Donald Trump. (photo: Bill Clark/RollCall)
Trump is a total fool - or he thinks that the rest of us are.
14 January 17
readersupportednews.org
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it is clear: we are seeing a coup d'etat. And its perpetrators, aided
by citizens' apathy and wishful thinking, don't even need to gas up
tanks or muzzle the media. This is exactly how
democracies die.
We can stop this and emerge stronger -- but only if
enough of us grasp what is at stake and take action. Put aside political
leanings and polemics to spend a moment assessing for yourself what you
see unfolding.
Here, for what it's worth, is the view of a reporter
who has covered coups in sizeable republics, evil empires and banana
backwaters for a very long time.
Donald Trump is our chief executive, a term-limit
civil servant bound by laws and common values to serve us all.
Congressmen represent entire constituencies, not just partisans within
them. Justices swear to be fair-minded and impartial.
One day after a departing president showed us our best
side, outlining historic growth after crippling decline and pleading
for unity in magnanimous terms that moved many to tears, his successor
showed us our worst.
Though trounced by popular vote, Trump acts as if we
handed him a crown. That storybook emperor skulked off when a kid
pointed out he was naked. Trump simply flips us the finger and commits
one indecent act after another.
Even if, against all economic odds, he could cut deals
that made Americans richer at the expense of others, is that all
matters? Consider the consequences in a volatile world bristling with
arms and facing climatic endgame.
Trump's siding with Vladimir Putin rather than our
incumbent leader falls between treachery and treason. It defines a man
who puts his own ego above all else. With dazzling hypocrisy, his party
criticizes him yet takes little action.
Republicans' disregard for propriety - trying to
abolish ethics oversight as they steamroll approval of top officials
tainted by vested interests, nepotism and crackpot extremism - reveals
contempt for a citizenry they presume is stupid.
Already, a mad scramble is on to strip protection from
natural splendor that took eons to evolve, sacred Indian sites,
endangered aquifers and virgin wilderness for immediate plunder by a
rapacious few with no regard for generations to come.
Our failsafe, beyond the three branches, is a
permanent Fourth Estate: the press, now the "news media." For all the
failings of its worst components, it is vital to us. Its best components
set a global standard.
Trump's "press conference" swept away any lingering
doubt of demagogic intention. He was an imperious insulting bully who
dismissed substance with inane generality, focusing not on domestic or
world crises but on his own self-image.
When a reporter asked about his tax returns, he said
the American people weren't interested. "I don't think they care at
all," he sneered, thrusting a finger at his questioner. "I think you
care."
Here is Trump in, well, a nutshell. A free society and
its press are inseparable. Point one in our Bill of Rights. A
dictator's first move is to discredit news media and replace them
big-lie propaganda, which is why Breitbart "News" had a front seat.
Presidential news conferences began as simple
briefings: an executive answering to the people who hired him via the
press. Now live TV allows leaders to play to the public, bypassing
reporters who might pin them down with hard facts.
News executives let George W. Bush choreograph with
pre-chosen questioners. Barack Obama imposed draconian means to plug
leaks but answered questions when asked. Trump dismisses
non-cheerleaders as unruly children.
CNN revealed an open secret, an unsubstantiated but
solidly based report that Russians had taped Trump in a honey trap. Big
whoop: a businessman who boasts of sexual prowess hired a prostitute. A
simple denial would suffice.
But Trump went nuclear. "Fake news!" he thundered at a
CNN reporter seeking clarity, cutting him off. Then a question came
from Ian Pannell of BBC, a seasoned pro with the most credible,
comprehensive global news purveyor I know.
"BBC," Trump said. "That's another beauty."
As for substance, Trump asserted: "(There are) 96
million really wanting a job and they can't get. You know that story -
the real number. That's the real number. So that's the way it is."
No, NPR noted in a running fact-check, the real number
is 7.5 million. We are at full employment: 4.7 percent. More jobs would
spike inflation. Trump included people not in the work force, including
students, retirees and stay-at-home parents.
The man is a total fool - or he thinks that the rest of us are.
Meryl Streep brought this down to basic humanity at
the Golden Globe Awards. More than a chief executive, she said, a
president defines who we are. To illustrate, she chose an image many of
us still can't get out of our heads.
Displeased by New York Times' reporter Serge
Kovaleski, he mocked a condition that makes the man's bent right arm and
hands move uncontrollably. Trump denies it, telling us to believe him
rather than our own eyes.
Among so many outrages, some scare me to my core.
Trump approached truth, unintended, in one of his
absurd tweets: "Is this Nazi Germany?" He was complaining that the CIA
hovered over him. But his Big-Lie demagoguery evokes far too much of a
Führer elected by a fearful, hurting nation.
He is an equal-opportunity bigot, not specifically
anti-Semitic. His free-form ill-informed extremism, mercurial with no
clear worldview, risks eventual conflict with China and Russia. For now,
there is the unholy land.
The man named as our ambassador to Israel has said
that people like me are no better than Nazi guards who herded Jews to
their death. That is, we Jews who believe that a separate Palestine is
essential to Israel's survival and global stability.
My name and nose mark me as Jewish, but my religion is
honest journalism, a belief that whoever or whatever created this world
needs the help of reporters to keep it spinning as planned.
Since 1967, I've seen Holy Land hatreds grow in
response to perceived injustice. We can't bomb those away. The terrorism
Trump blames on Obama is rooted in our conduct of needless unwinnable
war in Iraq.
But reporting loses all meaning if a society
disregards fact and documented history. Without a grip on reality, we
are lost. We need schools that prepare kids to see the world as it is.
Yet Trump gives us Beverly DeVos.
An elitist billionaire, DeVos pushes private charter
schools that earn profits while educating a chosen few and condemning
others to blackboard jungles that turn out barely literate masses to
work cheap and believe what they're told.
Finland, in contrast, has the world's best schools
because all of them are public. If rich people want their kids properly
educated, they have to raise the level for everyone.
There is so much more; a cabinet of wolves to watch
over us sheep; the sham of keeping Trump family business separate from
ours; the ignominious rush to disrupt Obamacare for no reason but scorn
for the man whose name it bears.
That last is the kicker. Affordable Health Care is
flawed because Congress rejected a single-payer approach so big business
could profit. Republicans are repealing it before they know what might
eventually take its place.
Politicians who insist that the life of unformed
fetuses is sacred are prepared to let people die before their time
before they can't afford our absurdly high medical costs.
So what to do?
First, think of cockroaches infesting a dark room.
When you flip on the light, they scurry for the baseboards. If not, a
can of Raid does the trick. That's Congress. Each voter only has to
focus on two senators and a representative.
Even in gerrymandered states, voter turnout is low;
committed opposition can defeat anyone. Call, write, sign petitions,
attend town halls, organize protests and get to know aides who listen to
reason. Be polite, persuasive - and persistent.
For a useful plan, go to www.indivisibleguide.com, a
report from former congressional staff workers about how Tea Party
amateurs inveigled their way onto Capitol Hill.
For a sense of how the cockroach kings put their
narrow interests over ours, take a close look at Mitch McConnell, whose
latest outrage was to stonewall a moderate Supreme Court nominee for
nearly a year. If Trump proposes a partisan justice, compel Congress to
stonewall another four years.
Our would-be emperor needs constant watching. More
than anything else, he craves adulation. Boycott his brand. Remind his
enthusiasts of every broken promise. If he senses the nation's mood
harden against him, he will likely respond.
Coup leaders habitually entrench themselves with
firepower and mass arrests. They tear up existing laws to write their
own. Ours depend only on our apathy and ignorance. If we can't stop them
cold, we deserve whatever befalls us.
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