Saturday, August 19, 2017

Dump Trump!

The format of this post is different from my usual ones. This one has no illustrations on purpose. I will argue that Donald Trump has exposed himself (for what he really is), and thus I do not want to portray him naked (after all, he the president). I am not partisan in what I am writing about him. I am not American, but I am concerned about a country that I have grown to love and a people that are wonderful (much of the time). Unfortunately, they have elected a truly awful leader.  Americans deserve a better president. 



It is high time to dump Trump! He needs to go for the sake of his country (and the rest of the world). The sooner the better!

When one thought that nothing worse could happen in Trump's sad saga, along came Charlottesville. The murder of Heather Heyer was tragic, but the tragedy did not end there. President Trump has made the situation much, much worse, both by what he said and what he didn't say.

First, he blamed the violence that contributed to her murder came from "many sides." Right and left, in his opinion, were equally guilty. The next day, he moderated his remarks, on orders, it seems. But the day after that, he reverted to his previous message, muddying the waters once more.

In his now-infamous news conference, he attributed the violence equally to what he coined the "alt-left." He avoided condemning the white supremacists who had organized the rally in Charlottesville, but he blamed "both sides" for all the violence.

He did criticize neo-Nazism and racism as repugnant to Americans, but he left no doubt where his own views lay by what he left unsaid. Both what he said and what he omitted saying have made him repugnant to many of his fellow citizens as well as people all over the world.

While he is not a white supremacist (at least not yet), he has revealed how deep-seated his racism is. Add that to his misogyny and mendacity, as well as his many other shortcomings, and one must conclude that he is not the leader that America needs today. He must go!

America deserves better! Trump did not receive a plurality of votes in the last election but he did get a majority in the electoral college. Thus he is legally president, but he has failed thus far in being the president the country deserves and needs, especially today.

While American infrastructure is literally falling to pieces, Trump has failed to demonstrate true leadership. Instead, he has demonstrated that he is unfit for any public office, let alone the presidency.

He is not only incompetent but also morally bankrupt, and so self-centered that he is totally unqualified to remain as president. He must go!

Even some Republicans are now waking up and openly criticizing Trump, they are ready to ask him to leave. This message goes beyond partisanship. It is now an undeniable truth unless one refuses to see his racism, his Islamophobia, his misogyny, and the hatred that his supporters have demonstrated.

The CEOs of many major companies are already deserting him. They are no longer willing to remain on his manufacturers' councils because of what happened after Charlottesville.

Trump's revelations post-Charlottesville were the last straw for them. His failure as a businessman-turned-president is now so evident that an exodus has started. There soon may be more deserters.

His character flaws are plain for all -- except for the extremists among his base -- to see. Instead of uniting the country, he has divided it even further.

That these extremists have not turned against him is proof of the divisiveness he has promoted. White supremacists and other racists use race as a tool to divide nations. Thus they support him.

The task of a president is to unite, but that is not in Trump's character. In his worldview, there are only winners and losers. He is a winner, while everyone who disagrees with him is a loser.

Now it is high time for all  Americans to join those CEOs and politicians who have seen Trump's flaws and are willing to talk about them publically. Many now also want to see him go for reasons that are not necessarily partisan. Trump has been a failure as president. A total disaster!

Unfortunately, he will not change in the foreseeable future.

He is the real loser, and he must go. The only way that the nation will be united again is if he departs. The sooner the better, in fact, for the sake of the country. 

All Americans must put aside their partisanship for the moment and urge Trump to go. By impeachment if necessary, by resignation if possible.

The reasons should be obvious by now. After Charlotteville, the emperor's new clothes can be seen by everyone, except those who are blind. Trump now stands naked before the whole world. He has exposed himself. He has shamed the United States.

Now he must have the decency to go either by himself or by force. Dump Trump for the sake of the nation and indeed the whole world!

Do I expect him to go soon? No, not unless his base deserts him en mass, which is not likely to happen. 

Trump may well risk a civil war in order to stay in office. The risk of a civil war in the Trump era has been rated as anywhere between 30% and 95% by experts. No one wants that.

Many Republicans are hesitant to ask for Trump's resignation because that would be political suicide in today's climate. Only if his base deserts him will that be possible.

Yet go he must. But by Constitutional means only. Anything less will guarantee civil war.

Trump has already been rated the worst president ever in the history of the republic.  By any measurement, he comes at the bottom of the list.  How much longer can he last?

Trump may even resort to war with North Korea if he feels threatened by the ongoing probes into his Russian connections. That same fear makes him unwilling to submit his tax returns.

Democracy itself is under threat in the Trump era. Ronald Reagan expressed that threat aptly in his 1967 California Inaugural Address: 
Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history, who have known freedom and then lost it, have never known it again.
Remember these words. Inscribe them wherever possible. Reflect on them often.

And then respond appropriately by dumping Trump!

Dump Trump!
         

1 comment:

  1. A few quotes to pass on:

    The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it. - George Orwell

    “The Gates of Hope” by Victoria Safford because within her beautiful words, I find solace in knowing that resilience comes when we sit with the uncomfortable—when we begin to see ourselves in the struggles and joys of others. 
     
    “Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope — not the prudent gates of Optimism, which are somewhat narrower; nor the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense; nor the strident gates of self-righteousness, which creak on shrill and angry hinges (our people cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through); nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of ‘Everything is gonna be all right,’ but a very different, sometimes very lonely place, the place of truth-telling, about your own soul first of all and its condition, the place of resistance and defiance, the piece of ground from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it might be, as it will be; the place from which you glimpse not only struggle, but joy in the struggle — and we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see.”

    ReplyDelete