My initial draft of this editorial began with the sentence, “Had Trump been President during World War II, you would be reading this piece in German or Japanese.” I went on to excoriate the President for his recent bizarre behavior and to revisit a handful of other issues that have made his presidency so memorable. You can guess what I mean.
A wise teacher once advised me that when you write in anger, it’s a good practice to set the piece aside before you hit send and reread it in the morning. I did this. My angry draft lacked civility. I ended the piece by calling Trump the Orange Menace. Upon reflection, I know that would not have changed any minds. It is cathartic to write this stuff, but usually succeeds only in strengthening the opinions of people who had already arrived at the same conclusions.
Thus, I set my draft aside and spent some time reflecting on why I am so angry. Part of the reason is that I do not understand how anyone, let alone the President, could act as he has in recent days. Who would dare to speculate on the curative impact of drinking or injecting bleach as an answer to the pandemic? Why did Trump ignore quality intelligence indicating that the pandemic was all but inevitable? Why did he announce that the virus would disappear in a few days when his own experts begged to differ? Inquiring minds want to know.
No doubt the thinking behind these and related episodes will be examined in depth in future days. Most likely, his lack of leadership on the virus will be shown to be part of a series of colossal misjudgments. The same type of thinking that led him to claim that he won the popular vote in 2016 is at play here. Also, remember, this is a man who claimed to trust Putin on the issue of election interference over his own intelligence agencies. He also claimed credit, thousands of times, for the strong economy that ended abruptly in February. What has happened since, of course, is the fault of the Democrats.
One might ask whether Trump understands the difference between truth and lies. He appears to believe that if you say something often enough and believe it yourself, that somehow it will come to pass. If this is true, saying the pandemic will end might end it. Saying that there are miracle drugs waiting to be used to “cure” the virus, will, in fact, do so. And saying that the economy will roar back in a few months’ time will heal the economic havoc wreaked by the lockdown.
When some of us call Trump bizarre, it is more a reference to his divorce from reality. There are many weird, eccentric, awkward people in the world, but only one is President of the United States and in a position to get us all sick, killed, or incinerated in a nuclear war. How did someone with little appreciation of how government works, other than, perhaps, how to game the rules, conclude he could succeed as President? Did Trump believe that familiarity with the Constitution and at least a passing knowledge of how Congress writes laws to be irrelevant? How did he choose the curious bucket of themes on which to base his Presidency—things like xenophobia, rejection of science, and open hostility to the press? Does he believe these themes make America better? And, how did this guy get elected? He may have stolen the election, but the fact that a good 40 to 45 percent of us voted for him has not been explained, at least not to my satisfaction.
Thus, I have unanswered questions. My lack of understanding is perhaps the real reason for my anger. Maybe once I figure it out, I will stop thinking of nasty things to say about the Orange Menace.
J.E. Dean of Oxford is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant. He is a former counsel to the House Committee on Education and Labor. For more than 30 years, he advised clients on federal education and social service policy.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Trump supporters will always back him because he is a white nationalist. The house’s articles of impeachment displayed a damning
record of the beliefs, morals and values of Trump and his supporters. They know he is a criminal, incessant lier and inhuman yet don’t care. They want a “President” who tells them that, as whites, they’re the only “real” Americans.
Fred W. J. Kirchner says
The emotions of America, and the world, are in disarray at present.. When are all you egotistical socialist adicted dreamers going to realize this is a “REPUBLIC” run by the people and not by any Fake news media or Congress who pays NO ATTENTION to what their constituents want. Congress was NOT elected to make their own personal decisions for how we should live as they all become millionaires insider trading with the stock market with “secret” information provided to them. When are you misinformed people going to stop demonstrating your profound stupidity.. The president was elected by the rules of engagement. THE PEOPLE elected him. But we have many sore losers.. The ballgame is over, and it looks like, from the rallies before the pandemic, ( and national demonstrations) there is still a strong following of PEOPLE. Are you ready for a revolution or another civil war? I guess many of you still can;t accept you lost the civil war, because your leader GAVE UP !!
Let’s be real simple, with regard to his management of this Pandemic.. If Trump is supposed to be the boob that caused all this, even that he has a lifetime in the hospitality/hotel/ and resort industry that deals with infectious diseases in their facilities almost monthly in NYC etc.,, Anyhow, if he is supposed to be the cause of all this, then I guess the leaders of about 186 other countries are also BOOBs !! The only boobs I see are the boobs who spew words, only allowed in America, against out leaders. All of which are unqualified opinions that often develop into fake news that stupid people believe..
Real simple.. If TRUMP caused all of this, then I guess in 184 other counties, their leaders and gov’t are ALSO BOOBS !! How did Trump cause that ??
Anna Hurd says
I think Trump is totally incompetent and needs to resign!
Beryl Smith says
I so agree with Anna Hurd! It is not anger that I feel, but frustration that there are so many who seem not to recognize the reality of the stupidity that is now reigning in the oval office!
Fred W. J. Kirchner says
To be simply said.. These unqualified opinions, so irresponsible, so egregious are NOT in any way helping the fabric of America. So much “fake news” that went no place with this obviously competent (much more than a politician who says anything you want to hear, and goes with the flow of the establishment), president. he is NOT one of the “corporate giants” who feed the stock market with board of directors. He has multiple LLCs so he can provide QUALITY to his business. What good is ANY business in America is the potential consumers have NO MONEY in their pockets. We have US corporate giants making money on the backs of foreign workers and governments.. The first amendment give us the freedom of speech, but it does not infer the right to slander, disparage with false information. I feel SCOTUS will be addressing the issue in the future.. Let’s really look at the stupidity.. Do you really think a bumbling fool idiot etc. could actually be allowed to take the president’s seat?
Simply said, It seems that we can never find any of these “misguided” opinionated people, and some claiming to be “journalists”, as they fail to even try to fact-check them selves before they slander people that they could not even qualify to have a dialog with. After this is over, I expect I will not see all the people tearing at the backbone of America, eat their words when this is all over.. Mostly because their mouth is FULL with their feet in it. There are millions of Americans fed up with the liberal based media, who just can’t accept the fact that they LOST AGAIN.. Throughout the world, no government, regardless of politics, can legislate or regulate “STUPID” .. Again, if Trump is the boob that caused all of this, then WHY is their 184 =/- other countries seemingly screwing up also ?? This virus will eventually “adapt” to the vaccines, and there will be another pandemic.. Thanks to Trump, we now have a model to fight it, that the WHO has never done anything except talk.. AS Trump says, this should NEVER happen AGAIN, and I don’t think it will.. Trump, and the entire COVID19 team is TRYING to stay positive, but it is hard with people dying and boobs bitching 24/7 about the president, who is only listening to his team, that he constantly gives credit to. Take the crap out of your ears and put in into your mouth for a moment and listen to him, NOT the cable networks, liberal media, and social media.. They don’t even know where the CDC HQ is !! This unqualified gossip needs to stop, it is upsetting a great many people in America, especially the FRONT LINE leadership and people, not to talk about the thousands of victims and families.. Usually in tragedies like this everyone blames GOD !! “DEAL WITH IT”..