The Trump presidency has been a disaster.
Really, how can you not any halfway objective, rational individual not agree with that? Hell, how can anyone with an ounce of intelligence and objectivity not see it?
Shall we review the first year of the Trump administration?
Let's start with how the White House positions looks incredibly temporary under Trump, like revolving door jobs with record turnover rates. Before leaving office, his own Secretary of State referred to President Trump as a "fucking moron," which is probably the most truthful statement that we can expect to get from the White House while Trump is in charge. There have been seemingly countless scandals, both big and small, and there have been apparent cover-ups to hide the controversies that have ensued. The President has regularly disgraced himself and the nation that he represents by showing his horrific mixture of pettiness and ignorance. He has attacked freedom of speech and the press, issued constant threats, and seemed to incite violence at times. Many believe that his everyday conduct is well below the integrity of the office he holds, and of a head of state more generally. Almost every new day reveals some other incredible news of something that the President either said or did that has generated controversy for it's stupidity, insensitivity, or generally an embarrassing comment or gesture, to himself and to the nation at large. The world condemned him before he ever reached the White House, when he seemed to paint Mexicans and "rapists and criminals" and months later, when he mocked a disabled reporter. It has only grown worse since Trump took the oath of office, however. Within hours of meeting with him, several European heads of states of formerly allied nations stated that they no longer felt that they could rely upon the United States as a reliable partner. The world has condemned numerous actions and words by Trump, particularly when he refused to condemn Nazis, when he assigned equal blame in the aftermath of the violence at Charlottesville. The world condemned him when he announced that he would withdraw the United States from the Paris Accord. The world condemned him when he went before the United Nations, right around International Peace Day, and threatened to wipe another country off the map. Almost everyone was disgusted when he resorted to name calling when referring to other world leaders. Before a gathering of African heads of state, he praised the healthcare of a non-existent African nation. Months later, the world condemned him when he generally referred to African nations, as well as Haiti and Central American nations, as "shithole nations," setting off a firestorm of angry reactions and condemnations around the world. During that first year, he relentlessly and demonstrably lied and made misleading statements and exaggerations, often at inappropriate times. After all, does the Australian Prime Minister really want to hear Trump brag about the size of his election win (especially since Trump lost the popular vote by nearly three million)? Trump refused to shake hands with one foreign head of state, and shoved another aside so that he could have a photo op. It has become abundantly clear that he lied about being able to make Mexico pay for the wall. It has also become abundantly clear that he never had a secret plan to defeat ISIS. It became abundantly clear that he never intended to work hard to make sure all Americans would be covered under his healthcare program, since he never actually worked to initiate one. It is equally clear that his urgent tax reform was never meant to benefit the vast majority of Americans, but just rich people like himself, his family, his friends, and his business partners and prospects. It has become all too clear that this president does not intend to work hard at all, in fact, as he broke his promises many times over by taking frequent vacations and playing far too many rounds of golf, both things that he specifically promised not to do once in office. He also clearly lied about releasing his taxes, and about divorcing himself from his business interests. There have been many controversies regarding serious conflicts of interests and breaches of protocol with Trump personally profiting from the office of the Presidency, which is against the law.
On top of all of that, his supporters seem more relentless and filled with bitterness than ever before. Hate crimes have spiked up, and it feels like this country is more divided than we have ever seen it before. Much of it clearly has not by chance coincided with the rise of Trump to the White House.
Let's face it: all of those are only the major stories. There have been plenty of others, where President Trump showed his classlessness and crassness, where he revealed his astonishing and seemingly boundless capacity of arrogance, for ignorance, and more generally, for being a terrible person and an even worse head of state. He never, ever should have even come close to reaching the highest office in the land.
Perhaps what makes it all the worse is that he himself remains as haughty and arrogant as ever. He sticks out his chest and struts, like he is the world champion of whatever game he thinks that he is playing and winning.
The latest example is with how President Trump decided that the time had come to grade his own first term. Who could express even mild surprise that he gave himself an A+, and seems to feel that he has done literally everything right, and that he does not need to learn anything, which also implies that he has not learned anything during his time on the job.
