More (Bad News) on Donald Trump

It has been not yet a month since the inauguration of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States, and it's been terrible, alarming, and a disaster--at least in my opinion. No doubt there are some who approve of everything he's done so far--although polls show he rates a very low approval rating.

 

I will try to enumerate just a few of the reasons for concern.

 

• First, on the very day of his inauguration, he claimed that his inauguration drew the largest crowd in history to the Washington, D.C. mall. When that was proved to be incorrect by the publication of a photo of an obviously larger crowd at the inauguration of the previous president, Barack Obama, Trump--who simply cannot stand to be criticized, let alone proved to be wrong, ordered the National Park Service to come up with a different photograph--and claimed that he had presented an "alternative fact." Alternative fact!! What possible sense can anyone make out of a term like that? It has conjured up in people's minds the depiction of a future dystopia in the George Orwell novel 1984, where the government tries to force people to believe contrary-to-fact things. 

 

• Even before his inauguration, Trump asserted that he lost the popular vote (by some 3 million votes) because of voter fraud. Even people in his own party have said that there is no evidence whatsoever of any significant voter fraud.

• Second, there is his travel ban. He banned entry to the United States of people from six Muslim-majority countries. The very day after Trump signed the executive order which put that ban into effect, a report was issued by researchers from the University of Chicago which showed that 83% of acts considered terrorist attacks (I imagine this includes things like school and mall mass shootings) were committed by "home-grown" terrorists rather than visitors from foreign countries. But Mr. Trump has his mind made up and does not want to be confused with facts. Besides, anti-Muslim xenophobia plays well with many of his supporters.

• Then, when a judge issued a stay of the no-entry order, Trump immediately attacked the judge, calling him a "so-called judge." He did this in a tweet, via Twitter, as he is so fond of doing. Such name-calling is childish, but is typical of Mr. Trump. Note that even Trump's nominee to the vacant seat on the U.S Supreme Court, Judge Gorsuch, deplored this attack on the judiciary.

 

Mr. Trump cannot brook being reminded that he does not have absolute power but that the American system has separation of powers and constitutional limits on the president's power. As stated above, he does not handle any criticism, contraction, or any disagreement very well. This is not quite the definition of a diplomat or public official.

• Trump had asserted that crime in the U.S. is at a 47-year high. When David Muir of ABC TV news was interviewing Trump and pointed out to him that crime, in fact, was at a 57-year low, Trump said something like, "Well, the people believe that." Hey, Mr. Trump: Once upon a time "the people" believed that the Earth is flat. That doesn't make it so. Isn't it up to you to lead them to the truth, rather than confirm and reinforce false beliefs?

And he keeps repeating his lies. It was Hitler's propaganda minister, Goebbels, who said that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. I guess that's Trump's model.

 

• In another example of how Trump and his associates lie, KellyAnne Conway, his "advisor" and one-time campaign manager, keeps talking about a "Bowling Green massacre," when there was no such thing. They give us "alternative facts," and when refuted in the media they claim those media outlets dispense "fake news." Trump, at a recent news conference, would not accept any questions from media which he viewed as hostile, calling them "fake news." This is very dangerous as we rely on the news media to keep us informed and let us have a check on our government officials.

 

• Next, there are the people whom Trump has nominated for cabinet positions ("secretaries" or ministers of the various government departments). Just one was Betty DeVos, Trump's nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education. The qualifications of this woman have been questioned in Congress (not only by opposition Democratic senators but even by two Republican senators, i.e. members of Trump's own party) because she has no experience with public education. She personally has never attended a public school and never taught in a public school, nor has she sent her children to public school.

 

• Then there is Senator Jefferson Sessions of Alabama, Trump's nominee to be Attorney General, and this charged with enforcing laws such as civil rights laws and voting-rights laws. This man was well-known 40 years ago to be a racist. He now denies that he is a racist but one my well doubt whether he has changed.

 

Unfortunately, at least these two nominees of Trump's have already been confirmed by the Senate of the U.S. Congress. His other nominees are opponents of environmental protections and of minimum wages for U.S. workers. People who voted for Trump in the belief that he would be the champion of "the little guy," if they have not yet realized their serious mistake, will at some point.

 

Revised 2/12/2017

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