My worst fears about
the President are proving to be true. He is an incompetent President who is guided
by whim and little else. The latest and
perhaps the most egregious manifestation happened yesterday at a press conference
that was supposed to be about rebuilding this country’s infrastructure –
something has the support of both political parties. Instead he could not help himself
and spoke about the violent clash between white supremacist hate groups (which included
swastika carrying Neo Nazis and members of the KKK) and counter protesters.
It was an astonishing reversal of his unequivocal condemnation
of those hate groups the day before. Yesterday he decided to double down on ‘blaming
both sides’. Thereby leaving the impression of moral equivalency between hate
groups and those protesting them.
The President was rightly attacked for those comments by a
wide variety of people on both sides of the political aisle from all walks of
life. There is no moral equivalency between the two sides. Hate groups pure are
evil. Counter protesters were on the right side of the issue.
The President added fuel to his fire by saying that there
some good people on both sides. That it wasn’t only hate groups protesting but
good people. People that simply were protesting the removal an iconic
Confederate statue. And not motivated by hate.
I’m sorry. Anyone that stands with neo Nazis for any reason
is not a good person, even if they were there to express a legitimate grievance
that had nothing to do with hating anybody. You don’t stand with Nazis for any
reason. If you do, then you are standing
with evil. That a President can come anywhere near saying something like
that, let alone saying it outright, is beneath the dignity of his office in
unprecedented ways. It besmirches not only his own reputation, but that of its
people and of this nation whose principles reject racism and bigotry.
I am still stunned that this man was elected President. And
yet he is.
That said, if we examine the truth, I have to agree that
there was violence on both sides. And I even suspect that it may have been
started by the ‘good guys’ – those who were there to protest the Nazis. They in
effect played right into the hands of those neo Nazis who came prepared for
violence – hoping it would come so that could bash a few heads in. They got their
wish and that is exactly what happened.
I say now as I said then. Had the counter protesters asked
me, I would have told them to stay home. But they came. Some of them came for a
fight – to physically fight evil with violence. Now I’m sure that is most of
them came to protest the neo Nazis peacefully with some very loud voices. But a
small segment of them were not going to stand by idly and let these hate groups
march. They attacked them. I don’t think that there can be any argument about
that. I believe the Charlottesville police department actually confirmed that.
So in effect, Trump is technically right. But saying that in
this context where it will be seen as granting these hate groups moral equivalency
with the counter protesters is a foolish and stupid thing to do. Because that
is clearly the reaction of every observer. Including people like former KKK
leader David Duke who was one of the few people that praised the President’ for
having the ‘courage’ to tell the ‘truth’! This will no doubt embolden these
hate groups to carry on their racist crusade for ‘white America’. Which is what
their protest last week was really about. That was evident by their repeated refrain
of ‘Jews will not replace us!’ –as they marched carrying torches. Which was reminiscent
of images recorded during the Holocaust of Nazi soldiers carrying torches marching
in Germany.
Being right about a particular fact does not justify what
Trump did. He seems incapable of seeing the bigger picture. He does not seem to have the intelligence to
make those kinds of judgments. Or worse
he is doing it to retain the ‘hate group’ vote – as some have suggested.
I happen to think it is the former. Because he has not
recanted his unequivocal condemnation of those hate group that he made the day
before. He reiterated it when challenged by a reporter yesterday. He also made clear that the driver that rammed
his car into the crowd of counter protesters killing one young woman is a
murderer. But that was almost beside the point of his rant which sent the message
of moral equivalency. It was equally foolish to criticize people that were
there to protest these hate groups, most of whom came there to do that
peacefully.
I continue to be disgusted by this man and am more embarrassed by
his presidency than ever. His oversize ego is so huge he actually believes he
can do no wrong and that every word out of his mouth is a pearl of wisdom. He
thinks that every word he utters should be taken as gospel. A man that insults his enemies with lies, half
truths, and innuendo - never taking the blame for anything that goes wrong.
Frankly I don’t know how his children put up with him. Nor can I understand how
his Chief of Staff John Kelly can
continue in that role after this.
And yet, as much as I would like it to be so, I don’t think
Trump has committed any high crimes and misdemeanors for which he can be
impeached - and then removed from office. I don’t believe that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will find what everyone is hoping he will – a smoking gun showing
that Trump himself colluded with the
Russians to undermine his opponent during the election.
This man is here to stay for the rest of his 4 year term.
Let us pray that he will be defeated in the next election. We will just have to
hold our collective noses until then and hope the country will survive. I think
it will. We are stronger than just one man – even the President. The polls show his approval ratings at historic
lows for any President. If that is any kind of indicator, he will be defeated
in a landslide. On the other hand, polls have been shown to not be very unreliable
predictors of how people will vote. Hillary Clinton will tell you that. God help
us all.
