by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump is vain beyond measure, steeped in rage and revenge, and seems almost proud of his willful ignorance. His personality, in sum total, is deeply flawed and appears to be getting worse on an almost daily basis.
The past several days have highlighted Trump's drift away from reality. His primary focus for the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be how it is effecting his hopes for re-election. Trump got into a loud confrontation with some of the nation's governors last week when he declared that HE would soon be deciding on how and when to reopen the economy. The governors who even bothered to respond to his bluster informed Trump and the country that they would be making those decisions - not him.
And then, as if to add another layer of confusion to the situation, Trump decided to create a "task force" on re-opening the economy. He appointed 32 House members to his committee, including a few Democrats, and 64 Senators, including a dozen Democrats. Trump's task force also included every Republican United States senator, save one. He declined to make Mitt Romney of Utah a member of the elite group. Romney had voted to remove Trump from office on one article of impeachment, and Trump is nothing if not vengeful.
But some others in the White House got the presidential ear and reminded Trump that if he made a big show about opening the economy back up, and then death numbers from the pandemic began surging, people would blame him. Trump who loves to wallow in glory and adulation - but never, ever accepts blame or responsibility for anything, rethought his position and announced that he was going to "allow" governors to make the decisions on when and how to get the nation working again.
In the end it was all sound and fury - signifying nothing.
Trump had also been trying to find a fall guy for the pandemic, someone to take the onus of the catastrophe off of himself. At first he blamed China with a vengeance, trying to stoke some strong anti-Asian bigotry among his already bigoted base. But this week he landed on a new target and pointed the finger at the UN's World Health Organization, a group that monitors pandemic situations and is key to making recommendations to combat them - but has no actual control of medical decisions in any country. Trump blames the WHO for somehow letting the situation get out of control, and he announced that he was going to begin withholding US aid to the vital organization. The US is the largest funder to the WHO, and the loss of US aid could be devastating to the health of peoples around the globe - particularly during a pandemic.
There was also a big Trump ordeal about the stimulus checks for individuals that was approved with the first stimulus package. The Treasury Department made deposits into the accounts of 80 million individuals last week - those on which it had banking information, but the remainder will have to go out in the form of official checks to households. That process was reportedly slowed when Trump insisted on having his name and signature printed on each of the checks, something which not only served to stroke his vanity but also make it appear to voters that he was responsible for the most welcome windfall - a nice - and free - re-election ploy.
(When Congress passed the stimulus package, it neglected to include a provision to protect the emergency funds from being confiscated by banks with claims against the individuals. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, himself a banker, gave banks a wink and a nod and basically encouraged them to grab the relief funds. The banks were being stimulated, the people screwed.)
Trump, of course, kept trying to run the daily pandemic briefings where he sought to shape and spin the news that was released - while enjoying more free time in front of the voting public.
Just in case the confusion began to wane, Trump opened up an assault on Congress with a threat of summarily "adjourning" the institution so that he could get some of his cracker judge appointees onto the bench as "recess" appointments. While both chambers of Congress are not technically working, both have skeleton crews on duty. The Senate "gavels in" a pro forma session each day even if only a few members are present. Perhaps Trump is sensing that his time in the White House is rapidly approaching its end and along with it his opportunity to foul the nation with his dirty deeds.
And then earlier this morning Trump posted a series of three tweets encouraging people to "liberate" three states which happen to have Democratic governors. Those tweets read: "LIBERATE VIRGINIA! and save your great 2nd Amendment. It's under siege." "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" (whose capitol building is currently surrounded by armed White Supremacists and neo-Nazis), and "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" (whose governor's mansion is currently surrounded by its own White Trash militia.) One would almost have reason to suspect that the President of the United States of America was encouraging uprisings against some of the nation's member states.
Vanity, rage, revenge, and ignorance. It's not a pretty picture, but then again neither is Donald John Trump. He's our very own picture of Dorian Gray, but he isn't hidden away in the attic - he's front and center on the world stage representing the once proud United States of America. His flaws are grotesquely evident, and they demean us all.
The United States of America must move boldly and with great speed to reclaim its dignity and respect. November cannot com soon enough!
