From King George to King Donald

I woke up one morning this week with a sense of joy and relief that I am an American and that, thankfully, I live in America in 2017. I realize that I live in a country that fought for our independence from England because we were facing taxation without representation.  King George saw us as a people who could be manipulated. Instead, we wrote a Declaration of Independence and fought a Revolutionary War, to gain our independence.  We wrote a Constitution and a Bill of Rights to ensure that we would never have to live under the rule of a tyrant, that we would have a government of checks and balances, and that we would become a society where all would be treated equally under the law.

To be sure, it has taken hundreds of years to inch our way towards the ideal that the Framer’s envisioned that our Constitutional Government would provide for us. We have endured slavery, the Civil War, the political game playing embedded in the Jim Crow period of our society.  Not until the passage of the Voting Rights Bill in 1965 have our African American citizens been assured of their place at the table of being equal to all. Then, in 2013, with the Robert’s Court gutting provisions of the Voting Rights Act, certain states have resorted to, again,  making it more difficult for members of our Black and Hispanic communities to vote. 

A definition of a conservative is “someone who holds onto to traditional attitudes and values and is cautious about change or innovation.” For four hundred years the social structure and economy of our the Colonies and fledgling nation thrived on slavery. Vestiges of those values are still ingrained in certain areas of the country and in certain people where there is a desire to make it difficult for Black People or anyone other than white, to vote.

It has also taken centuries for women to have the right to vote (1920) and to have the right to earn equal pay as men while performing similar work (2009).  Regardless of the Roe v Wade in 1973, women are still having to fight for their right to decide what they can do with their bodies in the area of reproductive rights.

Today, we are living hundreds of years later and yet, we are, in some ways, facing the same dynamic we were facing under King George.  In today’s version of oppression, our politics have become a tribal based, compromise is viewed as defeat, beat the other guy no matter what, and the ends justify the means way of life. Today we live in a political world where this has been extended to obstruct our first African American President, in an effort to guarantee his failure. In this effort, the conservatives did not pass any meaningful legislation to meet the real needs of our citizens during President Obama’s last six years in office.

 Infrastructure, health care, unemployment insurance issues, the needs of the poor, homeless, children going to bed at night on an empty belly, addressing the needs of our returning veterans, the funding of women’s health issues, funding for public education, to name just a few of the areas that have been neglected, have all been put on hold. With the gerrymandering that has been strategically performed to insure that a certain populations of Americans would keep their vested interests in tack, today, the majority of us face legislation without representation.

Our new “would be king” is Donald Trump.  He behaves like he knows nothing about the Bill of Rights, the workings of our Constitutional form of government of checks and balances, or the role that courts play in our American way of life. Where Obama was forced to use Executive Orders to get around a do nothing legislature and was roundly criticized as attempting to be a king, Trump is using Executive Orders in an attempt to change our way of life, without the involvement of the Republican controlled House and Congress. For Trump, the courts don’t seem to exist. And, that is what makes me feel glad to be an American at this point in our national history.  With George we said no to tyranny that led to a War of Independence. With Trump, the structures that were set up to safeguard us from future tyranny, are in place to protect us from his ignorance and dictates.

Trump has already been introduced to a “so called judge” from the state of Washington who said no to his Immigration Ban.  That ruling was heard before a Court of Appeals and was supported. So, Donald, welcome to a government of Checks and Balances.

The authoritarian Trump, who with the stroke of a pen, attempts to dictate that this will happen or that will not happen is, a part, living out his delusional world.  His view of people is that they can be manipulated and conned.  To be sure, tens of thousands of people have been, or he wouldn’t have been elected President, largely on strength of the “rust belt” vote.  For some his “make America great again” and “we’re going to build a wall,” “we are going to repeal and replace Obamacare,” and “we are going to cut taxes on corporations,” “we are going to cut regulations,” we are going to build up our military,” might seem like the answer to our problems. The devil is in the details. And, there are NO DETAILS. Where is he going to get the money for these projects? Some speculate that he is going to cut domestic spending, that is spending that is for the meeting of the needs of the very unemployed and hurting Rust Belt voters who elected him into the Oval Office.

In a March 2nd editorial that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Catherine Rampell, of the Washington Post, shares an Op-Ed piece entitled:  “America First Really Means American’s Last.” For many the title to her Op-Ed piece says it all.

