Musings on the Future of My Substack and Trump

“When people are starved for information, their imagination fills the void with the darkest possibilities.” Unknown

Is Trump shooting himself in the foot?

As I await my survey results and try to establish an identity, theme, goal, call it what you will for this Substack, I am pulled in multiple directions. My eldest daughter, who is a licensed therapist and has a wonderful, funny, informative Substack and Instagram presence, has made some excellent suggestions, but I am still stuck in place faced with too many options. Which way to go?

I want to be relatable. I want to be funny. I want to be relevant. I want to be deep and trivial at the same time. I want to be medical and non-medical. You could say I want to be all things to all people. In 1 Corinthians 9:22, the Apostle Paul says, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some". I don’t claim even the most remote equivalency to Paul and I am not trying to save souls here, as important as that may be; I am just trying to write and, in writing, engage with as many readers as possible.

Drawing from the writings of one of the wisest men in the history of mankind, I remember the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." From this I draw perhaps the first piece of the puzzle that is this Substack- finding my why. Why do I write?

The answer to that is easy. I write because I love it. Having been an avid reader all my life, writing comes naturally. Is it much the same as my discovery of my passion for surgery. It was an epiphany, which forever altered the trajectory of my life. I write things even if I know nobody will ever read them. I write to organize my thoughts and to give voice to them. I want to share my reflections and opinions because I enjoy reading those of others. I write because I think I have something to say.

I also write as an outlet for my emotions, both elation and dismay, hope and despair, in equal measure. The past few years have been an emotional roller coaster ride fluctuating between the two and, sometimes, experiencing the two almost simultaneously. And let us not forget humor. As my daughter perceptively pointed out, we need to see the funny in life and laugh, lest we cry.

As I sought to write something this morning, I read something that demanded I respond in some way.

This post by a better writer than I spoke to me deeply. He expressed my exact thoughts in words that I have not been able to assemble into a coherent post of my own. I can do no better than to reference it below. The post addresses the ongoing controversy, I would say crisis, arising from the handling of the Jefferey Epstein files. Here is a quote:

“Oh, somewhere in this favored land, the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville--great Casey has struck out. — Casey At The Bat

Hubris is a terrible vice. It blinds the mind from critique and elevates the color of arrogance in a personality. President Trump is in his toughest moment. In one mighty miscalculation, he has allowed that hubris to change a cherished relationship with the people of the land. He’s given the media and his biggest critics the ammunition to shower the MAGA world with an overwhelming dose of “I told you so’s.” Trump is suddenly looking like what his critics have said he always was, and the base is starting to wonder if some of the characterizations might just have a hint of truth in them. Could Trump be a fake and a fraud who never really loved the people? I don’t think that is true of the President, but the optics are terrible, and the longer this goes on, the louder those questions will become. Hopefully, he takes the sneer off his lip and, for the sake of the country, finds a way to connect on what looks to be a self-inflicted, tricky pitch to hit.”

Aaron Everitt

This post is worth reading by all thoughtful persons who, like me, are dismayed at the recent turn of events. The link is below.

Trump’s Fifth Avenue Test

Everitt perfectly expresses my conflicted feelings of anger, frustration, dismay, and a small ray of hope that perhaps there is method to this madness and all will be explained in the course of time. Time, however, is not what President Trump has. I believe, like millions who have viewed him hopefully as an answer to the illiberatity, gaslighting, and missteps of the past administration, that this current crisis, if not dealt with properly, threatens to undo all the good he has done so far and will taint the remainder of his administration.

In the haze of conflicting information, I look to the verse in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

As to my Substack, we’ll see what the weeks to come will bring. The journey continues……..

Richard T. Bosshardt, MD FACS

It is my hope that this book will be of interest to lay readers of all ages, physicians, medical students and students considering a career in medicine, and anyone who has ever had, or considered, plastic surgery, or know someone who has. Available on Amazon in eBook and paperback.