Students of history in the future will shake their heads in disbelief that Trump was able to fool so many Americans into believing his lies, accepting his hypocrisy, and scaring every Republican member of Congress into submission. They will look at the unimpressive photos of him, the embarrassing, unintelligible rants, and be thankful they did not live through the degrading of American during the Trump era. This weekend was another low for Trump as he rallied his religious base to rebel against the COVID-19 precautions put forth by the CDC as the Memorial Weekend began. “Go back to church, ” he shouted, “this world is need of more prayer”. In his own brand of reckless leadership, he made no mention of supporting social distancing or wearing masks. He encouraged people to go out and enjoy themselves, and like a good “Disneyland dad” did not risk providing any form of guidance to protect those he is responsible to lead. No wonder all of his children look like shell-shocked mannequins. In close proximity to him, I imagine he is quite scary if you rely on him for money or a job.
It seems that being the U.S. President does allow you to be above the law. No matter how many times House Speaker Pelosi says, “no one is above the law”, it is not true. In this country, whether based on interpretation of the Constitution or DOJ policy, Trump has proven that a rogue president with low character and a tendency towards criminality, can get away with anything. He can slander, commit obstruction of justice, block legal subpoenas, break the rules of Twitter, spread lies and conspiracy theories, testify falsely in writing under oath to a special prosecutor, offer a bribe to the leader of a foreign country, etc., and get away with it. With certainty, as Congress gets younger and smarter, the power of the presidency will be legislatively reduced as Trump has revealed dangerous omissions in the Constitution that this country could have never imagined.
The founding fathers tried to protect us by devising the co-equal branch of government model, but Trump has taught us if a president suffers from malignant narcissism, has autocratic leanings, is a pathological liar, and a knows how to manipulate masses of people by gaslighting, democracy could crumble.People who claim to be deeply religious have decided for political, self- interested reasons, they will cherry-pick Jesus’s teachings to justify their support of Donald Trump. Republican women have decided to believe men who are accused of perpetrating sexual crimes against women are victims of disturbed, lying women to justify their position that Trump is innocent. Trump has applied his branding skills to conflate being a supporter of being a patriotic American.
His success at convincing a minority of Americans in strategically vital states that he symbolizes patriotism has degraded the power, leadership, and moral standing of the United States around the world.His insidious use of instilling fear has manipulated these Americans to believe if he loses re-election, the country will collapse in ruin.This week’s self-serving proclamation of the importance of church and prayer was another piece of evidence that Trump is a false prophet. If re-elected, and no longer in need of the base, it will become clear to them they have been used and how quickly abandoned they will become.
IN THE WORDS OF RADIO PERSONALITY AND OLD FRIEND OF TRUMP HOWARD STERN, ” I KNOW TRUMP. HE DOESN’T LIKE THE KIND OF PEOPLE IN HIS BASE. HE LOVES CELEBRITIES AND PRETTY PEOPLE. IF THESE PEOPLE SHOWED UP AT MARA-A-LAGO, HE WOULDN’T LET THEM IN.”
Trump voters don’ t have to admit publicly they have been duped. That’s embarrassing. Redemption of your character will come from not voting for him in 2020.