What a pathetic ass! Yet, his supporters remain not only unwavering in their support, but they are stomping their feet and boasting loudly themselves about how great this man is, as if he could walk on water. Many of the self-identified religious supporters feel that God personally made sure that Trump would become President, and feel that the man can do no wrong, even while the rest of us know that he has shown virtually no signs of being serious about religion, and that far from doing no wrong, we feel that he can seem to do no right.
So, an A+? Really?
Personally, I think this man has so degraded the Oval Office, and so irreparably harmed the nation that he was, at least officially, elected to lead and represent, that he already qualifies as the worst president in American history. He might not have started any major wars (yet), but his conduct has been so outrageous, and done on such a grand level, that the reputation of the United States will indeed suffer for a long, long time to come. Many people the world over will long associate us with having been the people to have elected such a classless and utterly useless man to the highest political office in the land, even as he proved, time and time again, how completely unworthy and unfit he was to hold such an office to begin with.
My brother actually very recently gave quite a strong and accurate criticism of Trump and what so many people feel is his "refreshing honesty." Yes, I actually heard somebody use that towards Trump, who is probably the most dishonest person that I know of. Trump does speak his mind, and reveals his opinions, narrow and ignorant as they tend to be. He has no ability to keep his mouth shut and voice his opinion at the instant that he has it, which is why he probably contradicts himself so much. That not only fails to qualify as "refreshing honesty" in my opinion, but it betrays a complete lack of wisdom or perspective which, usually, people Trump's age obtain, even on some level. But not Trump. Anyway, here is what my brother had to say about Trump, which was a criticism in response to Trump threatening any member of the world community that fails to support the United Bid (dominated by the United States) to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
My brother actually very recently gave quite a strong and accurate criticism of Trump and what so many people feel is his "refreshing honesty." Yes, I actually heard somebody use that towards Trump, who is probably the most dishonest person that I know of. Trump does speak his mind, and reveals his opinions, narrow and ignorant as they tend to be. He has no ability to keep his mouth shut and voice his opinion at the instant that he has it, which is why he probably contradicts himself so much. That not only fails to qualify as "refreshing honesty" in my opinion, but it betrays a complete lack of wisdom or perspective which, usually, people Trump's age obtain, even on some level. But not Trump. Anyway, here is what my brother had to say about Trump, which was a criticism in response to Trump threatening any member of the world community that fails to support the United Bid (dominated by the United States) to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
He spent his entire life surrounded by salaried yes men prior to entering the political arena, which means his experience dealing with anyone not willing to kiss his ass and gratify his high-maintenance ego is, shall we euphemistically say, limited.
Mind you, his supporters don't possess two brain cells to rub together, so they actually applaud this kind of behavior. All while supposedly being tired of "arrogant elitists", of course.
Can you imagine if heads of state everywhere were to follow his example? "You'd better support our bid to host the World Cup/World's Fair/Olympics/Enter name of other major global event here, or else." Or even if the mayor of a large American city were to "promote" a bid to host the Super Bowl by openly threatening anyone who doesn't support that bid? I think it's safe to say that city wouldn't host the big game any time soon.
Indeed, I think that my brother has a point here. It is no secret that Trump lived an extremely privileged lifestyle, and never knew a day in his life when he was not an elitist, with services and luxuries given to him that he never had to work a day in his life for. And because of this status, he was indeed surrounded by hungry, opportunistic yes men who never dared to contradict Trump and his ridiculous opinions and beliefs. Thus, was Trump allowed to reveal his opinions and not be contradicted, and probably, this assisted in the process of growing his legendary "high-maintenance ego," as my brother called it. Meanwhile, his supporters think that this man is a genius, because he has a grossly exaggerated sense of entitlement, and rarely if ever was called out on his idiotic opinions, until the huge public profile of the high elected office that he sought forced more public attention to those misinformed opinions. It does not seem to bother his supporters that their man is the ultimate example of "arrogant elitists," as my brother rightly put it.