It has been written, “ A con man makes you focus on what you think you can get and distracts you from everything you stand to lose.” A whole bunch of average American’s bought Don the Con’s play.  Only time and our government of checks and balances will tell how this turns out. 

farwelljs@yahoo.com

Revisiting Trump's 2016 Presidential Election Experience in 2024

I am writing this piece because, during his campaign for the Presidency, Donald Trump, rather than being an example of what we should strive to be, instead exhibited all of the qualities of the Ugly American.  His ignorance, his crass innuendo laced language, his devaluation and predatory attitude towards women, his fear mongering, his racist taunts, his call to round up Muslims, to place them in camps and to exile them, his characterization of Mexicans as rapists and criminals, his distain for American commitments made to other nations, to meeting the needs of other peoples in the world community, reveal someone who is a threat to our very values and institutions. Rather than his words and behaviors  being seen as deviant, repugnant and obnoxious, they were treated, instead, as being unconventional, novel, getting around political correctness and reflecting “plain talk.” His lack of character was, for the most part disregarded. The media was cashing in on this political aberration.   

Added to this list of concerns is his continually saying things that are not true.  When he is called on this, he reaffirms that what he has said is the truth. He has, over time, implied that President Obama has a “birther issue,” which raised the race card during Obama’s candidacy for the White House. He has also asserted that climate change is a bogus issue that was created by the Chinese. He has accused three million undocumented immigrants as having committed voter fraud in the 2016 Presidential Election.  He has claimed that this is the reason that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million votes.

He says things that are designed to stir the pot.  His referring to “Crooked Hillary,” his assertion that “he is smarter than the generals,”  “that he could kill someone one and not lose any votes,” that we are going to increase our nuclear forces, that other countries should develop their own nuclear defense capabilities, this, when decades of efforts have been made to stop nuclear proliferation.

Then there are the people with whom Trump associates.  Steven Bannon an Alt-right white supremacist and racist who has become his Chief Strategist and has become a member of the National Security Council. David Duke the head of the KKK, is another supporter of Trump and asserted that, with Trump’s election, we, Trump along with the KKK have become a part of the main stream.

 The question becomes, who or why would anyone vote for a person like Trump?  There seem to be three groupings of Trump supporters.  The first are the people who view life, women, immigrants, people of color, white supremacy and lying as Trump does.  In Clinton’s terms these are the “deplorable.” Her estimate was that this element was about half of Tump’s following.

Then, there are those who are the curious.  Like, what is this guy really all about?  Finally, we have the hopeless.  If government has been in gridlock for the past six years and my lot in life is being flushed down the toilet, any change might be better than the perceived status quo. Sadly, Hillary Clinton was perceived as a politician and the status quo, rather than being, in partnership with Bernie Sanders, truly a champion of the working and middle class.

What is Trump’s appeal?  He offers glib, nonspecific phrases like “we’re going to make America great, again.” “We’re going to build the wall and Mexico is going to pay for it.”  “America is under siege, we are going to protect America.”

His “I am the only one who is able to fix things” smacks of delusional thinking that plays well to con those who feel totally out of control or have a craving for a parent figure who will say, “trust me, I will take care of everything.” For others, who are not a part of his following, he is seen as a blowhard of the first order.  

His pledges to make America Great again refer to what part of our history?  Does he even know about American political history or the issues with which Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower or Kennedy had to deal? Could Trump begin to comprehend the three-ring circus that was the world stage during the depression, the World War II, the Cold War, the nuclear stand off between Kennedy and Khrushchev? Could anybody imagine how Trump would, with his perchance for twitter tantrums, stand up to a provacative Nikita Khrushchev? Instead of Kennedy paving the way for the removal of missiles from Cuba, with Trump’s temperament, we might have had a nuclear exchange between the United States, Cuba and the Soviet Union.

Trump’s words and behaviors are showing themselves to be the opposite of what he has pledged to the middle and working class families that are struggling to make ends meet.  His pitch to voters was a combination of lies and a con.  Instead of working for the middle and working class, he is favoring Wall Street over Main Street.  Simply look at the Wall Street Billionaires whom he has brought into his Cabinet.  His Secretary of Labor is against unions and minimum wages.  His Eneregy Secretary does not believe in climate change. His Secretary of Education, a billionaire, is against public schools.  His Cabinet is made up of the wealthy ones who are going to gain tax cuts that will enhance their profits.  

