As a journalist, albeit a retired scribe, I felt a professional obligation required my viewing a Wednesday night special address from the White House promoted by its current occupant.
After all, big news can transpire. Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection in one of his addresses. Richard Nixon announced his resignation as president. Barack Obama announced the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Perhaps Donald Trump would provide news of national import to the American public, many of whom were eagerly tuned into the three hour finale of “Survivor,” only to be disappointed he interrupted it (https://mol.im/a/15393819).
They might have been assuaged by dramatic news. Perhaps America had invaded Venezuela, or convinced its president Maduro to abdicate. Or maybe Trump had convinced his handler Putin to throw him a bone and accept a cease fire in Ukraine, or at the very least stop bombing civilians.
Instead, those who watched were subjected to a rerun of Trumpian blow-hardiness, a campaign stump speech without humor, long on attacking Democrats, full of imaginative statistics about his accomplishments.
It is difficult to believe anyone other than a Trump acolyte could believe the cult leader. Trump has had ample opportunity to sound and appear presidential, but his New York gutter combativeness always gets the better of him.
Pre-Internet Trump had to call reporters, often using a pseudonym, to vent his outrages. No longer. Now, the unrestrained near-octogenarian can type away in the dead of night his malevolent thoughts, disparaging anyone, like the tragically deceased Rob Reiner, who disagreed with him.
Chief of staff Susie Wiles advised him to stop his retribution campaign after three months, according to Vanity Fair. But Trump didn’t. He is a protégée of Roy Cohn who taught him to counterpunch his detractors harder and longer.
Trump’s behavior has become standard operating procedure throughout his administration. Here are three examples from today’s New York Times concerning climate study, the military and healthcare:
Trump proclaimed he has made the United States into the most respected country in the world. Actually, he has turned America into a laughing stock, a country no longer to be trusted to support allies, a country that bullies friends, a nation that extends the divide between the haves and have-nots, a government where the rule of law is tossed aside to favor the elite—as long as they proffer coins to his causes, a government that focuses on revenge and retribution at the expense of comfort and compassion for the unfortunate.
