The topic for this blog occurred to me as I was listening to NPR’s news this morning about the President taking a surprise trip to Afghanistan to basically support the troops. Personally, I firmly believe that one of the biggest - if not the biggest - problems this country, and even the world faces is the fact that we are finding it harder and harder to agree with each other. Some call this the balkanization of politics and ideas; we no longer have any common ground. So, if I feel that way, I should start with myself. So, at great personal psychic expense, and after taking a long hot shower, here follows a list of the

Top Ten Things I Agree With Donald Trump About, Despite The Fact That It Makes Me Ill To Think About (*)

1. I think it’s great that he went and supported the troops on Thanksgiving, and he seems to have genuinely done a good job of doing that.

2. As a general rule, I agree that it would be good for America to send less troops abroad and be in fewer wars and international entanglements. (Of course, the way he goes about it sucks, but in principle I agree).

3. As a general rule, I agree that China has been unfair in its trade practices, and I am glad someone is at least attempting to narrow our trade deficit with them. (Again, he isn’t great at it, but I do agree with the basic principle).

4. He did sign the proclamation supporting the pro democracy movement in Hong Kong. (Granted, he had little choice, but hey).

5. He did sign the act making animal abuse a federal offense nationwide.

6. As a general rule, I do agree that rural folks in this country got the short end of the stick in the last few decades, and I do feel bad for people whose career depended on old ways of doing things and couldn’t reeducate themselves for the new market. (Again: he’s done nothing for them, in the end. But in theory I agree.)

7. I don’t completely disagree with him when he says that there a lot of career government people who are very biased and would like to see him fail. I suspect that’s probably true. He’s been incredibly disruptive (mostly in a bad way, admittedly) and people don’t like change. I mean, let’s be honest: if I worked for the government, I would be one of them.

8. I don’t necessarily think buying Greenland is a totally stupid idea. Maybe a weird idea, and certainly not our highest priority at the moment, but, you know, it’s not the dumbest thing he’s ever said. We’ve bought territory before, after all.

9. (Side note: at this point I had to Google “Good things Donald Trump has done”. I actually found a few surprising ones including this one, which I guess is the whole point of this). Last year he signed a law allowing people who are already dying access to experimental treatments that aren’t yet approved. This is a good idea and I support it.

10. Whatever you want to say about the guy, I have to admit that he’s been exactly what he said he would be, pretty much. I don’t think you can say he represented himself dishonestly. He said he was going to be an authoritarian jerk who reminded you of your weird bigoted uncle, and then he followed through.

(*) To be clear: I think Trump is a terrible president and not a terribly good human being. That’s actually kind of the point of this exercise.