Okay, so I took a break from politics for a bit, but will not ease back into it with this blog entry that is still related, at least somewhat, to the recent Super Bowl. I will get into why shortly. Please be patient and read on.
The rise of Donald Trump to the White House, the very pinnacle of this nation's political world, has been nothing short of an absolute travesty. Anyone who really knows me, or has been keeping up with my blog here, probably feels that this is a mysterious or unknown declaration for me to make. I have been critical of just about every aspect of Trump's conduct and his policies, and generally, everything that he stands for and represents.
That said, I would never say that Trump is somehow inconsistent with much that this country is about. Believe it or not, this is not contradictory.
Let me explain: Trump embodies the very worst that this nation has to offer. He symbolizes every excess, all of the hatred and ignorance and arrogance, the sense of entitlement, and the constant whining when things do not go the way that millions of Americans feel that they should. He is literally bloated and, on the surface, relying on fake and misleading ways to appear younger and healthier than he actually is. From his fake blonde hair and very strange comb over, to that ridiculous fake tan with the pale circles around his eyes, to the official billing that he is 6 foot 3 and 239 pounds (which would make him identical to chiseled professional athletes), to being a self-proclaimed "very stable genius," and on and on, this man epitomizes empty boasts that are simply, transparently not true.
Yet, despite all of these obvious failures, his loyal followers back him up as a huge model of success that the country should basically worship. And every mistakes, every idiocy, is explained away or quickly dismissed as unimportant.
The latest one was laughable, and admittedly, not all that serious. At least not taken as an isolated incident. Trump got the location of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs wrong, assuming that they played in Kansas, when in fact, they play in Missouri. A mistake that surely anyone could make.
Except that he is the President of the United States, and should be held to higher standards. That is especially true when, again, he proclaims himself to be a "very stable genius," and never, ever admits to being wrong. He was so obviously wrong this time around as well, and the tweet where he made this mistake was altered and the correct information replaced the mistake, without him ever admitting that he had made a mistake. To this day, I still cannot recall one single instance where he has admitted to making even a single mistake, as if he were Mr. Perfect. Frankly, I believe that he believes himself to be Mr. Perfect on many levels. Here was the original tweet where he made the mistake following the victory of the Chiefs in the Super Bowl:
"Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs on a great game, and a fantastic comeback, under immense pressure. You represented the Great State of Kansas and, in fact, the entire USA, so very well. Our Country is PROUD OF YOU!"
So who cares, right? What's the big deal?
The big deal, to me, is that in yet one more critical way, Trump embodies the very worst that this country has to offer. Americans have gained a reputation for being ignorant about a lot of things, but this is especially true for Americans in general (obviously, with some exceptions) in regards to their knowledge of the rest of the world outside of American borders, and perhaps is best embodied by the general ignorance of Americans regarding geography.
You might think that a country with a de facto empire - militarily, economically, and politically, if not culturally - spread literally around the globe might be more knowledgeable about the geography of the world. This is especially true when many Americans so quickly favor war in many places around the world. A majority of Americans were in favor of the Vietnam conflict as it escalated, and only later n did this approval waver, when the war was going badly. A majority of Americans were in favor of the invasion of Grenada, even though this came overnight, and almost without any forewarning. A majority of Americans approved of the invasion of Panama, even though again, there was very little forewarning, and it also happened overnight. A majority of Americans were in favor of the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Then, a majority of Americans were in favor of our war in Afghanistan, at least at first, although this approval wavered quite a bit as that war started to go badly. Again, a majority of Americans approved of the second Gulf War against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, at least until that war also turned badly, even though that happened after Saddam was ousted.
Recently, we lashed out against another country, and very nearly started a war. That country was Iran, and they were outraged when General Qasem Soleimani was killed by a drone strike on Iraqi soil on the orders of President Trump. Most Trump supporters enthusiastically supported this action and claimed it was necessary, citing the Trump White House's rationale that there was he and Iran posed an "imminent threat." Later, after being called out and failing to produce any shred of proof of an "imminent threat," Trump claimed that it did not matter that there was not an "imminent threat" to the United States.
Surely, though, tens of millions of Americans would not mindlessly support a clear act of aggression on the part of their leader without more justification, right? I mean, we have had existing tensions with Iran dating back to the Islamic Revolution of the late 1970's and the hostage situation there, as many Trump supporters were quick to point out. Military intervention was overdue. Sure, there was that instance when Reagan sold weapons to Iran to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua, but we could apparently forgive him for that, and many people obviously forgot about it altogether, and I am not suggesting that it took thirty plus years for them to forget. Many of them never cared enough to pay attention back when this had just happened.
If Americans wanted a war with Iran, then surely, they had to have enough knowledge about the situation to justify their knee jerk support, right? At the very least, most Americans would know enough about Iran to point it out on a map, right? Not so fast. According to a recent article by Shawn Langlois of MarketWatch, this was not the case:
But, no, for most, the location of Iran remains a mystery. In fact, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey found that fewer than a quarter of registered voters polled can identify it on this map of the world:
According to this article, 23 percent of Americans - less than a quarter, in other words - could accurately identify Iran on an unlabeled map of the world. If you look at the results, many Americans placed Iran in all sorts of ridiculous areas. Some placed it in neighboring countries, which might not be so bad. Some placed it in Europe. Some in Africa. Some in southeastern Asia. Some in Australia. Some in the middle of the ocean. Some even placed it within the borders of the United States itself!
The world is watching this, and recognizes it for the arrogance and entitlement that it truly is, even if Americans themselves have a hard time seeing it this way, apparently. Imagine what it looks like to the rest of the world that a country so powerful remains so ignorance about the rest of the world that they elect a man who launched an unprovoked attack against a country located in the modern day tinderbox of the world, and that a vast majority of Americans could not even identify that country on a map! Imagine either their shock or horror to understand that most of those Americans really did not care about this all too public display of ignorance, and that includes their elected leader, who has made many more geographical mistakes than this, and in a very public manner.
Here is a blog entry from Trump well before he was elected into the White House. Hell, this came before he even became the Republican nominee. It was an early sign that he was far more ignorant than he let on, but people did not care. And this is real, too. Here is a tweet from January of 2016, the year when he would be elected to this country's highest office:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Man shot inside Paris police station. Just announced that terror threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET SMART!
8:24 AM · Jan 7, 2016·Twitter for Android
Paris is now located in Germany? I mean, most people, even many Americans largely ignorant about geography, know this basic fact: Paris is not in Germany. But apparently, our "very stable genius" President did not know this, even though he was closing in our highest, most powerful office?
Nor was that it, either. Remember how he spoke before assembled leaders of Africa - before he labeled African countries as "shithole nations" - and praised the healthcare system of Nambia, a non-existent country supposedly in Africa? Nobody could tell if he mean Namibia, Zambia or Gambia, or what country he might have meant.
Again, the whole world is watching this. And the arrogance to simply wave away these basic mistakes, which cannot be labeled as anything but mistakes, as if they did not matter, is a uniquely American strand of arrogance mixed with ignorance.
It matters that this man is so blatantly ignorant. And with this latest tweet, his mistakes and ignorance of basic geography are not limited to not knowing what country Paris is in, or not being able to identify an African country that actually exists, versus a non-existent one, even though he was addressing an assembly of African leaders, and should have been at least prepared enough to have gotten these basic facts accurate.
This is embarrassing, and yet one more sign that, as a nation, we are in a decline, in large part because we do not value education.
Should this be regarded as a big deal? Surely, Trump supporters are shrugging this off as inconsequential. not a big deal, and people like me who are making a big deal of it are inflating it to try and make him look bad.
Maybe. But I think that CNN's Chris Cillizza makes a good point in a recent article (see link below):
So, it happens. But here's why Trump doesn't get a pass. Because he and his administration have made a HUGE point of picking out the slip-ups of past politicians and questioning people over their supposed lack of knowledge of geography.
I can list another reason, too: he is a self-proclaimed "very stable genius." When you brag about how smart you are, and are the elected leader of the land, and as Cillizza says, Trump and his team take every advantage of every opportunity presented when others make basic mistakes, then yes, people are entitled to rip into you when you make these kinds of mistakes.
And Trump makes these mistakes over and over and over again.
So do Americans. This failure in basic geography has been very public knowledge for a very long time. Americans even laugh about it, as they sometimes did when Jay Leno would have skits illustrating how ignorant many Americans on the streets were about basic facts that, frankly, should be common knowledge.
Yet apparently, millions of Americans do not see this as a real problem. At least not enough to do anything about it. A majority of Republicans polled believed that higher education was bad for the country. For now, a majority of Americans generally - 55 percent - felt that higher education improved the country. But even that number should be much, much higher, frankly. Apparently, then, enough Americans feel that it is okay to keep laughing at the ignorance of our fellow Americans on the streets, and to have frankly embarrassing headlines that reveal the extent of our collective ignorance, which is not restricted to basic geography.
Personally, though, I am not laughing. Because this, in fact, is no laughing matter. Neither is the decline of the country, and I would argue that nothing has contributed so much towards this obvious decline of the United States as much as ignorance, mixed with arrogance, has.
I have used these words by W.E.B. DuBois before, but they seem particularly apropos now, so it seems like a good way to conclude this piece:
“Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.”
Here are the links to articles that I used in writing this particular blog entry:
Why Donald Trump's 'Kansas' mistake absolutely matters by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large Updated 9:52 PM ET, Mon February 3, 2020:
Pew: Most Republicans View Higher Education as Bad for America STUPID IN AMERICA Published Jul. 10, 2017
Republicans Increasingly Believe That Education Is Bad For America Erica Mar 3, 2019
Can you even locate Iran on these maps? Most Americans can’t by Shawn Langlois Social-media editor MarketWatch, Published: Jan 18, 2020:
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