Anyone following the news in recent days should be heartsick and amazed at the public actions of the American president ― a man not elected by the people, but by the archaic Electoral College, which must be abolished.
If anything lends credence to the inadequacy of this flawed system one need only point to the craziness emanating from this administration, with major appointments either forced out (Labor and National Security Adviser), an Attorney General recusing himself from the investigation of Trump ties to Russia and, if that wasn’t enough, crackpot tweets issued by a man I forthwith declare: Trump the Pretender.
He’s in so deep and cannot emerge from the morass of mud he and his people are trapped in, his only recourse, used time and again, is to attempt to deflect attention from unsavory things he’s said and done.
He did it throughout the campaign, causing headlines to change from superior debate performances by Hillary Clinton or major policy initiatives she offered, strategizing people wouldn’t pay attention to his shortcomings and scandals if he brought forth tantalizing uncorroborated charges or false facts, be they wildly disproportionate crime and economic indicators even if it displayed sheer ignorance about world events.
Now, amidst growing concern over Russia’s involvement in the election and the part his campaign played, including Wikileak hacks that diverted attention from his jingoistic bluster by exposing unpleasant emails sent by John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign manager, Trump manufactured a bald faced lie against Barack Obama, a man who, post-election, he said he liked, but whom now Trump accuses of wire tapping his phones during the campaign.
He attacked Obama, comparing him to Nixon and McCarthyism, all with no evidence, apparently based upon rantings of hysterical right-wing radio shouter, Mark Levin and a story in Breitbart.com. You remember Breitbart, don’t you, the Alt-Right “news” purveyor formerly run by chief policy advisor Steve Bannon?
All of this was denied, not only by Obama and his people, but by former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who said that if there’d been any court-ordered taps ― necessarily authorized by a court process called FISA ― he would’ve known. Not to mention if there were such a court ordered wire tap it would’ve meant the court was provided legitimate information, indicating a crime was committed to produce such an order.
However, according to Clapper one was never issued, nor does the FBI have any such knowledge, causing Director James Comey to demand that Trump provide evidence of such wire tapping.
The idea Obama would’ve done this, something presidents don’t do on their own, and/or would’ve done this by somehow using “secret agents” to circumvent the FBI and the National Security teams is not only absurd but revealing of Trump’s now sadly naked attempt to paint a picture for his steadfast followers so they’ll forget the truth coming out about him and his close aides, by creating a vicious lie about a president whom he often derided.
Trump’s ego is such with mistakes piling on, notably his rash executive order unfairly banning entry to this country based upon national identity, actually stating Christians would have preference over Muslims ― an order overturned by the courts. We’ll see if his latest, much diluted order issued today passes muster, but in the meantime I have to wonder how legitimate, patriotic Republicans continue to stand behind this maniac?
Yes, Trump got them control of the White House, in spite of three million more voters who said “NO!” to his bombastic candidacy. Many Republican leaders decried Trump in a manner eclipsing their concerns about Hillary, and some actually refused to support him at all (including McCain and Graham), but they’ve almost unanimously approved his first round of appointments, even after declaring opposition to quite a few.
At what point do these “distinguished” leaders throw up their hands and ask themselves what are we doing? Why do we tolerate him?
And why do the media, in an attempt to play fair, give him the benefit of the doubt so often? Yes, they’ve called him and his surrogates out many times, people like Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer and now Spicer’s deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the latter of whom comes from the loins of reactionary Mike Huckabee. But they couldn’t get enough of Trump’s address to congress last week, just because his tonality wasn’t rabid and they said most Americans liked the speech. I don’t know who they were polling, but people who actually listened to the words heard a lot of awful stuff, such as the new VOICE department (Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement), and his paying tribute to gallery people whose loved ones were killed ― only by immigrants.
What about the many, many more people, including police, killed by Americans each year? Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, was a military veteran, no less. Trump appealed to the xenophobic in society, and such people are deplorable, about whom Hillary Clinton rightly, though inartfully, derided during a private campaign event.
Even liberals like CNN’s Van Jones and skeptics like Anderson Cooper fell over themselves acknowledging this “great” Trump speech or shrug that things he espouses were evidently wanted by the American people who elected him, except most people didn’t.
It’s time for American society to rev up the heat on this presidential pretender, to either get rid of him and at the least clamor for changing our presidential election system to popular vote. It would be bad enough if our society felt it wanted Donald Trump, but in reality millions more didn’t. It still amazes me, even as all this is unfolding, people aren’t champing at the bit with huge marches throughout our nation. It’s time to start.
Michael Russnow’s website is www.ramproductionsinternational.com
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