Brazen bravado?
trump’s tenuous times …
The 45th president of the United States is likely the most controversial American chief executive ever. Historians and political scientists are already arguing over whether the president is the worst or the best commander-in-chief since George Washington laid the groundwork for presidential behavior and purpose well over two centuries ago.
Whether you like or despise him, Donald John Trump has pushed the envelope on what it means to lead this nation. He has clearly and purposefully stretched the boundaries of what the U.S. Constitution might or might not permit a president to do in the name of governing.
President Trump has had an admittedly tenuous term at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. What it means to his electoral chances is yet to be determined, but turnout will likely break all records in this general election.
Greater Context
When Donald J. Trump ran for president of the United States, he redefined how campaigns for the White House are conducted in America ever since, surviving incidents that would have sunk any other candidate, Democrat or Republican, for our nation’s highest office.
Riding an escalator to the ground floor of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City to announce his candidacy, the businessman and real estate developer strayed off script and accused Mexicans of being rapists and worse. He would go on to promise that he would build a wall between our two countries to keep them out, and with further bravado, claimed that Mexico would even pay for the U.S. wall. They have not paid for the wall to date, which is slowly being built on our southern plain.
Sadly, Mr. Trump disparaged the reputation of an American war hero, John McCain of Arizona, saying that he preferred war heroes who were never captured and tortured for their service.
The Republican primary debates descended into name-calling and unfounded allegations. Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s father was involved in assassinating President John F. Kennedy. “Little Marco Rubio” was denigrated for his opinions and positions, as were former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, each highly accomplished and celebrated Americans.
The political train wreck lasted all season, and television ratings for the GOP crowd proved the entertainment value Trump incited. Regardless, bystanders were pummeled at Trump campaign rallies, and protestors were carted off unceremoniously to cheering crowds who lusted for more drama.
Later in the campaign season, Candidate Trump survived the infamous Access Hollywood tapes in which he admitted, locker-room style he says, assaulting women just because he could as a national celebrity. Billy Bush lost his hosting job over the banter, but Candidate Trump soared in popularity.
The 2016 presidential candidate then overcame a badly error-ridden Steele Dossier, which accused the candidate of torrid behavior behind closed doors and probably collusion to get elected with Russians.
Before he traded his lifetime residency to the Sunshine State and the security of Mar-a-Lago, the New Yorker gave as good as he got, alleging, for example, that President Obama had Trump Tower bugged in the closing days of the campaign. However, the supporting evidence is exceptionally weak, if not non-existent, on that charge.
Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton was accused of destroying official emails and a computer server to the echoes of “lock her up” by Trump audiences that were off-the-charts large and boisterous. The Democratic party had nominated the former U.S. Secretary of State, United States Senator, and First Lady despite overwhelming baggage surrounding her candidacy.
Mr. Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Rodham Clinton but bested the former Obama cabinet member in the Electoral College. The president’s hapless press secretary, Sean Spicer, then famously argued with the first-day media that Mr. Trump’s inauguration crowd was the largest. Photographic evidence of past inaugurations would show otherwise. Another trusted Trump aide said we were quibbling over “alternative facts.”
The former Apprentice celebrity, as president, denied knowledge of payments aboard Air Force One while talking to White House reporters about two women he was accused of having extramarital affairs with while married to wife number three when she was pregnant with his youngest child. Mr. Trump’s attorney ended up in prison-related and unrelated to the incidents. The affairs with both wives, number one and number two, are a matter of public record.
His campaign chairman went to prison. His deputy campaign chairman and personal attorney were also involved. His political advisor was locked up. Two key campaign aides, too. His national security advisor was convicted of working with the Russians and is pending sentencing.
And, on it went.
Four chiefs of staff – acting and official – were fired in less than four years. Four press secretaries in less than four years. Several cabinet members were forced out of office over federal ethics violations. Several secretaries of state, not to mention attorneys general and Federal Bureau of Investigation directors, were dumped by the guy who many Independents were told would surround himself with the best and the brightest cabinet and West Wing officials possible. The turnover in the West Wing was colossal.
Thomas invites you to read:
Trump’s Double Dirty Dozen Dossier
Prosecutors disbanded Trump’s family foundation for misappropriating funds. The Trump Company chairman settled expensive lawsuits over his failed Trump University initiative. Yet, the Commander-in-Chief donated his presidential salary to projects and claimed his “genius” in representing the American people. State and federal prosecutors continue investigations, nonetheless.
Washington Post fact-checkers have documented more than 18,000 lies, fibs, exaggerations, and whatever over the past three-and-one-half years of the Trump Administration. The president loves to call people names: “Sleepy Joe Biden,” “Crooked Hillary Clinton,” “Shifty Schiff,” “Sick Puppy Pelosi,” “Slippery James Comey,” and “True Never Trumper Mueller,” and on it goes.
Committees of Congress delved deeply into the payments Mr. Trump received for his hotel property in Washington that foreign nationals were documented frequenting; undisclosed tax returns that are rumored to show Russian investments and Chinese bank loans; 2016 election assistance from Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee would eventually judge not to have been the “hoax” the president alleged; obstruction of Congress on the Russian investigation; and, the pushy Biden family investigation by the Ukrainian government in exchange for appropriated defense payments from Congress.
Despite congressional subpoenas for material related to most, the president and his White House stonewalled document production and testimony claiming wide-spread executive privilege, which is the subject of numerous pending court cases today. In some instances, Mr. Trump did not even bother to reply or produce the required material.
Mr. Trump’s press operation did not bother to brief the media at the White House for the longest time, and the president loves to criticize media members for what seems like every sin in the world, regardless of accuracy. The press, Mr. Trump trumpets hourly, is “the enemy of the people.”
Surprisingly and unbelievably, the First Lady came out and made her cause from the East Wing about “Being Best” and not bullying people online or in person.
With the re-election campaign in full swing, the President has recently alleged that he has “absolute authority” over the nation’s governors when opening their states in the waning days of the coronavirus crisis. He was late in recognizing the threat COVID-19 represented for the country, then called it a “hoax,” then begrudgingly worked to contain the crisis, fearing it would sink his 2020 electoral fortunes. He declared emergency production powers but then let those powers sit when the nation’s hospitals were begging for ventilators for critically ill virus patients, personal protection equipment for front-line responders battling the virus, and claimed that virus test kits were available to all who wanted to be tested, even though that was not the case.
When it occurred, all of the above was a circus, leaving knowledgeable political observers scratching their collective heads, wondering what in the world had happened to the American presidency or, for that matter, the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Thomas invites you to read: We can do better America!
The Impact
As a result, and predictably, America is more divided and overtly partisan than ever before. Lies among our elected officials appear to be acceptable, or at the very least, laughable. Political integrity, ethics, and accountability are compromised, it would seem.
Nevertheless, Mr. Trump’s political base, according to public opinion polls over the years, has remained consistent at about 39 percent. His popularity – or unpopularity – has hovered above 50 percent regularly, with a few possible exceptions. The base does not seem to care that the president is truth-challenged.
We are so divided now as a country that when a $2.2 trillion bailout was signed into law for Americans who had lost their jobs in astounding numbers to the COVID-19 crisis, not a single Democrat was invited to the Oval Office signing ceremony even though its passage did require the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives participation and support.
The Republicans in Congress were successful in striping funding out of ACA, otherwise known as Obamacare, leaving Americans without access to affordable healthcare insurance when they now probably need it the most. But Republicans are proud of this long-fought-after objective because they believe health insurance is not a right; it is a privilege.
Defense spending has increased dramatically as promised; environmental regulations have been gutted as pledged, and the swamp that the president guaranteed to drain is fuller than ever based on the horrendous stories of corruption and graft that waft out of our nation’s capital.
Unemployment is at Great Depression levels. The national debt has never been greater. Relations with our allies, maybe now former allies, are unnerving. America’s isolation and lack of credibility in the global marketplace are astounding and unprecedented. Our nation of immigrants' legacy is no longer acceptable in the halls of GOP power, and Democrats appear to be powerless to assure otherwise.
Socialists are gaining strength among Democrats and pushing policies that would provide every American with free healthcare, free education, and a hyper-green environment. However, these would be impossible to pay for unless taxes are raised to more than fifty percent of each citizen.
Whether or not Donald J. Trump will be re-elected president of the United States, with all this history in his back pocket, is a question no one today can answer. However, the ratings on this reality show will be unprecedented.
His base may not like to hear this assessment. That is understandable, but everything re-stated here is accurate. They probably know it. They probably do not care. It will be interesting to see what Independents choose to do in the 2020 election, and their decision could very well swing the outcome for a nation teetering on tender footing. This is our present situation in the United States this particular morning.