From: John Vanderbur
Greensburg
In June, President Trump invited his cabinet to a meeting in which his cabinet would lavish praise upon him. They started off with Vice President Mike Pence, the consummate “yes” man, who said, “It’s the greatest privilege of my life to serve as vice president to a president who is keeping his word to the American people, and assembling a team that’s bringing real change, real prosperity, real strength back to our nation.” And one-by-one the cabinet members espoused the greatness of the Donald. As Trump absorbed this, he fed upon it; you see, adulation is something that he must have; without it, he crumbles. The meeting was a sight that would gag a maggot.
The good side of writing about President Trump is that there’s an abundance of material that one can write about. The downside of this is that by the time you get a letter written, submitted and published it may be old news. It seems that in Donald world, each day may be a significant one brought about by his words or actions. I will just venture into Donald world a little bit this time.
President Trump is a very flawed man who I believe doesn’t fully understand the consequences of his words and actions. One of the things I find most disturbing is that he has launched an all-out assault on the press of this nation. The First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution reads as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The New York Times, Washington Post, Time magazine, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, PBS News, Associated Press, CNN News and many other, are entities that are the “gold standards” of journalism. Trump constantly attacks these as “fake news.” He attacks them because in his mind only he knows the truth and he cannot be questioned. If you want “fake news” you might want to look in the direction of a Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, or their wannabes. Freedom of the press is a cornerstone upon the foundation of our democracy; without that, democracy dies.
There are many other troubling aspects of Trump’s ethos. To list a few:
- Leading the “birther” movement
- Russia and Vladimir Putin
- His constant litany of lies
- His inability to admit that he is wrong about anything
- His condescension of women (Access Hollywood tape)
- Firing of James Comey
- His condescension of immigrants
- His stance on ACA (Obamacare)
- His perceived jealousy of President Obama
The list goes on and on.
One of the definitions of a “prism”: A medium that distorts, slants or colors whatever is viewed through it. I believe this to be the mind of Donald J. Trump. His words and actions exemplify the eloquence of ignorance.
Maureen Dowd (The New York Times) describes Trump best: “A seventy-year old seven-year old.”
