As a show of respect for the office of the presidency, former Presidents traditionally withhold public criticism of their successor. They also avoid publicly opposing the sitting President’s policies. However, Obama felt compelled to sound the alarm that Donald Trump’s performance as President is threatening the survival of America’s democracy. He said Americans should ” expect a President to be the custodian of our democracy. We should expect regardless of ego, ambition, or political beliefs, expect a president to preserve, protect, and defend the freedoms and ideals, so many Americans have marched for, went to jail for, fought for, and died for.” Obama then stated Trump had shown more concern for his own interests than that of the counties.
- No president is above the law.
Trump should consider himself lucky that Obama did not enumerate all of the documented constitutional violations he has committed. The Emoluments Clause violations, quid-pro-quo actions with foreign countries, obstruction of justice, abuse of power, misappropriation of Congressionally designated funds went unmentioned by Obama. However, he did say;
- No president should use the office to enrich themselves.
- A Commander- in- Chief should not use the military as political props to deploy against peaceful protestors.
- A President should not call his opponents “unAmerican or refer to the free press as the “enemy.”
- A President should take no actions to make it harder for people to vote.
These statements made the case that Trump has not kept his oath of office to honor and follow the laws written into the Constitution. Obama addressed the character issue Trump displays by describing him as a President who shows little care for the millions of Americans who are not part of his base and “treats the job like a reality TV show to get the attention he craves.”
Along with Obama, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris stressed the importance of having a plan for how we are going to vote and to consider voting early. Throughout the convention, speakers expressed concern and disgust about Trump’s attempt to sabotage the efficiency of the U.S. Post Office to suppress the vote. The theme of the night centered around the power of the right to vote and that voting is the foundation of our election. The Democrats demonstrated passion about protecting the integrity of the upcoming election and to be prepared for continued assaults on the USPS by Trump and his appointees.
The Republican Convention will undoubtedly have Trump lying about the status of the pandemic, touting a great economy despite record-high unemployment numbers and a crashing GDP, calling Black Lives Matter protestors anarchists, and labeling Joe Biden as a corrupt traitr and cognitively incompetent. However, those who watched tonight’s convention must remember the need exists to protect our democracy from Trump’s autocratic goals. The statement, “the only way we can lose is if the election is rigged,” should convince every American that Trump views our constitution as a document he honors only when it supports his personal and political interests. He consistently breaches his oath of office, and that is why President Obama spoke out so candidly against him.
In full dictator mode, Trump is suggesting he may not accept the outcome of the election and has even said he should be allowed to add four years to his term because Obama spied (unfounded accusation) on his campaign. This opposition to how democracy works should be a deciding factor in defeating him. Trump has continued to show how retaining power and furthering his own personal interests is what he is all about as a person and as a president. A new concern emerged this week regarding his pathological self-serving character. He announced support for a Qanon, a fringe group recently named by the FBI as a “domestic terrorist” group. The group believes Trump has been sent to”face down a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophiles.” In true, manipulative, “play dumb” strategy, Trump claims to know very little about them, but believes these are people “who love their country, and he hears that they like him very much.” The fact that a man so psychologically impaired, criminally inclined, and unpatriotically self-serving is still considered by some Americans to be qualified to remain President of the United States is as concerning that he ever got elected in the first place. It seems America needs a weekly televised therapy session led by qualified psychiatrists and therapists to offer free therapy to teach Americans how to self-reflect on their tendencies towards cultism, magical-thinking, hatred, and low self-esteem.
Bany Boomer Resisstance Part 2 A Movement to Save Democracy. Posts from Impeachment to COVID