As for the rest of us, among other things, Trump is attempting to overturn governmental regulations like the fiduciary requirement that requires that someone who is managing a client’s retirement plan has to have the best interest of their client as the focus of their efforts.  He, also, wants to roll back regulations that will allow industrial waste to run into our waterways and airborne waste that will pollute the air that we breathe.

What he is not telling his audience is that the jobs that were available in the past have been replaced by robotic technology or work forces that expect workers to work for less. The world of the 1950’s does not exist today. We are in the “new normal” phase of our American history. In order to buy merchandise, we need money in our pockets to pay for merchandise.  Where are we going to get that money?  For the most part, our wages have been frozen for the past 30 years. People are working shorter hours, with irregular work schedules, often times with no benefits.  Retirement is out of the question for the majority of seniors.

In addition, Trump wants to eliminate the safety net that President Roosevelt created to protect citizens for the possibility of an economy that might tank as it did in 1929 and again in 2008.  Trump wants to privatize social security, Medicare and health care services.

Trump is also using scapegoating as a way to mobilize people.  The Nazi’s did this with the Jews, Reagan did it with the “evil empire,” Trump is doing it with immigrants, the media and anyone else who serves to rally support against his delusional world. ‘Them is the bad guys’ is the ploy and for a fraction of the population it works. And, don’t forget facts.  In Trump’s delusional world, opinion trumps facts, there are alternative facts and the world, according to Trump, is defined by what Trump wants it to be. Why? because he says so. Is this a democracy with checks and balances or a Trumpty-Dumpty dictatorship in the making?

As Tavis Smiley says: “Keep the faith.” In addition to "keep the faith,"I would say, don’t settle for Trump’s status quo.  If we are not going to get compassionate adult leadership from a man-child, we will have to rely upon the adults within our communities to speak truth to power and bare the responsibility of true citizenship, until such time as we have a true adult in the Oval Office.  

And finally, Trump’s “election” demonstrates an imperfection in our voting process.  We have no way to filter out an emotionally unfit or duplicitous person from being elected to the Presidency.  If someone, like Trump, gains enough Electoral College Votes, they are elected regardless of their fitness to serve. This avenue to potential disaster needs to be revisited.  The consequences for allowing someone who is emotionally unfit to enter the White House are potentially cataclysmic and, we require and deserve better.       

The First Fourteen Days of the Trump Era: A Look At His Ignorance, Immaturity and Impulsiveness

The era of Trump has begun.  Among other things, this new beginning entails the dismantling of protections against banking fraud, environmental safeguards, the undercutting of the rights of working people and the destruction of public education, as we know it. Then there is the alienation of our allies, making provocative threats to Iran and conflicts with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Australia and it has been only14 days.

Donald Trump is many things. As an almost 70 year old, he behaves like a 5^th grader, a 10 year old, in his usage of words and in his manner of expressing himself and in his responses to others, particularly others who incur his displeasure.  His confusion between what he says and what he says he says is thought to be a symptom of his having a short attention span. Go to Google and refer to his speech at the recent Prayer Breakfast to see his rambling, incoherent, disjointed thinking and speech patterns.

Then again, we have numerous psychiatrists asserting that Trump, is a classic narcissist.  What is a narcissist and how appropriate is it to have a narcissist in the Oval Office?  Narcissism is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a “a mental disorder in which people have;

·      an inflated sense of their own importance, “ I know more than the generals,” “I’m the only one who can solve our problems,”

·      a deep need for admiration, his craving crowds of people at rallies, and

·      a lack of empathy for others as demonstrated by his behavior in relation to the Kahn family. 

·      But, behind this mask of ultra-confidence, lies a fragile self esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.”  Again we have seen that when Trump is criticized, his response is to attack his critic mercilessly. His tweet tantrums are an example of this.

Trump also uses provocation as a way of gaining attention.  “Look at that face, who would vote for her, in reference to Carly Fiorina. He seems to enjoy creating firestorms around himself as a way of feeding his need for gaining the attention and consternation of others.

  

There are now efforts being made to  “normalize” Trump. The fact is that he lies continuously about just about everything. So do his spokes people, most notably Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway and Mike Pence.  His supporters characterize his misstatement of facts as either not having been made, they are “alternative facts” or they are “his opinion.”  Pence goes so far as to deny what Trump has said and further sanitizes his lies by saying “that how refreshing it is to have someone in Trumps standing as President to “tell us what is on his mind.”  

