The 2016 US presidential election campaign was a circus. We heard Donald Trump criticize Ben Carson in September 2015 by saying, "I'll make great deals for this country. Ben can't do that. Ben's a doctor, not a deal maker....Frankly, Ben Carson is a very, very nice man but this will not be a good situation because of the fact that he's not a dealer, he's not a negotiator, and the president has to be." He criticized him a lot. There's a whole article of Trump jabbing Carson from the New York Times. You can see it here.
Yet, despite all of that. Trump picked Ben Carson for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ironically Carson turned down the job because he felt that he didn't have governmental experience. Apparently running for president (the most powerful position in the world) was good enough, however. Things that make you go hmm.
Donald Trump was also vicious towards Ted Cruz to to the point where Trump had a nickname for Cruz: "Lyin' Ted". Then apparently Ted Cruz used Donald Trump's wife's picture in his ad, which caused Trump to tweet on Twitter: "Lyin' Ted just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful Lyin' Ted or I'll spill the beans on your wife." Cruz responded back by calling Trump a sniveling coward and to leave Heidi (his wife) alone. You can't make this stuff up. You can see a few more jabs here.
Cruz then endorses Trump but refuses to say he's fit to be president in September. There's even a photo of him not looking too happy as he's making phone calls to campaign for Trump. Now as Trump is not the president-elect, Cruz praises Trump's cabinet. In fact he claims it as a team of all stars coming together.
Mitt Romney had some character and made some valid points that Trump should not be the president of the United States and got visibly upset with the GOP to the point of tears for not criticizing Trump. Now he's backtracking with a silly apology which you can see here.
Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, was a frequent and vocal critic of Trump since she supported Marco Rubio in the election campaign. She criticized Trump without mentioning his name during the Republican's response to President Obama's final State of the Union address: "During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices." Trump responded that she was "weak" on immigration. A month later, Haley commented that Trump was "everything a governor doesn't want in a president". Apparently being chosen as the ambassador to the United Nations changes all of those things.
But it's not just the Republicans. There was also a change of heart by Senator Bernie Sanders.
We heard Bernie Sanders say that Hillary Clinton wasn't qualified to be the president of the U.S. in April while Hillary said that she wasn't even sure if Bernie was a Democrat. President Obama also criticized Hillary in the 2008 election that helped Trump use it as ammunition. Trump said that he rarely agreed with Obama but agreed with Obama's 2008 negative ad about Hillary Clinton. Trump used to call the Clintons' close friends, then he wanted to "lock Hillary up", and now that he is the president-elect, he felt that the Clintons have been through enough already and will leave them alone.
In South Korea, where I currently live, there have been five massive protests demanding Park Geun Hye to resign including 2,000,000 people across the country last Saturday. Her strange relationship with Choi, Soon Shil (the daughter of a cult leader whose father was friend's with Park Chung Hee) was constantly telling her every move to make and writing her speeches. She had no experience in politics, yet had secret meetings of six people with in Nonhyun (Gangnam area of Seoul) to help dictate what President Park should do. On top of that Choi's daughter got a made up scholarship created by the president of Ehwa in to pave her way to admission to the university. You can read more of the Choi Soon-sil scandal here. There are more angles to this drama but this is enough for any president in any country to get impeached and kicked out of office.
This is politics, folks. And I'm glad that I never decided to get a career in it despite having a bachelor's degree with an emphasis in Public Administration. Politics is all about back biting, taking back scathing words you said about your opponents, and then becoming their bed fellows.
Teaching English may not be the highest paying job or the most prestigious, but it's a lot better than selling your soul to the devil.
Scott Worden (L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
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