Sometimes, I just get tired and bored with writing about President Trump. Each day, a few times a day, he gives you a new reason to rush to the computer to tap out a post.
I’d give up writing about him but I really think we can’t ignore him. Already he has helped push media trust ratings to a new low. A recent poll shows 46 percent of Americans think the media makes up news. Now unless all those 46 percent watch Fox News, we have a problem, Houston – and every other American city.
Without having scientific evidence, I credit a lot of that number to Trump constantly screaming “fake news,” except when the article or TV piece is favorable to him.
Lately he started a public argument with the widow of a sergeant killed in Niger. She told one version of the phone call he made to her, he told another. He didn’t just let it drop because that’s not in his makeup. He can never be wrong in his head.
When asked about it all he so easily lied it was scary. I believed him when he said he had called “virtually” all the families of servicemen and women who were killed on his watch. Why? Because I didn’t believe any President – even Trump -- would lie about conversations with survivors of men and women who died in service to their country.
Trump, though, knows no bounds.
Often his lies are accompanied by a crossing of his arms on his chest -- the classic sign of a lie -- or what will be in history his most significant quote: "Believe me." Usually "believe me" means, I just lied. And not exactly, "Ask now what you can do for your country..."
And, then he sent his chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine, out to set the record straight, or Kelly volunteered, I don’t know which. Kelly then went out and misrepresented what a congressman who came to the widow’s aid had said at a building dedication. That kind of overtook the fact that in his briefing room appearance the general basically said the President lied because Kelly’s version of the truth sounded a lot more like the widow’s than Trump’s.
And what did the White House say when video proved Kelly’s comments incorrect? Trump’s spokeswoman said you should never question a four-star general.
Lord. His spokesman isn’t old enough to remember, for example, Vietnam and the lies that were told and she does not get a pass for being too young. She is speaking ever day for the government of the United States and her word matters, too, but that seems to have escaped her consciousness.
All this while a tax package is being written, health care is still being debated, North Korea is threatening a holocaust (but then again, so is Trump) and so much more that unfortunately is not garnering wide news coverage.
Meantime, Amazon announced it was going to open a second North American headquarters. More than 230 applications came in from all over. Why? The decision means a huge boost to the winning applicant’s local economy plus it will create 50,000 good-paying jobs. I haven’t seen a TrumpTweet on this yet but what’s he going to say when Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos who also owns the Washington Post, which Trump repeatedly calls “fake news,” is the biggest job creator during his tenure? On August 16 this was Trump's tweet about Bezos' major investment: “Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!”
I guess that's why more than 230 city and town officials submitted an application for the HQ.
How does anyone ignore all this … and more?
The answer is we cannot.
Whether he is doing it intentionally or because he can’t bring himself to admit a mistake – ever – Trump is not just acting like a demagogue, he is a demagogue. He said during the campaign and since he’s been in office that he likes to keep people guessing about his true intentions – be that a voter, an ally or an enemy. That’s what he did as a guy making real estate deals, where the technique can be effective and he does that now as the President, when that tactic should be in your bag of tricks but not your modus operandi.
The question to me is, is he a demagogue just because that’s how he operates or is he seriously trying to change America’s way of life and governance so he can be the supreme leader?
It’s not that crazy a question.
And he definitely will be helped in those efforts if we all remain quiet.
I’d give up writing about him but I really think we can’t ignore him. Already he has helped push media trust ratings to a new low. A recent poll shows 46 percent of Americans think the media makes up news. Now unless all those 46 percent watch Fox News, we have a problem, Houston – and every other American city.
Without having scientific evidence, I credit a lot of that number to Trump constantly screaming “fake news,” except when the article or TV piece is favorable to him.
Lately he started a public argument with the widow of a sergeant killed in Niger. She told one version of the phone call he made to her, he told another. He didn’t just let it drop because that’s not in his makeup. He can never be wrong in his head.
When asked about it all he so easily lied it was scary. I believed him when he said he had called “virtually” all the families of servicemen and women who were killed on his watch. Why? Because I didn’t believe any President – even Trump -- would lie about conversations with survivors of men and women who died in service to their country.
Trump, though, knows no bounds.
Often his lies are accompanied by a crossing of his arms on his chest -- the classic sign of a lie -- or what will be in history his most significant quote: "Believe me." Usually "believe me" means, I just lied. And not exactly, "Ask now what you can do for your country..."
And, then he sent his chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine, out to set the record straight, or Kelly volunteered, I don’t know which. Kelly then went out and misrepresented what a congressman who came to the widow’s aid had said at a building dedication. That kind of overtook the fact that in his briefing room appearance the general basically said the President lied because Kelly’s version of the truth sounded a lot more like the widow’s than Trump’s.
And what did the White House say when video proved Kelly’s comments incorrect? Trump’s spokeswoman said you should never question a four-star general.
Lord. His spokesman isn’t old enough to remember, for example, Vietnam and the lies that were told and she does not get a pass for being too young. She is speaking ever day for the government of the United States and her word matters, too, but that seems to have escaped her consciousness.
All this while a tax package is being written, health care is still being debated, North Korea is threatening a holocaust (but then again, so is Trump) and so much more that unfortunately is not garnering wide news coverage.
Meantime, Amazon announced it was going to open a second North American headquarters. More than 230 applications came in from all over. Why? The decision means a huge boost to the winning applicant’s local economy plus it will create 50,000 good-paying jobs. I haven’t seen a TrumpTweet on this yet but what’s he going to say when Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos who also owns the Washington Post, which Trump repeatedly calls “fake news,” is the biggest job creator during his tenure? On August 16 this was Trump's tweet about Bezos' major investment: “Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!”
I guess that's why more than 230 city and town officials submitted an application for the HQ.
How does anyone ignore all this … and more?
The answer is we cannot.
Whether he is doing it intentionally or because he can’t bring himself to admit a mistake – ever – Trump is not just acting like a demagogue, he is a demagogue. He said during the campaign and since he’s been in office that he likes to keep people guessing about his true intentions – be that a voter, an ally or an enemy. That’s what he did as a guy making real estate deals, where the technique can be effective and he does that now as the President, when that tactic should be in your bag of tricks but not your modus operandi.
The question to me is, is he a demagogue just because that’s how he operates or is he seriously trying to change America’s way of life and governance so he can be the supreme leader?
It’s not that crazy a question.
And he definitely will be helped in those efforts if we all remain quiet.
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