Frankly, Trump is a spoiled, overgrown child. He boasts about the people who he used and outsmarted, and uses this as an example of how much of a "very stable genius" he tried to convince us that he is. The truth of the matter is that the people around him, who obviously wanted a piece of the action, knew how to placate Trump and make him feel like a genius, so that they could hang around and get a few of the perks that this man might give them, just some scraps from his elaborate feats, if you will. All of this ass-kissing prevented Trump from actually developing like a normal adult would, which is why he never actually became an adult at all, and remains ever a child in all of the worst ways possible. Trump might officially be a man, but he is the ultimate bratty, spoiled child that he apparently has always been. That is why he takes his ignorance for genius. That is why he cannot help but boast and take credit for anything and everything that is positive, while blaming anyone and everyone else for anything and everything that is bad. That is why he literally resorts to name-calling when dealing with other world leaders. That is why he cannot help but go on tantrums on his twitter account, and why he especially cannot let any kind of criticism go, but rather has to go on some firestorm of petty twitter attacks directed at those who dare to criticize him. An adult might let things go, and a real leader with true wisdom would know enough to be above the fray. But a child does not know that, and neither does Trump, obviously. That proves the point that Trump is, in a very real sense, an overgrown child.
And if you allow an immature child to grade himself on how he did in any school project, you might expect that he will give himself a wildly favorable curb, and give himself an A+. So, of course, naturally, Trump does exactly that. Ever the child. And to encourage him in this ridiculous behavior, his supporters will surely take this at face value, and view this as the real quality analysis of the Trump administration's first year in office, despite the glaringly obvious failures that are immediately apparent to anyone halfway intelligent and objective. But anything that is remotely critical of the President is automatically thrown into the category of "fake news."
That is why this headline, like so much else from the Trump White House, is like a cruel joke. Giving an idiot like Trump the bully pulpit that comes with the privileged status of the highest office in the land, we then have to hear reporters discuss preposterous stories like these, where Trump, in very typical fashion, embellishes to the point of absurdity all of what he considers his great qualities, and scams people into thinking that he offers them gold and glory, while instead, gains both by picking their pockets and robbing them blind. Some of them are even literally yelling for Trump to get the Nobel Peace Prize, for his "work" in the Korean crisis. He claims to be incapable of doing anything wrong, and his supporters accept this unquestioningly at face value.
Unfortunately, that is what President Trump is all about, and will always be about. He is the living, breathing proof of mediocrity in every way, except for his extraordinary narcissism, which actually highlights his actual mediocrity in a far more glaringly obvious way than if he learned to keep his big mouth shut in the first place. This man offers nothing of substance, but in this day and age, style clearly Trumps substance. And so, quite literally because he has a big mouth, and because he feels that he can and will get away with anything (in fact, thinks he will profit from anything and everything that he does), he shoots off his bog mouth, and mediocre minds believe this to be a slice of real truth. For them, it seems refreshing, because other politicians are likely going to proceed with more caution. And so the biggest liar and most limited mind comes across as incredibly honest and, apparently, as a man piercing the veneer of Washington lies. That appears to be how he managed to succeed to this point in the first place.
This latest story, of Trump actually thinking that he is entitled to grade his own performance, and to do so on an enormous curve at that, is just the latest proof of the total lack of substance behind a man who focuses only on whatever style he thinks will get the biggest ratings. When he talks about winning, it appears that he believes that everything comes down to ratings, and in that, he is obviously successful. If there is one exceptional talent that he always had, it is in managing to draw attention to himself, for better or for worse. For Trump, attention itself is what matters, and it seems to matter little whether the viewers approve or disapprove. That is why he relentlessly continues to do idiotic things to generate attention to himself.
