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President Donald Trump has admirable courage.

He’s also smart, bold, creative and driven.

Unfortunately, amidst all those great qualities is a fatal flaw – a decisive lack of social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual maturity.

Let the moaning and groaning begin. 

Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll flesh that out a bit.

Like most conservative thinkers, I wish my observation wasn’t true.

Unfortunately, it is, and unlike a lot of other conservative thinkers, I find myself unable to glance over the stark reality of the most powerful man in the world exhibiting behaviors right out of a middle-schooler handbook.

Fortunately, most of President Trump’s adolescent behaviors are low on the catastrophic scale. He’s not burning down the school – he’s smoking in the bathroom via tweets, personal insults and exaggeration. 

Lest the good folks on the left linger in grinning satisfaction, in comparison, your leadership pool makes President Trump look like a paragon of personal sensibility.

What is the mental age necessary to see abandoning our borders as a good thing?

How does an indifference to the glories of new life and the sanctity of motherhood translate into wisdom?

How do public policies defined by special interests over the common good; criminals over law-abiding citizens; big government over big people; and robbing Peter to pay your favored Paul over equal opportunity; find remote traction with the concept of responsible leadership? 

Watch essentially any spokesperson for the left, and a dependable pattern of immaturity (in some cases, pathology might be a better word) emerges.

Here are a few samples:

 • Obfuscation — A big word that simply means to obscure reality. The left does that by dodging questions, reframing questions, and ignoring questions in deference to their preferred narrative. Remarkably, they do it almost every time.

 • Dishonesty — People of the lie (those who have lost their connection to morality) tend to miss a reliable truism – the more you lie, the more you will lie again and the less you will know it. Liars win up front, but they, and their acolytes, are guaranteed to lose later. That’s because nothing good can be created without the crucial ingredient of truth.

 • Denial — Closely related to dishonesty is the tendency to overlook and otherwise evade the truth.  Alcoholics, child porn enthusiasts, and drug addicts depend on denial to support their misguided behaviors. Political addicts do the same.

• Power — Though liberal politicians like to proclaim their dedication to “democracy,” “the American people,” “freedom,” “compassion,” and “humanity,” as evidenced by their behavior (the truest mark of sincerity), power is their real deal. Note Asheville as a prime example. Every elected position in the city and county is filled by a liberal-progressive-socialist-anarchist-Democrat of one flavor or another. Every single one, and no one says anything about it. Power is job one for the left.

 • Hate— Watch liberal protests and you will persistently witness anger, malice, aggression, profanity, and violence of one form or another. Those are the ingredients of hate and hateful people rarely do anything that is of mature value.

Yes, we’re still left with the fact that President Trump is immature.

I’m afraid that’s in his nature, and at 80 years of age, I don’t think he’s going to change.

Unfortunately for the left, their political party of choice is even more graphically immature, and no more inclined to personal growth and development than King Tut’s mummy.

If you were alive during Ronald Reagan’s time in office, you’ll remember that he was relentlessly attacked, vilified, shot and otherwise degraded by his opposition.

Unlike President Trump, President Reagan pressed through the maddening crowds with dignity, humor, and grace.

President Trump would do himself, his party, our country and the world at large a great service if he would use our country’s 250th anniversary for a maturity pause that refreshes us all.

That’s not likely to happen for two big reasons:

• One – he’s more interested in moving forward than inward.

• Two – most of the voters on both sides are even less mature than he is.

It should tell us something that in recent elections we’ve elected a racist pretender, King Tut look-a-like, and a narcissist to command our ship.

In all cases, we’ve gotten what we’ve earned.

That’s how it works. To change things, we’ve got to change us.

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Conserve [v. kuhn-surv] To use or manage wisely; preserve, save...

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Carl Mumpower is a practicing psychologist and former member of Asheville City Council. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .