Five Things I Wish President Trump Would Stop Doing

Yes, I voted for him in 2016, 2020, and 2024… although I supported Ted Cruz in the GOP primary in 2016 and Ron DeSantis in the GOP primary in 2024. So, there you have it, my cards are all on the table. I love almost all of President Trump’s policies, but sometimes his personal behavior drives me crazy.

Like, for instance, his recent Truth Social post that pictured an AI-generated Pope Donald I. Funny to some, tasteless to others, unnecessary to virtually everyone.

Just stick to governing, Mr. President, please.

In any case, here are five things that I wish Mr. Trump would refrain from doing because if they bother me – someone who has voted for him three times – just imagine the response they generate from his detractors.

1. Talking about running for a third term. Actually, President Trump admitted this week that he never seriously considered such a thing, he just wanted to get a rise out of the liberal left. OK, so you accomplished your mission, but at what cost? You swore to uphold the Constitution and then teased the possibility of circumventing it for months. Why stir a pot that was already boiling over, Mr. President?

2. Talking about Canada becoming America’s 51st state. My son and I traveled to Banff, Alberta last July on a trip that he won for reaching certain sales goals with his company. Because his Nigerian wife wasn’t able to get her passport in time, I was a last-minute replacement… and a grateful one at that, because I have never seen a more beautiful place in my life. The turquoise waters of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake in Banff National Park are simply beyond description as are the rest of the Canadian Rockies.

Everywhere we went, we were treated extremely well, and the favorable exchange rate made it tempting to pack our suitcases with loads of Canadian souvenirs. However, a lot has changed in a year, and Americans are now persona non grata above the 49th parallel. After all, no one likes being told that their country is about to be absorbed by another even more powerful nation.

I hope things change, because I love carrying a pocketful of “loonies and toonies”, the Canadian one and two-dollar coins, and their paper money is so much prettier than ours. More than that, their scenery is breathtaking and there is nothing better than a maple sugar flavored cookie… and poutines aren’t bad either. And yes, Tim Horton’s is far superior to Dunkin Donuts (trust me on this one).

3. Talking about annexing Greenland. Actually, I am not opposed to the idea for all the reasons President Trump has articulated such as national defense and natural resources. However, I am surprised that the author of The Art of the Deal doesn’t realize that such negotiations are better handled in private. I can’t imagine Thomas Jefferson bloviating at Versailles about buying France’s land holdings in North America. Instead, he sent James Monroe, Robert Livingston, and Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours to negotiate on his behalf in private with French Treasury Minister François Barbé-Marbois.

Three years and $15 million later, the United States completed the Louisiana Purchase and more than doubled in size for less than 3 cents per acre.

4. Changing his mind about tariffs. Ok, I get it, I am not an economist or a world-class negotiator. And yes, I understand that America has been on the short-end of the stick as far as international trade deals are concerned for far too long. But it seems like President Trump changes the conditions of the various tariffs – their amounts or their dates of implementation – almost daily. My head feels like it’s on a swivel… and the stock market’s gyrations are aggravating my vertigo.

How about waiting until a deal is finalized before announcing the details instead of changing the terms every 15 minutes or so?

5. Referencing Joe Biden, the 2020 election, or anything that happened before January 20, 2025. Yes, Joe Biden was a dismal failure as a president and yes, Kamala Harris was an absolute train-wreck as a candidate. However, both of them are in the rearview mirror and you should be focused on leading America forward, so please stop talking about them. Likewise, stop mentioning the supposedly stolen election of 2020 or for that matter, your decisive win in 2024. Nobody likes a sore loser or a gloating winner. Turn the page and govern… period. You only have three and a half years left to make a difference – and less than that if the GOP loses the midterms – so put all your energy into the next 18 months and pray that we keep the majority in both houses of Congress. If not, you will be a lame duck for your final two years and I don’t see that ending well for you or your potential successor.