Dear America,
I am constantly nonplussed by the continuing support of Donald Trump by his loyal constituency. I understand that they subscribe to the same bizarre notions that he does and that they don't think in terms of profound policies. The myopia of "Trumpism" meshes perfectly with the ideas that his supporters harbor secretly--the notion that much of the rest of the world, especially those nations that are what we euphemistically call third world, for example--but decline to articulate plainly for fear of being branded bigots or unenlightened is as plain as the noses on their faces. The now obviously absurd notion that what is good for GM is good for us is what motivates Trump, but when he converts it to a tax cut, even those whose benefit is meager applaud because the secret ideas that he shares with them give him uninterrupted impunity. But no matter how many sub-rosa ideas he subtly peddles and they secretly buy, there is one aspect of Trumpism that no one can possibly condone: a complete lack of candor.
Trump invited a bunch of congressmen and senators to the White House when they informed him that they had the outline of a bi-partisan plan to revise our immigration laws, and he said on television that whatever they brought him, he would sign. But he reneged on that commitment because there was no face-saving funding for his wall, and the consequence was the longest government shutdown in history. More recently, he first said he had no problem with Bob Mueller, the special counsel who investigated Russian interference in our 2016 election (and by extension Trump's obstruction of justice), now he says that Mueller shouldn't testify. He let his White House counsel, Don McGann, be interviewed by Mueller and claimed complete cooperation with the investigation, but now isn't willing to let McGann testify. He claimed that he would release his tax returns as soon as a purported audit was complete, but it turned out there was no audit and now he is fighting subpoenas for those same tax returns. He claims he hasn't had sexual encounters with various women, but Michael Cohen, Trump's attorney minion, is going to jail for paying them off and lying about it as Trump's surrogate. He dictated a letter to the NY Times that was sent to them over Donald, Jr.'s signature as if he had written it, which denied that Jr. had met with a Russian lawyer about dirt on Hillary Clinton, and then later admitted that he was lying when he said he hadn't written it. I could go on, but the fact is that he lies about everything. Someone counted his lies while in office and they numbered over 2,000 they said. Add to all that the fact that he plays golf with the logistics paid for by us taxpayers more often than he plays president, which was confirmed when his schedule was made public and showed that much of his day is occupied by "executive time," and you have to wonder why they support them, and more importantly, why so ardently.
Would anyone marry a person with that kind of lack of integrity? Would anyone work for such a person if he had any other choice? Would anyone buy something like a car or a corporate bond from a liar like Donald Trump? Of course not. But about fifty million American voters voted for him. He says that he beat Hillary Clinton badly when the only president that got fewer votes in the electoral college over the past forty years was George W., and like George W., Trump lost the popular election, but even worse; he lost it by nearly 3 million votes. And it is of note that he is one of only four presidents elected while losing their home states where they are known the best, and one of them was Richard Nixon, a fellow member of the profound liars club. Another was Woodrow Wilson, who showed at the White House "Birth of a Nation," which praised the Ku Klux Klan as righteous soldiers for racial purity, and which Wilson apparently praised and compared to lightning for its profundity. That's who Trump voters put into the office that in many respects controls the fate of the nation, and thus their very own fates. To put it concisely, voting for Donald Trump is a self-destructive act.
But as inimical to self-interest as support for our liar-in-chief obviously is, he was right when he said that the could shoot someone on fifth avenue and not lose any support. For some reason, he has become the "teflon Donald." Woe is us. But as I said to my wife when Trump's termination letter to Comey made reference to being assured by Comey three times that he, Trump, wasn't under investigation, I see dominos beginning to wobble, and sooner or later, I hope anyway, one of them is going to fall, and when it does, they all will. I don't really care about impeaching him to show the world what he really is very publicly, but the idea that he could be a two term president is frightening. So let's hope that the Democrats, who won everything in 2016 including two new senate seats and seven seats in The House and also including the popular presidential vote, can make a few adjustments in those three states that Trump won by a total of 40,000 votes to win the electoral college as well. It's either that or recognize that it is responsible for giving us George W. Bush, whose elective war we are still fighting, and the Trumpster as well.
Your friend,
Mike
