Trump is No Comic Relief
Trump is No Comic Relief
It is tough to take one’s eyes off what may be Trump’s
worst flaw—his character—as reflected in two recent events. Let us reflect on his retweet of a so-called
comedic insinuation linking the Clintons’ to the death of accused child sex
trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. Besides the
utter absurdity of the accusation, its sheer viciousness demonstrates an amoral
emptiness of an obsessed, conspiratorial mind-set honed through years of
association with scandal sheets like the National Enquirer and shock jock
personalities like Howard Stern.
It would be one thing if that were simply the ravings of a
media-obsessed TV reality star, but, sadly, that is no longer the case. In reflecting the mind of the President of
the United States—in all of its official and moral significance—Trump’s embrace
of this particular conspiracy is truly appalling. It is one that should evoke a sense of horror
throughout the public that the “we the people” enabled this person to attain
the highest office in the land. If it
were only so, the joke would be on us, but played by the Joker-in-Chief, this
is no laughing matter.
Consider, too, the “thumbs-up photo” taken in
El Paso, TX, with the president’s wife holding a now orphaned baby due to the
horrendous murder of twenty-two people, mostly Mexican, or of Mexican descent,
in which the shooter specifically targeted this ethnic group. No one other than the shooter is directly
responsible for this slaughter. That said, it is difficult not to miss the
close affinity between the shooter’s reference to “the heavy Hispanic
population in Texas [that] will make us a Democrat stronghold” and the rhetoric
espoused by Trump and his political allies on Capitol Hill and devotees on Fox
News in their perpetual reference to invaders, infestations, gangs, criminals
and the like.
While the shooter contends that his position “predate[s]
Trump,” it is difficult not to view the right-wing rhetoric on undocumented
immigrants from Central America as a verbal accelerant that fosters an
emotional climate that draws out such extremists as the killer.
In going to El Paso, Trump could have taken a presidential
approach in truly seeking to heal the nation over this gun-soaked racist
disease that—at least at the uttermost radical edge—makes such tragedies—and
this was not the first white supremist
attack—possible. Instead, the
president offers us a “thumbs-up,” to signify what, one can only wonder, and brags
about his crowd size at a previous rally compared to that of Beto O’Rourke.
I realize that focusing on such personal behavior may be
viewed as a distraction in light of a range of domestic and foreign policy
issues that
require much more scrutiny than I have given them—which, over a period of time,
I hope to rectify on these pages. I am
thinking particularly of comprehensive immigration reform, a viable response to
climate change in light of the existential challenge it poses, a reasonable,
common sense gun regulations policy, the widening gap between the wealthy and
the poor and struggling middle class. I can
also envision a more engaged and intelligent approach to international
relations in strengthening bonds with allies and adapting a more critically worked
out stance in response to our adversaries, including a more nuanced foreign
trade policy than reflected in the current trade wars with China and other
nations.
I believe that, on the whole, the Democratic Party offers a
range of practical responses to these challenges that merit our most thoughtful
consideration, which, in my view, holds the potential of enabling “we the
people” to make reasonable progress in mitigating them, even in the
acknowledgement of far from completely solving them. This is especially so, when contrasted to the
current DC-based reality, even as my modestly progressive incrementalism would
need to be to intelligently defended, and even modified through thoughtful critical engagement with conservative
perspectives as well as among those who hold more radical progressive
perspectives.
In terms of my current emphasis, if character is
foundational to underlying motivation, then an analysis of the discernable persona
of the President of the United States is no mere personal pastime since it
plays such a formative role in shaping public behavior. Given the power of the office holder, such
behavior extends widely across the nation, as well as throughout the world. Michelle Obama once said that the presidency
does not make, but reveals the person.
This has become only all too clear in recent times.
In order for “we the people” to hold onto, and even to strengthen
the republic upon which we stand, we must act with the maturity and good
judgment to best assure that the people we call upon to lead this nation are
worthy of the trust we bestow upon them. In short, it matters who we elect as
the President of the United States.
If I were addressing a traditional Republican president, a
vigorous debate on the issues that matters would be much more feasible. That
prospect is confounded by an occupant of the White House, who, by his very
nature, is essentially an amoral, bad actor.
As I interpret one of the central problems at hand, Trump’s
fundamental world view does not extend much beyond his fragile ego, which permeates
his policies and impulsively-driven, confrontational approach to governing. Much wisdom is needed in these perplexing times.
2019
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