It is tiresome, and it betrays a certain narcissistic trend that the United States itself is experiencing. In that regard, Trump is a fitting leader and representative of the nation that he now leads. We cannot expect anything different from him if we do not even recognize this disturbing trend in ourselves. For decades now, America's political policies have horrified the rest of the world. Americans feel themselves exceptional, yet we are seen as exceptional for all of the wrong reasons. We are the only industrialized nation that fails to provide it's own citizens affordable, universal healthcare, and has this ridiculous for profit system instead. We are the only country that spends such a ridiculous amount on the military industrial complex, or that has such an elaborate system of corporate welfare and de facto corporate supremacy, at the expense of it's own taxpayers that these corporations suck dry. We are the only country that launches military attacks on sovereign nations around the world without citizens even asking serious questions why, at least until our recent sour experiences in two Middle Eastern wars - in Iraq and Afghanistan - began to force us to ask more questions, and let us remember here that the rest of the world recognizes that the war in Iraq, specifically, was fought under false pretenses, and thus is morally unjustifiable. We are the only country that has policies reflecting the belief that more guns equals less gun violence, even though as the country with the most arms, we have far and away more gun violence than any other supposedly peacetime nation in the world. We are the only country to question the legitimacy of the overwhelming majority of the world scientific community, who warn us of the dangers of climate change, all while also having contributed more towards producing climate change than any other nation. Now, we stand alone as the only nation opposed to the Paris Climate Accord on the grounds that we do not believe in climate change. We lead the world with the most people locked up behind bars, by far (and that distinction in a world with nations like China, Iran, North Korea, and other clear human rights violators that Americans love to accuse for their lack of freedoms).
More than anything, we stand alone for our staggering levels of hypocrisy, criticizing anyone and everyone who displeases us, all while ignoring our own faults. That is true for many Americans, regardless of whatever side of the red/blue or liberal/conservative political line that they identify with more closely. What other nation would have their Olympic athletes show the audacity to wear masks protesting pollution in Beijing, China, when they arrived their as representatives for the 2008 Olympic Games, while giving American President George W. Bush a free pass on his abysmal environmental record? At a time when our national standard of life has seen a precipitous decline, and when our infrastructure, education system, and salaries ad benefits have at least stagnated, if not outright crumbled, we are marching to the sound of our own steady drumbeats in proclaiming our own greatness and, yes, superiority, time and time again. Collectively, we never pass on an opportunity to proclaim superiority over everyone else. We make jokes of and, frankly, look down on other nationalities, relying on stereotypes whether Polish or Italian or French or German or Chinese or Russian or, in the case of a whole religion, of Muslims. Yet, far too many Americans can hardly take any jokes or criticisms at our own nation's expense. Many Americans literally believe in American exceptionalism as our preferred foreign policy, even though there is hardly anything exceptional about the results of said foreign policy. We hear the same politicians that we see as manipulative liars proclaim that this is the greatest country in the world, and we believe they are being sincere. Every sitting president ends his speech with "God Bless America," and this buttresses our feelings of exceptionalism. We hear chants of "USA number 1", we proclaim ourselves to be "God's country," and we talk about being the "shining city on the hill." Time and time again, we heard Americans referring to this country as "the greatest country in the world." Why wouldn't a country like that elect a man who loudly thinks the same of himself?
Until we stop patting ourselves on the back as a nation, and giving ourselves an A+ across the board for all subjects on our own report cards, while the rest of the world shakes it's collective head, than we cannot expect our manchild President to engage in better behavior. Indeed, in this regard, President Trump proclaiming himself the star A+ student bears in mind a saying that usually conjures up very different meanings in the minds of Americans. Only in America.
Mind you, his supporters don't possess two brain cells to rub together, so they actually applaud this kind of behavior. All while supposedly being tired of "arrogant elitists", of course.
Can you imagine if heads of state everywhere were to follow his example? "You'd better support our bid to host the World Cup/World's Fair/Olympics/Enter name of other major global event here, or else." Or even if the mayor of a large American city were to "promote" a bid to host the Super Bowl by openly threatening anyone who doesn't support that bid? I think it's safe to say that city wouldn't host the big game any time soon.
