Opinion: Donald Trump’s Achilles heel

Donald Trump boasts that his chief accomplishment and chief qualification to be president is his success in business. He has indeed achieved immense prosperity and wealth in the world of business with his many luxurious hotels, resorts, casinos, shops, etc; however, he does not seem to understand that the true function of government is very different and more complicated than the object of big business.

According to the United States Constitution, the federal government was created to “form a more perfect union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” The Constitution does not say anything about making a profit and discharging many of these roles requires huge expenditures which may result in budget deficits. Will Mr. Trump cut services to the needy in order to boast a profitable balance sheet. Does he empathize with poor people and the little guy?

Of course, economic efficiency and the elimination of waste and fraud are extremely important and in these areas Mr. Trump should shine. But, he needs to convince the American people that he really cares about them and won’t sacrifice their well-being for a better bottom line.

At this point, Mr. Trump’s chief qualification, his business skills, is also his chief liability. So far, he seems to fail to recognize the true purpose of government. According to Heather Long for CNN, Trump went so far as to say, “I know all the smart businessmen who should be running things in Washington.” He needs to prove that he fully understands that big government is very different and far more complicated than big business.

While it is very important to be prudent with taxpayers’ dollars and not to waste taxpayers’ money, it is more important to fairly and compassionately perform the many complicated jobs of government.