Nice words, nasty outcomes
~ from crypto spin to trade wars, to scandal avoidance, the Trump charade rolls on
We don’t suffer from a shortage of good intentions.
The shortfall is in actions that match our slogans.
Empathy is trending. Compassion is quoted. Kindness is curated for social feeds. But when the costs rise ~ fiscal, political, emotional ~ most people retreat, and current President of the United States lies, denies, deflects and distracts …
Empathy is cheap until it requires sacrifice. We like the idea of a caring society. We applaud leaders who say the right things. We craft policy with buzzwords. But check the headlines: cruelty is ascendant, selfishness rebranded as strategy, and geopolitics has become performance art. People vote, like sheep, buying and drinking the Kool-Aid of the daily lies.
Trade tantrums are sold as legally justified protectionism. Empathy is packaged as a brand. And there's a chasm, a widening one, between what people say and what they do. Trump’s second coming isn’t just about him. It’s about how quickly people rally behind a lie when it flatters their worldview or comforts their pocketbook. Trade deficits aren’t the threat, but willful ignorance is.
No country can claim to be a caring culture while making policy that punishes the vulnerable. This isn’t just about Trump, crypto zealots, or tariff theatre. It’s about us, about our passive complicity, our curated outrage, and our numbed response to real suffering. Empathy, if it matters at all, must live in action, not just rhetoric.
We don’t need more inspirational quotes. We need decisions grounded in equity, decency, and the courage to put people ahead of slogans.
Otherwise, the United States, and maybe Canada too, are just rearranging bumper stickers on a burning car.
The leaders of parties are elected to lead, and elections determine who is the prime minister or president - and then, those leaders have a sworn legal duty to govern in the best interests of their citizens over their personal wishes or interests.
Citizens of every democratic country should settle for nothing less.
Musing readers, here is your takeaway for today:
When care is only expressed, not exercised, the silence between words speaks loudest.
This is true of individuals in communities and workplaces, and it’s truer still in the public square, when national leaders treat truth as something to hide, rather than shine a light on, and manipulate people to serve political need.
Canadians are committed to resolving trade differences with the Trump-bully tariff threat, but all we see is smoke, mirrors, and the same old attempt to sanitize another chapter of Trump’s sordid history.
Basic Musings+ subscription is free; paid subscribers get bonus (+) content
- Archived SHORT STORIES + latest posting: Shadows on the Prairie
- Archived POETRY + latest postings … LEAD THE WAY and BAR SET HIGH, VERY HIGH
- Satisfaction tab: Here Comes Tomorrow
Other publications on my Substack:
Monday Morning Minute (32,400+) /// subscription is free; paid subscribers get bonus content
FACILITYCalgary (25,000) /// subscription is free, advertising/sponsorship
Returning this week:
REITrag
Thank you for reading Musings on Substack - the place where I publish this Musings column daily, and also post added content regularly, such as poems, short stories, and other editorial content - the ‘plus/+’ or bonus content available to ‘paid subscribers’