Indeed, I think that my brother has a point here. It is no secret that Trump lived an extremely privileged lifestyle, and never knew a day in his life when he was not an elitist, with services and luxuries given to him that he never had to work a day in his life for. And because of this status, he was indeed surrounded by hungry, opportunistic yes men who never dared to contradict Trump and his ridiculous opinions and beliefs. Thus, was Trump allowed to reveal his opinions and not be contradicted, and probably, this assisted in the process of growing his legendary "high-maintenance ego," as my brother called it. Meanwhile, his supporters think that this man is a genius, because he has a grossly exaggerated sense of entitlement, and rarely if ever was called out on his idiotic opinions, until the huge public profile of the high elected office that he sought forced more public attention to those misinformed opinions. It does not seem to bother his supporters that their man is the ultimate example of "arrogant elitists," as my brother rightly put it.
Frankly, Trump is a spoiled, overgrown child. He boasts about the people who he used and outsmarted, and uses this as an example of how much of a "very stable genius" he tried to convince us that he is. The truth of the matter is that the people around him, who obviously wanted a piece of the action, knew how to placate Trump and make him feel like a genius, so that they could hang around and get a few of the perks that this man might give them, just some scraps from his elaborate feats, if you will. All of this ass-kissing prevented Trump from actually developing like a normal adult would, which is why he never actually became an adult at all, and remains ever a child in all of the worst ways possible. Trump might officially be a man, but he is the ultimate bratty, spoiled child that he apparently has always been. That is why he takes his ignorance for genius. That is why he cannot help but boast and take credit for anything and everything that is positive, while blaming anyone and everyone else for anything and everything that is bad. That is why he literally resorts to name-calling when dealing with other world leaders. That is why he cannot help but go on tantrums on his twitter account, and why he especially cannot let any kind of criticism go, but rather has to go on some firestorm of petty twitter attacks directed at those who dare to criticize him. An adult might let things go, and a real leader with true wisdom would know enough to be above the fray. But a child does not know that, and neither does Trump, obviously. That proves the point that Trump is, in a very real sense, an overgrown child.
And if you allow an immature child to grade himself on how he did in any school project, you might expect that he will give himself a wildly favorable curb, and give himself an A+. So, of course, naturally, Trump does exactly that. Ever the child. And to encourage him in this ridiculous behavior, his supporters will surely take this at face value, and view this as the real quality analysis of the Trump administration's first year in office, despite the glaringly obvious failures that are immediately apparent to anyone halfway intelligent and objective. But anything that is remotely critical of the President is automatically thrown into the category of "fake news."
That is why this headline, like so much else from the Trump White House, is like a cruel joke. Giving an idiot like Trump the bully pulpit that comes with the privileged status of the highest office in the land, we then have to hear reporters discuss preposterous stories like these, where Trump, in very typical fashion, embellishes to the point of absurdity all of what he considers his great qualities, and scams people into thinking that he offers them gold and glory, while instead, gains both by picking their pockets and robbing them blind. Some of them are even literally yelling for Trump to get the Nobel Peace Prize, for his "work" in the Korean crisis. He claims to be incapable of doing anything wrong, and his supporters accept this unquestioningly at face value.
Unfortunately, that is what President Trump is all about, and will always be about. He is the living, breathing proof of mediocrity in every way, except for his extraordinary narcissism, which actually highlights his actual mediocrity in a far more glaringly obvious way than if he learned to keep his big mouth shut in the first place. This man offers nothing of substance, but in this day and age, style clearly Trumps substance. And so, quite literally because he has a big mouth, and because he feels that he can and will get away with anything (in fact, thinks he will profit from anything and everything that he does), he shoots off his bog mouth, and mediocre minds believe this to be a slice of real truth. For them, it seems refreshing, because other politicians are likely going to proceed with more caution. And so the biggest liar and most limited mind comes across as incredibly honest and, apparently, as a man piercing the veneer of Washington lies. That appears to be how he managed to succeed to this point in the first place.
This latest story, of Trump actually thinking that he is entitled to grade his own performance, and to do so on an enormous curve at that, is just the latest proof of the total lack of substance behind a man who focuses only on whatever style he thinks will get the biggest ratings. When he talks about winning, it appears that he believes that everything comes down to ratings, and in that, he is obviously successful. If there is one exceptional talent that he always had, it is in managing to draw attention to himself, for better or for worse. For Trump, attention itself is what matters, and it seems to matter little whether the viewers approve or disapprove. That is why he relentlessly continues to do idiotic things to generate attention to himself.
