.

Although many Americans cringed, we nonetheless put up with Trump's coarseness and his inflated ego because he gave America back to the people.  He relit the candle that lit the city on a hill.  He was awesome.  He took his business acumen and applied it to government effectively, making America great again.  We loved him.  We still do.  But sometimes the greatest love is to let go.

When 2020 happened, Trump was unceremoniously removed from office because of some highly questionable voting anomalies and practices.  It was understandable that he was infuriated.  We were equally so.  But the prospect of more upheaval is too much for many Americans.  We love a maverick, but Trump became a burr under our saddle.  Trump, instead of America, became the focus as he was attacked from all sides.  We became beaten down, frustrated that we had no weapons to fight back with except the ballot box, and even that has now become unpredictable.  The election has been over for well over a year.  It is time to stop talking about it; it keeps the electorate roiled.  We need some tranquility, at least to regroup before the next battle.

Many Americans want Trump to run again in 2024.  I do not, nor do our many friends, all of whom are rabid, active, informed conservative Republicans.  Never one to shrink from a fight, I began to notice a quiet sadness surrounding Trump-supporters.  We didn't want to say it, but we were tired of trying to pee up a rope.  We were battle-worn and out of reserves, finding that when we imagined Trump's next stint as POTUS, it was going to be high tension every morning when we went online for the news.  You can suffer from anxiety for only so long without weakening and getting shell-shocked.

In the last year, Trump has become more strident and even more divisive.  The country has to decide if it really wants to vindicate Trump's election loss with another four to eight years of searing turmoil.  He has become a living third rail, a force that brings out the worst in people and in himself.

It pains me to say that I have seen and heard all I want of Trump for now, but I thank him profusely for the four years he served America and her people so effectively and so lovingly.  He is aging; if he became POTUS, that would age him even more rapidly, and, given his volatile proclivities, it would not bode well for patriot dreams and amber waves of grain.

Donald Trump, I am convinced, is a good and decent man who loves America.  He was a great president.  But he is not a soothing presence, and right now, with the culture in upheaval and with the economy and our place in the world so fractious and tense thanks to Biden's horrific presidency, Trump is not the essence of stability.

By contrast, Ron DeSantis has everything Trump has without the nastiness, the coarseness, the Everest-sized ego.  DeSantis understands restraint; he never shoots from the lip.  He is pleasant, substantive, and at least as politically astute as Trump.  DeSantis is far more of a traditional family man with the added benefit of having served his country in the Navy.  He is also as tough as Trump, perhaps more.  He is proactive, not reactive, possessing admirable foresight.

This is not to say that any other Republican who runs for POTUS will fare better under the fulminating dishonesty of the media, but at least with DeSantis, there is far less to attack and far more to be glad about.  And DeSantis is just as good, if not better, at handling his media detractors.  Much as I want him to stay on as guv in Florida, DeSantis is the better man to be POTUS — on every level.  It is time to move on from The Donald and bind up the wounds.

If I had Trump's ear, I would ask him not to run in 2024, if indeed he is planning to.  It is time for him to move on and find fulfillment in doing what he does best — building hotels and golf courses or perhaps entirely new building projects the world would most certainly appreciate.  Additionally, he can certainly still serve his country by being an effective kingmaker for conservative politicians.  His coattails seem to be long. 

I love Trump and wish him well.  But for the sake of America and her people, I most fervently wish he would sit this next one out.

Image: Gage Skidmore.