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump is vain beyond measure, steeped in rage and revenge, and seems almost proud of his willful ignorance. His personality, in sum total, is deeply flawed and appears to be getting worse on an almost daily basis.
The past several days have highlighted Trump's drift away from reality. His primary focus for the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be how it is effecting his hopes for re-election. Trump got into a loud confrontation with some of the nation's governors last week when he declared that HE would soon be deciding on how and when to reopen the economy. The governors who even bothered to respond to his bluster informed Trump and the country that they would be making those decisions - not him.
And then, as if to add another layer of confusion to the situation, Trump decided to create a "task force" on re-opening the economy. He appointed 32 House members to his committee, including a few Democrats, and 64 Senators, including a dozen Democrats. Trump's task force also included every Republican United States senator, save one. He declined to make Mitt Romney of Utah a member of the elite group. Romney had voted to remove Trump from office on one article of impeachment, and Trump is nothing if not vengeful.
But some others in the White House got the presidential ear and reminded Trump that if he made a big show about opening the economy back up, and then death numbers from the pandemic began surging, people would blame him. Trump who loves to wallow in glory and adulation - but never, ever accepts blame or responsibility for anything, rethought his position and announced that he was going to "allow" governors to make the decisions on when and how to get the nation working again.
In the end it was all sound and fury - signifying nothing.
Trump had also been trying to find a fall guy for the pandemic, someone to take the onus of the catastrophe off of himself. At first he blamed China with a vengeance, trying to stoke some strong anti-Asian bigotry among his already bigoted base. But this week he landed on a new target and pointed the finger at the UN's World Health Organization, a group that monitors pandemic situations and is key to making recommendations to combat them - but has no actual control of medical decisions in any country. Trump blames the WHO for somehow letting the situation get out of control, and he announced that he was going to begin withholding US aid to the vital organization. The US is the largest funder to the WHO, and the loss of US aid could be devastating to the health of peoples around the globe - particularly during a pandemic.
There was also a big Trump ordeal about the stimulus checks for individuals that was approved with the first stimulus package. The Treasury Department made deposits into the accounts of 80 million individuals last week - those on which it had banking information, but the remainder will have to go out in the form of official checks to households. That process was reportedly slowed when Trump insisted on having his name and signature printed on each of the checks, something which not only served to stroke his vanity but also make it appear to voters that he was responsible for the most welcome windfall - a nice - and free - re-election ploy.
(When Congress passed the stimulus package, it neglected to include a provision to protect the emergency funds from being confiscated by banks with claims against the individuals. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, himself a banker, gave banks a wink and a nod and basically encouraged them to grab the relief funds. The banks were being stimulated, the people screwed.)
Trump, of course, kept trying to run the daily pandemic briefings where he sought to shape and spin the news that was released - while enjoying more free time in front of the voting public.
Just in case the confusion began to wane, Trump opened up an assault on Congress with a threat of summarily "adjourning" the institution so that he could get some of his cracker judge appointees onto the bench as "recess" appointments. While both chambers of Congress are not technically working, both have skeleton crews on duty. The Senate "gavels in" a pro forma session each day even if only a few members are present. Perhaps Trump is sensing that his time in the White House is rapidly approaching its end and along with it his opportunity to foul the nation with his dirty deeds.
And then earlier this morning Trump posted a series of three tweets encouraging people to "liberate" three states which happen to have Democratic governors. Those tweets read: "LIBERATE VIRGINIA! and save your great 2nd Amendment. It's under siege." "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" (whose capitol building is currently surrounded by armed White Supremacists and neo-Nazis), and "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" (whose governor's mansion is currently surrounded by its own White Trash militia.) One would almost have reason to suspect that the President of the United States of America was encouraging uprisings against some of the nation's member states.
Vanity, rage, revenge, and ignorance. It's not a pretty picture, but then again neither is Donald John Trump. He's our very own picture of Dorian Gray, but he isn't hidden away in the attic - he's front and center on the world stage representing the once proud United States of America. His flaws are grotesquely evident, and they demean us all.
The United States of America must move boldly and with great speed to reclaim its dignity and respect. November cannot com soon enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment