There are a lot of things that I frankly never liked about Donald Trump. That is hardly a secret for anyone who knows me, or sees some of my Facebook posts, or obviously, reads much of the stuff written and posted here on the “Charbor Chronicles.” So that said, I can hardly claim to be an impartial source. Frankly, I instinctively disliked the guy based on his sleazy image back in the 1980’s.
But this is not without reason. After all, this guy is a case in narcissism and greed. He seemed like the real-life version of Gordon Gekko. He was born rich and blessed with good health and many, many other advantages, and he has never struggled a day in his life,. Yet when you look at him, and when you hear him talk, you can swear that you never saw or heard a less appreciative brat, frankly, and a truly miserable excuse for a man. All he does is whine and complain. And he and his supporters have the audacity to complain that others are whiny snowflakes? I mean, seriously?
I literally am not sure that I have ever heard of a more petty, egotistical, and generally selfish grown man (supposedly grown, anyway) either in the past or in the future. I’m not kidding around, either. Who makes sure that their own name is up atop some of the tallest skyscrapers in our cities, lit up in bright lights? Who announces his candidacy for the presidency by admitting to being greedy, greedy, greedy? Who talks about himself as a “very stable genius” and cannot ever admit to making even a single mistake? Who runs for the White House without even pretending to have a vision, but just to quench his insatiable megalomania? Who has ever had absolutely no shame after making a fool of himself and embarrassing his country in so many different ways, and in front of the entire world, time and time and time again?
Yes, I may not be impartial, admittedly. But that does not mean that I am alone in recognizing that this country has hit all sorts of new lows with the presidency of Donald Trump. This man embodies all of the worst excesses of the United States. Quite literally, he is the voice and the face of the Ugly American. A spoiled brat who, again, has had virtually every advantage imaginable in life, yet only complains about how unfairly he has been treated. A man who claims to always be the smartest man in any and every room, and yet who seems hell-bent on advertising his ignorance and, frankly, stupidity, at every possible opportunity. A man who has absolutely nothing of substance to say, yet always needs the microphone and the cameras squarely on him, so that his face and his voice drowns out everything else.
For Trump, everything in this world is about Trump.
Don’t believe me? Think I’m exaggerating?
Just recently, the latest ridiculous and laughable headlines coming out of the White House out of a very long and always growing list of such absurd stories is this one: Trump made the claim that China created the coronavirus to make sure that Trump would lose the 2020 election. Yes, this man is so damn narcissistic that he actually believes that China created the Covid-19 global pandemic, hurting economies around the world (including it’s own) just to try and undermine Trump’s leadership.
Of course, to me, that seems to be an admission by Trump that he has handled this crisis so damn poorly, that it may cost him the election. Or maybe it is just still more of his trademark whining and claims of being the victim whenever things do not go his way. He is the most ridiculous figure imaginable, and there has never been a more public outlet for such a clownish figure than the one that American voters trusted this man with.
His supporters remain loyal, and despite all of the ridiculous nonsense, they are not dissuaded. They bend over backwards, deny facts and even basic logic just to defend him. They claimed that he would be a refreshing change and bring a certain honesty to the office, yet all he has done is lie and mislead. So these same people who claimed that Trump said it like it was have spent these four years claiming that he did not really mean what he just said, or that it was taken out of context.
Yeah, right.
Trump has become the butt of jokes around the world. When he was running for the White House, he claimed that the entire world was laughing at the country, but that once he was in charge, all of that would come to an end. In fact, the opposite has proven true. There were actual standards, and some measure of respect, if not always agreement, with American leaders before. Now, the world hears what is coming out of Washington, and particularly the White House, and they either laugh (much like most Americans do while watching late night comedians have a field day with the daily absurdities of the Trump White House), or they shake their heads and wonder what is wrong with Americans for having this man represent them.
For example, I see a post on Facebook as I am actually writing this. This is what it says:
I loved it when our president and the village idiot were two different people.
Was this the kind of respect that Trump claimed he would command? Frankly, can you blame people for laughing? After all, if you cannot laugh, then you would cry or sink into serious depression thinking of just how poor the Trump presidency has been.
Indeed, so bad has his leadership been, that many aspects of what once passed for American leadership have been greatly altered incredibly quickly. Not long ago, much of the world looked towards American leadership when there were major situations. That was the case with wars, and with collaborative efforts to resolving serious issues or crises not long ago. The United States would weigh in, often even provide leadership, and much of the world would at least listen, if not outright follow American policy. That began to change under George W. Bush and the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, but it has been magnified unbelievably fast during these Trump years. Normally cautious European leaders were quite frank in their assessment that they could no longer view the United States as a reliable partner mere hours after meeting with Trump early in his administration.
That is the reality of the Trump presidency. It hardly matters that some of his loyal fans do not want to believe this, and thus refuse.
The Trump years will have a long-term effect, and it will not be positive. If he qualifies as having a legacy, it will be like a scar on the face of this country. If at some point we get another leader who wins respect, there will nevertheless be voices cautioning that this is the same country that put a clown like Donald Trump into it’s highest office. As much as he deserves it, Donald Trump will not soon be forgotten, even if he gets deservedly booted out of office in November. There is a part of what passes for his ridiculous legacy that is for keeps, and Americans will not live this one down.
Yet for a long time – much too long, frankly – Republicans in general seemed very, very hesitant to repudiate this man and everything that he stands for. Even when he seemed incapable of criticizing outright Nazis, or calling dozens of African and Central American countries “shithole nations.” They stood proudly by as Trump made very unpopular decisions that received worldwide condemnation, particularly pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran Nuclear Deal. His lies and disinformation campaign continued,, and his fellow Republicans stood silently by, only rarely ever criticizing him.
Then came the Covid-19 crisis, and the ridiculous nonsense began to increase dramatically. This man, supposedly a world leader, claimed that it was not a big deal, that it would quickly go away. He claimed once wen there were 15 confirmed cases that the number would quickly go down to zero, and then congratulated himself on a job very well done for this scenario that, in fact, never came to pass.
In fact, the crisis grew far, far worse. Right now, the United States has far and away more confirmed Covid-19 cases, and more confirmed deaths from Covid-19, than any other country in the world. It is not even close.
Yet, his absurd claims and “facts” persisted.
Having boasted of his ratings, instead of showing sympathy to coronavirus victims and their families, and having already pushed some questionable potential cures, all while he was supposed to have shown real leadership, Trump's strangest point came last week, when he claimed that maybe putting lights in the body and then injecting disinfectants could work, and he would be interested in seeing the results.
The media had a field day, as did pretty much everyone else. I myself got in a few debates with Trump fans on this matter.
Frankly, the bottom line seems obvious enough to me: Trump is not a medical expert. His quack advice and snake oil salesman tactics regarding potential cures have no place being broadcast before the American people, or any audience, frankly. He should finally learn to step aside and let real experts just have their say, and guide what the public hears. In other words, real valuable information, as opposed to his incoherent - and sometimes outright dangerous - ramblings about how to fix this whole coronavirus crisis. Despite his claims about how incredibly well he and his administration have handled this, nothing underscores the complete failure of this administration's mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis quite like Trump's seemingly desperate musings on potential cures. And nothing in his whole presidency has better illustrated his willingness to go one pretending like he knows what he is doing and what he is talking about. It is all too clear that he does not know, that he in fact has no idea. In fact, that his ideas are unsound, medically and, let's face it, mentally.
Finally, some Republicans have begun to actually notice, and to speak out publicly about it.
Below is a link to an article about how one Republican group, on the heels of just yet the latest debacle revolving around the most unstable president in American history, seems to have gone just a little too far even for their liking.
Indeed, we can ask what took them so long, why not speak out earlier, as it was abundantly clear that this man really is not well, and that his mental lack of fitness is doing irreparable harm to the country, and so on and so forth. We can keep asking those questions, but that maybe should wait for another time. After all, it has taken this long for even some Republicans - and by no means a majority, much less almost all of them - to finally acknowledge that this man really just is not up to the challenges of his job, and that it has had disastrous results for the country.
Nothing could be clearer by this point, but at least they are finally acknowledging what has been all too abundantly clear to the rest of us, including most people all around the world. Let us welcome this development, and hope that it leads to something.
Trump is an embarrassment to this country, and his so-called "leadership style" is dangerous and a sign that he is, in fact, truly a sick man. He should never have been president to begin with. Alas, since he is, let us try and do whatever is possible to simply get him out of office, once and for all.
REPUBLICAN GROUP RELEASES AD DESCRIBING TRUMP AS 'UNFIT, UNWELL, UNACCEPTABLE' BY DANIEL VILLARREAL ON 4/27/20:
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