In general I hate to kick a man when he’s down . . . but I do make exceptions and this is one of them.
Now we get another glimpse of the real Trump, as distinct from that carefully crafted public relations “smooth” image he hopes to project . . . .
Beneath the surface of his usual conceit and disdain toward others, we get to see a deeper layer of vicious meanness, cold-hearted megalomania, and a delusional state of mind. His brazen assertion is an attempt to deny reality after a clear majority of American views rejected him and his foolish vanity. What a pompous fool!
Go out gracefully? Not him—no never. What a fitting last image to leave us as he faces the necessity of exiting the White House—a mean-spirited, self-serving, uncivil, nasty provocateur right to the very end!
He can’t calmly and honestly analyze why he lost so he engages in one last round of bluster and bullying to demand that his warped view of society be accepted by all. The election results say otherwise. Why did he lose? That’s why! It is his very habit of mocking and slandering critics and ordinary Americans that turned millions of voters against him.
They say he energized his own base but he energized the Democratic base a thousand times more and they led the charge that demanded a change. Americans—America—knew they could do better and Biden became that better choice.
More and more people tired of his narcissistic antics, his “alternate reality” which was just a fancy euphemism for falsehoods and slanders.
Every claim he made against others was in reality being perpetrated by Trump and his cronies a hundred times worse; he simply took a page from the playbook of McCarthyism and fascist propaganda: accuse others of your own sins, your own unethical and immoral behavior!
It is, after all, how he sees the world; he assumes everyone must be as ruthlessly ambitious as he is. He doesn’t know there is another kind of American family that puts love, honesty, and compassion above the naked desire to accumulate wealth and material possessions.
What did “fake news” really mean? The phrase meant that he could not deal with truthful reporting; it’s as simple as that. It meant he and his loyalists were manipulating newspaper accounts as fast as they could go; they undermined factual reporting as much as they possibly could.
He took the lead in an anti-intellectual crusade that the country has not witnessed for a long time, if ever. He could not understand the simplest scientific analysis and recommendations concerning the Coronavirus pandemic—or, worse yet, he chose to trample sound policy underfoot for ulterior motives, personal and political.
He gaily went about his daily routine of watching TV and sending out tweets by the score; he made sure to play lots of golf (at which he constantly cheated according to all who played with him!) while the country plunged into the worst health nightmare in the last hundred years.
The list of his improprieties is endless; his uncivil insults and undignified behavior reminded one of nothing so much as an out-of-control teenager or a budding demagogue.
His inability to defend and express basic constitutional principles of American democracy was horrendously weak, as was his inability to grasp larger truths concerning the pandemic and its effects on the economy and changing social conditions.
Near the end of his term, more and more people came to realize how divisive and incompetent he truly was—how he refused to disown white supremacy but dog-whistled violent right-wing extremists instead.
The recent election served as the turning point where a clear majority of Americans decided they had enough of him and his self-serving brand of Trumpism. And now he bitches about it, showing once again he has no class, no grace, no fundamental understanding of what it means to behave like a mature and responsible American.
He cannot accept defeat gracefully; he cannot call to congratulate President-elect Biden. He cannot call off his war dogs who continue to support him no matter how ridiculous he looks, who produce the irrational claims that warp reality and threaten democracy. Like the French king Louis XIV, he shouts “Après moi, le déluge!” as though the country may fall apart without his arrogant, self-serving, and inept hands at the wheel of state.
I think he’ll find the country will do quite well without him: much better, in point of fact, as America puts behind it all the blunders of the most arrogant and mean-spirited narcissist to ever occupy the White House.
Even now, when he has a chance to redeem himself by a graceful and thoughtful acceptance of his defeat, he chooses instead to put on one last display of bluster and bullying worse than all others combined. He repeatedly threatens to deny and oppose the results of a fair and open election, the very heart of our American democracy.
We get one last look at the Narcissist tens of millions of Americans have chosen to drive out of the People’s House. With one last look, he shows his condescending contempt for America’s principle of “no man above the law”. Yes, no one, not even the president: no one is allowed to steal an election, Mr. President, not even you—especially not you—no matter how much money, bullying, and falsehood you bring to bear!
You tried to get away with that lie-and-bully act often enough under circumstances where you were not required to prove anything but now this moment is different. Without evidence, the courts and the American people will not allow your wild and baseless charges to take the place of a well-managed democratic election.
Overthrow us? I think not, sir!
The outgoing president confirms once again for all of us our very worst suspicions about him: what a horrid, nasty, mean, vindictive, abusive, cold-hearted, divisive, and arrogant little man he truly is!
Dedicated to Heather Heyer
May 29, 1985 – August 12, 2017
She died that freedom might live!
1e0e06�MRE�T�
