Many conservatives cannot understand why so many progressives simply cannot stand Trump. It even reached a point where one friend (almost really a former friend at this point) asked me, not long into the new Trump administration, if I was so close-minded as to not give Trump a chance.
Frankly, I found that funny, given how close-minded Trump himself was, as well as his base. This was a guy who announced his candidacy by claiming Mexicans were criminals and rapists, who wanted to set up an unconstitutional national registry of Muslims, who mocked a disabled reporter by imitating him before his enthusiastic crowd, who made every point of boasting about how many women he could and did have, and who showed other xenophobic and ignorant tendencies consistently all along the way. And yet, according to this friend, I was the one who was being close-minded by not getting behind this man.
But it is almost comical that conservatives cannot understand why progressives despise Trump automatically, given their own clear revulsion of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, to name only the clearly most prominent names in recent Democratic party history over the past few decades. Republicans go to lengths to demonize the Carter years, even though he accurately forecast the problems that the nation would face over the next few decades (he actually was concerned about a future beyond the next election cycle, making him rather unique among politicians), and presented solutions to those two crises - achieving energy independence and confronting the moral crisis that was rotting the country to the core - which, had Americans taken him seriously and actually tried what he was suggesting, the nation would surely have been much better off. As far as Clinton is concerned, I remember seeing "Impeach Clinton" bumper stickers literally within the first three to four weeks of his then obviously young presidency, so they clearly never gave him a chance. And as far as Obama was concerned, it was the same thing: Republicans took a clear, and clearly stated, obstructionist approach towards him, basically making sure that he would not be able to get what he wanted to get done completed.
So, they should certainly understand why we who look upon Trump as basically a scumbag cannot give this truly pathetic man a chance.
One of the biggest turnoffs about Trump is his frankly pathetic neediness. He always, always needs to be the center of attention. Always needs to have his precious ego stoked. Always needs to get the credit for anything and everything good. Always needs to praise himself, to remind everyone of how great he clearly thinks he is.
Naturally, it was only a matter of time before this began to foster in his approach toward the presidency.
I have added a couple of links that illustrate this ridiculous, neediness. Indeed, whatever you think of Trump personally, no one on any side of the political aisle can deny that he is a megalomaniac or, in his case, MAGAlomaniac. If you listen to him, he can do no wrong, he has done more than any other president in history, and he has done all of it better. If you listen to him, he is saving the country, the country needed him, and he, and only he, could save the country.
The sad thing is that his supporters are so willing to indulge this clear loser. Why do I call him a loser? Because he cannot, and has not, delivered on his promises. He promised to make Mexico pay for the wall, and failed. He promised that he would not have time to play golf once in the White House, and he has played a tremendous amount of golf. He promised to revive the coal industry, and he could not do it. He promised to defeat ISIS within 30 days. He promised to overhaul the healthcare system and make sure that all Americans had access to affordable healthcare. Instead, he never even lifted a finger to begin such a plan, and simply tied his name to Paul Ryan's plan, which would make prices higher, and would force tens of millions of Americans without healthcare. We are now two plus years into his presidency, and even he had to admit that ISIS is still around and in Syria and Iraq (as well as other countries). He promised that he has a solid, fail-proof plan to pay off the national debt in eight years (he assumed automatically that he would win re-election, and sadly, he just might). Instead, he added two trillion to the national debt in his first two years, mostly due to his massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and for corporations.
For all his rhetoric and his pomp, his crass, loudmouthed approach which so many conservatives applauded and found refreshing, his policies so strangely resemble what has come before, that it is uncanny. The only difference is that now, it is like the country is taking this plunge on steroids. Wreck the environment? Check. Wreck the economy with yet more incentives and tax breaks for those who need it least, and put the burden on those who can least afford it? Check. Pull the United States out of inconvenient international treaties, thus ruining America's trustworthiness and reputation around the world? Check. Abuse his presidential power by declaring a state of emergency simply because he could not convince Congress to give him more money for the wall that he promised Mexico would pay for in the first place? Check. Disgrace the country before the entire world with racist behavior, from the infamous labeling of dozens of African and Central American countries as "shithole nations" to his stubborn refusal to specifically condemn outright Nazis and white supremacists who marched and incited violence on American streets? Check. Continually making an ass of himself with petty, mean-spirited tweets, when he should, as President, have bigger concerns and an ability to rise above the fray? Check.
