HAVEN’T WE HAD ENOUGH?
Dr. Common Good
Really, how much of this can the nation take? This president is and has been an insult to all that this country purports to represent, however imperfectly. Just in the past two weeks:
- He openly said, dismissively, that he could “wipe Afghanistan off the face of the earth if he wanted to.” What president of the United States, much less any other country, says such things?
- He held, and reveled in, a grotesque and ugly rally in North Carolina following a string of racist tweets demanding that four duly elected Congresspersons “go back to where they came from,” prompting the crowd at his “rally” to chant “send them back, send them back” as he basked in the success of his manipulation. He followed this rally with a transparently phony attempt to reframe his actions, then reversed himself and bragged about the “great chant” by “great patriots.” The last time the country has seen such noxious and contemptible public discourse was when the openly racist George Wallace was running for President, way back in 1968.
- As a direct result of Trump’s ignorant, disgraceful and unjust “policy” (if it can be called that) regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israelis just callously knocked down buildings housing Palestinian apartments near East Jerusalem, in Palestinian territory, forcing all within to lose their homes – with no recourse. The Israelis claimed that those buildings were a security risk. This continues, very openly, the ongoing pattern of human rights violations committed by Netanyahu’s Israel, aided and abetted by Trump policy – or lack thereof (I do not even count Kushner’s “Palestinian Economic initiative”).
- This week, an army of white-shirted thugs brutally beat Hong Kong protesters with metal rods. The thugs are widely held to have come from China at the behest of the Chinese government. Trump’s reaction? A shrug, and a nonchalant statement that things have been “peaceful.” His utter lack of any principled statement of concern is a result of a previous, obsequious promise he made to Chinese president Xi Jing Ping that he would not interfere in whatever China chose to do in Hong Kong. It is also completely consistent with his fundamentally un-American embrace of authoritarians and dictators.
- In a television interview, Trump, with his usual smirk, commented that he is the “best thing to happen to Puerto Rico.” Nauseating.
- In the past several weeks, multiple investigative reports and even testimony from Border Patrol staff have revealed once again the depths of Trump’s crude, inhuman, and despicable “internment camps” for people fleeing from Central America. He is completely ignorant regarding the circumstances prompting their migration, racist and vile in his characterizations of these children and families, and his senior political advisor Stephen Miller is now calling for an end to all refugee admittance to the U.S. Are there no depths to which he will not go? Is there no respect for American history and values?
- Once again, regarding the impending Mueller testimony, Trump repeated his brazen, outlandish lie that Mueller is “conflicted” because he wanted to be Attorney General and Trump did not pick him, and because of a “business dispute” at one of his golf clubs. He will make up any vile, base and manipulative lie to position himself as the one always on top. Of course, he finished off that specious tale with his usual fabrication — “no collusion, no obstruction.”
- This week the Congressional Budget Office announced that the budget deficit under Trump has grown to $22 trillion, up about $2 trillion since Trump took office. This year’s deficit is $750 billion, up 25% over last year. Where art thou, o fiscally conservative Republicans? Nowhere. Cowered by Trump. Why? He is a venal coward unworthy of any respect whatsoever.
- The Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Obama, which had clearly been effective with respect to its goal of controlling Iran’s nuclear program, has truly began to unravel and Trump’s sanctions are driving Iran to new alliances with China and Russia, and to aggressive actions in the Gulf. This is ignorant and dangerous, and prosecuted by his Secretary of State Pompeo, whose transparent focus on Iran stands in stark contrast to his tacit acceptance of egregious human rights violations by Saudi Arabia, acceptance of Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, and total lack of objection to Assad’s revived, brutal reign in Syria, supported by the Russians (and, to be fair, by Iran’s Hezbollah surrogate as well, which is a fully legitimate subject for criticism of Iran).
- With no replacement plan, Trump and his fellow Republican minions are litigating a case against Obamacare that they hope will be the final blow, resulting in the loss of health insurance for millions of Americans.
- Trump’s Department of Agriculture proposed new rules that would cut some 3 million people from the food stamp program, continuing a trend of cutting funds from programs for poor and vulnerable Americans — even while previously passing a massive tax cut to corporations.
- Recently, the Trump administration is seeking to fire key scientists who work on climate change from the Agriculture Department, following previous cuts in science staff and the advisory board at the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies. His climate denial and destruction of regulations benefits when Americans know less.
And this week, last week, and all the weeks since his campaign and election, Trump continues to disgrace the name and standing of the United States in the world.