For the longest time, Americans have been struggling with the concept of ‘Fake News.’ Is it fake if Donald Trump says it is fake? Or is it fake because Donald Trump says it? And if you are puzzled by the nuance between those two questions, you have a problem.
In fact, it is more of a moral disaster. It is something like the first time you heard him talk about ‘Corrupt Hillary.’ You were not sure you heard right. You waited to hear him explain what he was talking about. You waited to hear him offer some proof. It was a description of his opponent that he was unqualified to make. The arrogant bastard believed it.
And Trump’s claque loved it. They did not just believe but they wanted to believe. And in the dying days of that awful election campaign, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as much as said it was true—and it pushed the election over the edge for Trump. It was the most egregious harm ever done to a major political candidate in a democratic nation.
It is the realization that Donald Trump does not care what he says that is the most awful revelation. This man is sitting in the most powerful office in the world and he keeps testing its limits. With a majority in both houses of the Congress, he is getting the strongest blowback from his own party.
He is a child-man who sets his own agenda. He ignores what he cannot influence. He ignores the needs of hurricane damaged American cities until forced to go “look” at the problems. The racist pointedly ignores 3.5 million Americans in Puerto Rico who were in the path of disaster.
This is a man who needs constant reassurance. He uses election rallies even after his election to bolster his ego. He can tell these people anything and they cheer him on. He hires people to tell him what to do and he regularly ignores them. He goes to the United Nations and spews hatred. He is a racist who builds walls against people.
Trump fails to understand that fair trade with other countries means a give and take. He thinks it is the tough guy who wins.
The good news in all of this is that Americans are tiring of Trump. They are tired of his antics, his bigotry, his childishness, his ignorance, his misogyny his narcissism, his racism and his tantrums. And the best news is that many people who supported him in 2016 are now hedging their bets. Mr. Trump is going to be a one term phenomenon—if we can just be patient.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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