So we either have a pathological liar as President or someone who has short-term memory problems and will not remember what he has said, or an emotionally developed 10 year old as the “leader of the free world?”

His first two weeks in office have demonstrated his ignorance, immaturity and impulsiveness. His ban on immigration completely revealed his ignorance about the current twenty step vetting process that is now in place among these Muslim  countries, whose citizens he has determined should not be allowed into the United States. While it is true that we can always improve our procedures around vetting potential immigrants, we have had no history of anyone from his list of potential threats having committed any crime against the United States. The fact that in Muslim countries where he has business interest, no such ban was initiated, is not lost on the public and media.

In addition, his ban, which he said was a ban, as did Kellyanne Conway and his White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, all of whom now say was not a ban, only strengthens ISIL’s contention that the West is at war with Muslims and has provided Isil with a recruiting tool that will help to benefit their recruitment goals.  Trump’s ban has also made it difficult for our Muslim allies to feel secure in siding with the United States in fighting against ISIL.

  

His decision to perform a raid in Yemen, using the SEAL TEAM 6 was decided over dinner rather than in the Situation Room.  His vetting process and consideration of options and the pros and cons of this problem plagued mission are now the subject of intense scrutiny by the Fourth Estate and those whose job it is to evaluate such missions. 

Trump has also restructured the National Security Counsel by adding a political consultant, Steve Bannon of Alt-Right notoriety, a former Naval Lieutenant, and placing the attendance of the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, and the Director of National Intelligence on an as needed basis.  Up to now it was considered totally against the best interests of the National Security Counsel decision making process to consider issues of politics in any such deliberations they might have around our national security.

And, two final thoughts in this weeks reflections about What’s What…in a recent interview between Mike Pence and Judy Woodruff of NPR regarding Steve Bannon’s addition to the National Security Council, Pence promoted Bannon from a Lieutenant to the rank of Naval Captain.  The reason to mention this misstatement is because, such misstatements give a picture of how ill prepared Pence was for this interview with Woodruff.  It also gives a glimpse into how poorly prepared Trump’s support team has seemed to be around any number of decisions that have been made during these past two weeks.

  

And secondly, Trump is, now, angry at the media, “the news that is rigged and reporters, pundits and others who are scum” …Point of fact, without the media providing him with nearly two billion dollars of free air time during his candidacy, he would never have been nominated or elected President.  His outrageousness served as the lead story each night, by the likes of Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff of NPR. His freak show appeal was compelling material for both the printed and television media and the likes of SNL.  We are now, like it or not, living out the reality of that freak show outrageousness.

Until next time….

  

For Trump, By Losing, He Wins

It has been an ongoing suspicion of mine that Donald Trump’s candidacy for President is nothing more than a con job being played out on the American people. When you look at the kinds of outrageous things that he has said to get a rise out of audiences, his doing nothing strategically or logistically that would assure him of having a successful nation wide campaign, and his being delusional enough to think that he can get away with such assurances as “believe me, I’m good at making deals,” what are we to believe? The idea that he is an innovator and is breaking the existing mold for a candidate for national office is a part of the con that the media reinforces.

 While he is his most entertaining self when he spontaneously makes outrageous statements such as “John McCain is a loser,” or that “Hillary Clinton is a bigot,” or “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay” these are examples of his reckless, disregarding free form way of approaching life. His words and behaviors bring out the worst in certain segments of the public and cast a pall of decadence over our whole political process. 

 He also has a reoccurring tendency to play the victim card as a way of his not taking responsibility for the consequences of his words and behavior. He has said on more than one occasion, that the election “is rigged against me,” and that “the media is against me.” Such statements give him a needed face saving way out of losing the election.

No serious candidate who is committed to running for President thinks in terms of losing the race two months before the election. He has already suggested that if he loses the election, he will go back to a nice life and make tons of money, while poor Hillary will be dealing with issue after issue and only making $400,000 a year.

Trump seems to be all about the excitement and rush of the conquest and the reactions of the crowd and not about the responsibility, commitment, and privilege of governing a nation. In his world, it is all about “me” and not about we.  In truth, if he were to win the election, he would be pouring himself into a straight jacket of required expectations and behaviors that run counter to who he is.

In Trumps world, by his doing things that ensure his losing the election, blaming his defeat on the “rigged elections” and “negative media coverage” and not having to pour himself into a straight jacket of required expectations and behaviors, he would actually be a winner.