It is tiresome, and it betrays a certain narcissistic trend that the United States itself is experiencing. In that regard, Trump is a fitting leader and representative of the nation that he now leads. We cannot expect anything different from him if we do not even recognize this disturbing trend in ourselves. For decades now, America's political policies have horrified the rest of the world. Americans feel themselves exceptional, yet we are seen as exceptional for all of the wrong reasons. We are the only industrialized nation that fails to provide it's own citizens affordable, universal healthcare, and has this ridiculous for profit system instead. We are the only country that spends such a ridiculous amount on the military industrial complex, or that has such an elaborate system of corporate welfare and de facto corporate supremacy, at the expense of it's own taxpayers that these corporations suck dry. We are the only country that launches military attacks on sovereign nations around the world without citizens even asking serious questions why, at least until our recent sour experiences in two Middle Eastern wars - in Iraq and Afghanistan - began to force us to ask more questions, and let us remember here that the rest of the world recognizes that the war in Iraq, specifically, was fought under false pretenses, and thus is morally unjustifiable. We are the only country that has policies reflecting the belief that more guns equals less gun violence, even though as the country with the most arms, we have far and away more gun violence than any other supposedly peacetime nation in the world. We are the only country to question the legitimacy of the overwhelming majority of the world scientific community, who warn us of the dangers of climate change, all while also having contributed more towards producing climate change than any other nation. Now, we stand alone as the only nation opposed to the Paris Climate Accord on the grounds that we do not believe in climate change. We lead the world with the most people locked up behind bars, by far (and that distinction in a world with nations like China, Iran, North Korea, and other clear human rights violators that Americans love to accuse for their lack of freedoms).
More than anything, we stand alone for our staggering levels of hypocrisy, criticizing anyone and everyone who displeases us, all while ignoring our own faults. That is true for many Americans, regardless of whatever side of the red/blue or liberal/conservative political line that they identify with more closely. What other nation would have their Olympic athletes show the audacity to wear masks protesting pollution in Beijing, China, when they arrived their as representatives for the 2008 Olympic Games, while giving American President George W. Bush a free pass on his abysmal environmental record? At a time when our national standard of life has seen a precipitous decline, and when our infrastructure, education system, and salaries ad benefits have at least stagnated, if not outright crumbled, we are marching to the sound of our own steady drumbeats in proclaiming our own greatness and, yes, superiority, time and time again. Collectively, we never pass on an opportunity to proclaim superiority over everyone else. We make jokes of and, frankly, look down on other nationalities, relying on stereotypes whether Polish or Italian or French or German or Chinese or Russian or, in the case of a whole religion, of Muslims. Yet, far too many Americans can hardly take any jokes or criticisms at our own nation's expense. Many Americans literally believe in American exceptionalism as our preferred foreign policy, even though there is hardly anything exceptional about the results of said foreign policy. We hear the same politicians that we see as manipulative liars proclaim that this is the greatest country in the world, and we believe they are being sincere. Every sitting president ends his speech with "God Bless America," and this buttresses our feelings of exceptionalism. We hear chants of "USA number 1", we proclaim ourselves to be "God's country," and we talk about being the "shining city on the hill." Time and time again, we heard Americans referring to this country as "the greatest country in the world." Why wouldn't a country like that elect a man who loudly thinks the same of himself?
Until we stop patting ourselves on the back as a nation, and giving ourselves an A+ across the board for all subjects on our own report cards, while the rest of the world shakes it's collective head, than we cannot expect our manchild President to engage in better behavior. Indeed, in this regard, President Trump proclaiming himself the star A+ student bears in mind a saying that usually conjures up very different meanings in the minds of Americans. Only in America.
President Trump Gives Himself 'A+' Grade for His First Year in Office in Rambling Fox Interview By NASH JENKINS Updated: April 26, 2018:
http://time.com/5255631/donald-trump-gives-himself-a-fox-interview/?utm_campaign=time&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&xid=time_socialflow_facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment