It does often feel to me like Trump and his political rise in the United States has been an exaggerated version of some of the most unfortunate trends of recent years and decades. However, he is only continuing an existing trend. Granted, he is the worst and most obvious symbol of our clearly failing political system. However, the fact is that all of this would not be possible without the steps which this country has collectively taken prior to what we are seeing now.
In short, it's the system that is broken. Get rid of Trump, and the problem will remain. After all, the polarization and toxicity of our political divisions already existed decades ago. For example, I remember seeing bumper stickers demanding the Bill Clinton needed to be impeached just weeks after Clinton was sworn in as president the first time. There had not even been enough time by that point to have taken much of any real action. Yet people who clearly disagreed with him politically felt entitled to call for his impeachment. At the time, that kind of decline and, frankly, trashiness and pettiness in our political discourse was new, and it kind of shocked me.
By today's standards, all of that might seem mild, frankly. Again, though, this was early in 1993. We as Americans were used to seeing and expressing some measure of respect towards the office of the presidency, and the man holding it (there still has never been a woman to hold the office yet).
So that was something new. At the time, I was young and naive enough to think that it might just be a passing phase.
Clearly, it was actually just the beginning of yet another step in our national descent, particularly when it comes to politics. One step closer to the general trashiness and hatred and toxic idiocy, frankly, that seems to have become so prevalent these days as to define our political realities.
Again, since I was young and naive, I held onto the hope that Bill Clinton would be a great president.
He was not a great president. Those who came after him - and I would include Barack Obama in this category - have also not been great presidents.
Be that as it may, it still seemed like we took significant steps down - or perhaps I should say dives down - to lower and lower depths, you might say - to where we not find ourselves. Bill Clinton was one such significant step down, mostly pulling the Democrats down a wrong path. Then George W. Bush followed him, bringing the Republicans to new lows. In fact, I felt then (and still feel now, frankly) that "W" was an early version of Donald Trump and MAGA before either of those became realities.
As much as people seem to glorify Barack Obama, there were some real problems with him and his presidency. Yes, the guy seemed to have an image that excited and even inspired people. And yes, he could make a good speech (although he was not quite as masterful in that regard as Bill Clinton). However, Obama's presidency was not the "Bamelot" glory days that many want to remember it being these days. Granted, I would take Obama over Trump any day of the week. However, let us remember that ICE was fairly insignificant until Obama dramatically increased it's budget, and he was far more effective at deportations than anyone else in recent memory, other than Trump. He also expanded the detention centers from the Bush presidency and brought them here, inside of American borders proper. Despite all that campaign talk about "hope" and "change" during the 2008 campaign, Obama changed so little during his first term that some mockingly referred to it as Bush's third term. Let's not forget his scrapping habeas corpus, a constitutional right. Oh, and let us not forget some of the disastrous aspects of his foreign policy, such as spying on allied nations, particularly Germany (and getting caught doing it) as well as the illegal drone strikes and indiscriminate killings of people at his discretion. Again, that went well beyond his actual legal authority.
Of course, all of that pales by comparison to the absurdity known as the Trump presidency (or actually, presidencies, now). I could go on and on, from the constant and relentless flow of petty and mean-spirited and immature and ridiculous stream of tweets or Truth Social posts, to pretty blatantly racist incidents (which I have documented before and don't want to get back into listing now) to showing an outrageous lack of character and class in his personal attacks (like against military gold families and especially John McCain, even after McCain's death). The moments where he humiliated the nation (getting laughed at during a UN speech, praising the healthcare system of a non-existent African country, relentlessly undermining the independent status of other countries (Panama, Canada, and threatening American military force in Mexico, Gaza, and Greenland). And of course, January 6th and the attacks on the Constitution, including a 2022 Truth Social post where he outright suggested that parts of the Constitution might need to be suspended.
And on and on and on.
To me, the worst aspect about Trump, the one which I just cannot wrap my head around people not taking seriously, are the blatant lies. I mean, we have seen racism before, but Trump and his allies, like others before him, have denied and rationalized that. We have seen abuses of power and infringements on Constitutional rights before (again, I just mentioned Obama and habeas corpus), but they can always deny that is what they are doing, as well. Again, though, everyone knows that Trump lies. Even his political allies have acknowledged his lies. While politicians may generally be known for lying, let's remember that his supporters claim that Trump isn't really a politician (although by now, let's get real, he obviously is). But it's the extent to which Trump takes it that is mind-boggling. It's on a level that is staggering, something which we have never seen before. He lies about everything, even things that are obviously untrue, like taking a sharpie to draw a new line for the direction of a storm, or claiming that he has the athletic build of a toned professional athlete, or claiming that gas is now under two dollars a gallon, which it obviously is not.
Fine, yes, politicians lie. But it's the extent to which Trump takes these things to such an extreme. Granted, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and Barack Obama and Joe Biden did not keep all of their campaign promises. But what makes Trump's campaign promises so different is just how absurdly he promises things which he obviously cannot make happen. I just mentioned lowering the price of groceries and gas, which he never did, but promised would happen, and quickly. He also promised that he had nothing to do with Project 2025, and he clearly has shown a determination to follow their script and has close personal ties with people who were instrumental in creating Project 2025. He promised that the economy would improve dramatically once he was in charge, and that simply has not happened. He promised not to attack the Constitution, but he has attacked it in some obvious, fundamental ways. Let's also remember some of his broken promises from his first term, like building a wall and making Mexico pay for it, or building a national healthcare system which would be affordable and would cover everyone.
None of those promises materialized, did they?
However, I wanted to remind everyone of still another promise made quickly and too easily, and which people (especially his supporters) seem to have forgotten since. This promise was to pay off the national debt in eight years. Now, he supposed that he would win two terms when he made that promise for the 2016 campaign. And let's be clear: while it was unconventional, he now has gotten two terms. And what he promised was that he could (and would) pay off the entire national debt in eight years.
When he first came to power in January of 2017, the national debt was $19.9 trillion. When he left office four years later, it was over $25 trillion. Then in the first six months of this second term, he added still $3 trillion more to the national debt, which is now a staggering $38 trillion. Trump, in not quite five inconsecutive years as President of the United States, is responsible for over $8 trillion of that after promising to pay it all off if given eight years.
How does he continue to get away with all of this nonsense? What is it about him that allows people to be comfortable with not holding him accountable for anything, even when he once claimed (a sort of promise, as well) that a president's authority is absolute, and all failures fall squarely on him?
Let's start to remember all of his broken promises and hold his swollen feet (and outrageously swollen ego) to the fire. And let's stop being scared of the guy and his transparent dictatorial aspirations, and remember that we, the people, are his boss, and not the other way around.
As national debt accelerates to $38 trillion, watchdog warns it’s ‘no way for a great nation like America to run its finances’ Story by Nick Lichtenberg • 1d
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/as-national-debt-accelerates-to-38-trillion-watchdog-warns-it-s-no-way-for-a-great-nation-like-america-to-run-its-finances/ar-AA1OZxAp?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=68fad39c91754fe0b86a9fbd0c54649d&ei=14
No comments:
Post a Comment