Time for Trump supporters to fess up. The past two weeks have underscored the disdain the president holds for the rule of law and the Constitution he swore—with his hand resting on the Bible—to protect. At the same time he continually betrays his complete ignorance of history, not only of the world at large but of the country for which he is responsible.
So with apologies to podcaster Mark Maron, hey what the Trumpers, what the Trump Buddies, what the Trumpsters, what helps you sleep at night, the lawlessness or the stupidity?
Because there really isn’t anything else, not even the illusion of anything else. Not anymore. No wisdom in world affairs, no attempts to repair our own infrastructure, no plan to save coastal cities from rising sea water, no framework for reducing carbon emissions, no concern for education, for women's rights, for human rights. His presidency has disintegrated into an endless skein of vulgarity and mindlessness, underscored by a continuous stream of tantrum-filled tweets and shouted gibberish with the whirring of helicopter rotor blades for accompaniment. Oh, and the occasional campaign rally where the scapegoating of immigrants takes center stage and he publicly weeps over his mistreatment.
Yesterday underscored both of Trump’s failures in two grand gestures—the administration’s response to the impeachment inquiry as being illegal (it isn’t) and his defense of setting up the Kurds for slaughter "(they didn’t fight beside us at Normandy.")
First off impeachment inquiries are loosely formatted events, but they are legal by definition, initiated by a co-equal branch of government. End of story. Trump can demand due-process—he can demand a double cheeseburger if he wants—but the inquiry is legal. Claiming it's not is easier, of course, than denying what he did, which he already admitted and then declared legal. If it's the lawlessness you like, you have a role model. But before you admit to that, imagine someone rifling your savings account and claiming as his defense, "I didn't steal your money; then, maybe I stole your money but there's nothing wrong with that; and finally, why shouldn't I steal your money? Make sense? Trump's your boy.
Then there's cozying up to Turkey's Erdogan. A confession: I have been one of the many who have claimed that the Middle East—with its sectarian violence and ancient prejudices—is beyond repair. I'll admit it’s a lazy and facile response to a complex issue, but even if there’s an element of truth to it, we can’t paint the Middle East with a brush so broad that everyone seems the same. If we examine Kurdish history, for instance, we find that their values in terms of education, religious neutrality, women’s rights, and acceptance of immigrants and refugees mirrors America’s, or at least the pre-Trump America. It’s no wonder the president can muster only lip service for them—they’re a constant reminder of what we once believed in and have relinquished. No, they weren’t with us at Normandy, but we weren’t bailing out Henry V at Agincourt either, and England doesn’t seem to have held that against us for the past 600 years.
As for my initial question, don't trouble yourself with a decision: you can have them both! Whether it’s the lawlessness or the stupidity that makes your day, there’s a bottomless reservoir of both just waiting to be tapped. And no one taps it better than Donald J. Trump.
Just sit back and drink up.
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