Yes, this man is pathetic, and on a personal level. I literally cannot think of a single person in history who had a higher opinion of himself than Trump, or someone who needed his ego constantly stoked like Trump does. After all, who has ever needed his own name up on skyscrapers dominating modern cities like Trump does? Who literally breaks down upon hearing any criticism, and launches into vehement personal attacks, literally every time he hears himself criticized? Who proclaims historic levels of greatness with everything that he does, even though the end result of what he does is, frankly, crap? And who else is literally so practiced in the art of lying, that he makes up these wild praises that he supposedly receives from other world leaders? He literally invents some of these things.
The latest is how Trump was allegedly nominated by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abi for the Nobel Peace Prize, to which Trump responded with a complete lack of humility that is his trademark, above all else:
"In fact, I think I can say this: Prime Minister Abe of Japan gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize. He said, “I have nominated you…” or “Respectfully, on behalf of Japan, I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.” I said, “Thank you.” Many other people feel that way too. I’ll probably never get it, but that’s okay.
"They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize. He said, “Oh, what did I get it for?” With me, I probably will never get it."
So, here we see a few things that have become absolutely typical of what Trump does: Trump's typical megalomania, his vague assertions that "many other people" feel this way as well, and his total fixation with Barack Obama, and his constant need to undermine everything that Obama was or does.
If we dig a little deeper, we will find that this nomination was, itself, a ridiculous and self-serving thing orchestrated by Trump himself. Of course.
"Abe did indeed nominate Trump, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports, but there was a twist: The Japanese leader did it at the request of the White House. “The U.S. government ‘informally’ asked Tokyo to nominate Trump after he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June,” the paper reported, citing unnamed Japanese government sources. Abe was “acceding to a request from Washington” when he made the nomination last autumn, the paper said."
Now, I actually do feel that the Nobel Peace Prize that Obama received was justified. He had just gotten elected, and it was my personal feeling that he received this because he was not George W. Bush, and that it was an undeserved honor. Even Obama himself seemed to feel uncomfortable getting it.
However, that certainly does not mean that Trump deserves it. Frankly, that notion is laughable and ridiculous, regardless of how much he and/or his supporters feel he deserves it.
Finally, the other link is a story about how Trump basically tried to blackmail NASA into landing on Mars during his presidency. Again, it is pathetic, even sad, to see how needy and, frankly, how sick, this man is. Sometimes, it does indeed make me angry, even enraged, to see a man such as this taking such transparently desperate measures for his own name to be inflated even more. Other times - most other times, frankly - it makes me sad and shake my head to think that this man keeps getting empowered with his desperate and unhealthy approach to himself and his ridiculous ego. It is truly a sad state about the state of this nation, and what passes for leadership here in this mediocre day and age.
The White House asked Japan’s prime minister to nominate Trump for a Nobel prize By Heather TimmonsFebruary 17, 2019:
https://qz.com/1552674/the-white-house-asked-japans-prime-minister-to-nominate-trump-for-a-nobel-prize/?fbclid=IwAR0sRJsAbdOzRxIntjC23XzQybB-54nez_x9cEb19SVM0oyV6Y3phE4H_mU
Trump’s Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize Was Apparently Forged. Twice. by Henrik Pryser Libell Feb. 28, 2018:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/world/europe/nobel-peace-prize-trump-fake-nomination.html?fbclid=IwAR1Idtnoj6ueL9suIrzohRyS6IVMe7KL0SJkdeNMwGGZUSlhNfSgKHUzHUk
Trump reportedly offered NASA 'all the money you could ever need' to land on Mars during his presidency David Choi Jan. 23, 2019:
