Donald Trump

Leave a comment Posted on Donald Trump, election, Kamala Harris, president

America’s Split Personality

An avalanche of political discourse has spilled over the media pipeline the past couple of weeks in a futile effort to explain the results of this year’s presidential election.  For those who voted for Harris, it is a fruitless search for answers.

I’ve read op-eds, watched YouTube videos and heard podcasts where political pundits offer their version of why Trump won and Harris lost.

In my common-sense view, I’ve concluded I don’t know and neither does anyone else no matter how much data they pour over.

For me, I view the election results through a bare bones lens.  America had a choice for president:  one was a convicted felon and one was not.

And America chose the felon.

No matter why or how Donald Trump appeals to the public, whether they like his policies or his non-political correctness in his language, his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 of inciting a riot on the U.S. Capitol after two months of denying the election results and not working towards a smooth transition of power to his successor is more than enough evidence to be disqualified for running for president.   Yet for nearly half of all Americans, Jan. 6 meant nothing.

That fact is hard to wrap my mind around.  It’s like living in a society where half of the people feel it’s okay to drive recklessly (oh, wait a minute, we are already living in that society).

For Harris voters, the frustration of her loss is based on perception.  For months, pollsters concluded that the race was too close to call.  Most people ignored the fine print attached to every poll:  a margin of error of a few points.  Therefore, the polls for the most part were accurate.  In the popular vote as of this writing, Trump has 49.9% and Harris has 48.2%, with 2,600,000 votes separating them.  That’s close.  What is not close is the electoral vote which gives the wrong impression that the race was a mandate:  Trump collected 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226 (270 is needed).  You can’t compare those two numbers mathematically.

The presidential contest has historically been close.  Five of the past nine presidential contests have resulted in the winner not reaching 50%; in other words, a plurality not a majority of Americans voted for the actual president.

“We live in divisive times” is a proclamation that permeates airwaves, as if the times we live in are unique, yet when it comes to raw votes, about half the country chooses a Democrat and the other half chooses a Republican for most of the United States’ history.  The electoral votes exaggerate the 50-50 splits.

Rarely does any president receive more than 60 percent of the popular vote.  John Quincy Adams was elected in 1824 with only 30.9% of the votes.  Imagine him trying to declare a mandate.  Can you guess which president had the second lowest popular vote?  Abraham Lincoln at 39.9% in 1860, often cited as the greatest American president.  More recently, Bill Clinton won with only 42% of the popular vote in 1992.

Only four presidents have ever received 60% or more of the popular vote:  Lyndon Johnson  61.1% (1964), Richard Nixon 60.7% (1972), Warren G. Harding 60.3% (1920), and Franklin D. Roosevelt 60.2% (1936).

American voters since the beginning have divergent views of who should lead our nation.  And when who we want loses, we wonder, “What the hell is wrong with the half the country?”  Instead of getting overly anxious, realize that such angst is part of our tradition.   America takes pride in its diversity in religion and ethnicity so it makes sense that we all don’t vote for the same winner.  That is what makes America great.  And the fact that every four years we get to reset all over again.

1 Comment Posted on Corey Comperatore, Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, Joe Biden

Two Assassination Attempts

Last week, a 20-year-old troubled man thought it was his life’s goal to kill President Biden or former president Trump.  He chose Trump because of his close proximity (40 miles) to where the rally took place.

No matter one’s political leanings, it is a terrible day in America when a citizen targets a former president.  At a time when few events unite all Americans, Saturday was a time for calm reactions.  However, in today’s America, a majority of the people no longer agree on facts.

Look at the immediate reaction from Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, now the Republican Party’s Vice President nominee who said this.

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

In other words, President Biden was behind it.  That’s not true.  The shooter was tracking both politicians.  He was mentally disturbed and the investigation into his troubled life has revealed that he wasn’t political, just insane.

President Biden spoke to reporters after the event about how the rhetoric on both sides needs to be toned down.  But that unifying message has to be accepted by both sides; like a game, everyone must abide by the rules.

As an American who doesn’t belong to any political party, I was heartened to hear that Biden placed a call to the former president to check in on him.   Even Trump acknowledged that kind gesture, not publicly, but in a private conversation with another presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 

Trump released a statement that “it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”  But was it also “God alone” who took away the life of Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter who attended the rally with his wife and daughter?

If hate speech were on the ballot, Trump would win in a landslide.  Since he ran for president in 2015, he has not followed normal protocols as a national political figure.   He says things that no other president has ever said, yet that is part of his appeal for a good portion of Americans.   His focus is divisiveness, not unity.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, Biden’s health has declined, most notably on display in the debate a few weeks ago.  Ever since then, there has been another type of assassination brewing, non-violent but still lethal.  Joe must go.  Each day there is another headline of an even more powerful Democrat who jumps on the bandwagon.  If this were Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, the senators would call a meeting with the president concealing daggers, distracting Biden until each senator took turns stabbing their leader, with Vice President Harris, the loyal Brutus figure, providing the final blow as Biden cries out, “Et tu, Kamala?”

For Trump supporters, the past few weeks have been a combination of Mardi Gras and the Fourth of July rolled into one big MAGA celebration.  The Republicans are so confident in the election that when Trump spoke at the convention, they didn’t wait for his inauguration in January.  He stood in front of an IMAX-sized image of the White House, as if to show he’s already returned.

Unlike, the attempt on Trump’s life (a bullet grazed the top of his ear), the “killing” of Biden will be successful.

What it comes down to is this.  Even though Trump is the only president in history who has been impeached twice and found guilty of a felonious crime, the things that should disqualify him are, one, not accepting the results of the 2020 election, two, inciting people to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 and not putting a stop to it for over three hours, and three, the only president not to attend the inauguration of his successor, a sacred symbol of democracy’s smooth transition.

For those of us who believe in the law, thank goodness Mike Pence also shared that belief by validating the results of the presidential election.   Would possible future vice president Vance do the same thing if he ran for president in 2028 and had to certify the results of an election he lost?

A few days after the shooting, President Biden put in a call to Comperatore’s widow to offer his condolences; however, she refused the call “because of her husband’s political views.”  Imagine refusing to accept a call from the President of the United States?  That’s how bad it’s gotten in this country.

Leave a comment Posted on Donald Trump, Joe Biden, presidential debate

Trump Looked Healthier Than Biden: So What?

I recall Muhammad Ali’s last boxing match against Trevor Berbick in 1981.  At almost 40 years old and out of shape, it was a shame to see the greatest boxer of all time stand motionless, covering his head with his gloves, moving his body back against the ropes, avoiding contact to his aged body.

That’s what I thought of as I watched President Joe Biden debate Former President Donald Trump.

If you plan on voting for him, it was painful to watch.  No one wants to see a decent person look feeble.  But he is 81.

If you plan on voting for Trump, the fourth of July came early.  Shoot off the fireworks.

Presidential debates are a form of entertainment where viewers tune in to see if their guy can make the other guy look bad.  And Biden looked bad, but Trump sounded worse, his lies and hyperboles swimming in superlatives:  “He’s the worst,” “I’m the greatest.”

Close your eyes, don’t be fooled by the “Apprentice” reality star, and listen to what he says about the country you love.  He sounds anti-American.  Remember his Inaugural speech which painted a dark and damaged picture of America? 

The first televised debate of presidential candidates happened in 1960 between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John Kennedy.  People who watched the first debate thought that Kennedy won it.  Those who heard the debate on radio thought that Nixon won it.  And ever since then, Americans have chosen presidents based more on their appearance than on their substance.

If that history is any indication, God help America with a second Trump term.

For me, I don’t care what policies Biden or Trump which to implement, how they feel about Ukraine or Israel, about immigration or inflation.  This election is about democracy.

I will vote for Biden because of what he represents—stability, the Constitution, honesty, decency.  A vote for Trump represents chaos, anarchy, lying, meanness.

It stuns me that just 12 years ago, Americans voted for Barack Obama’s second term.  I’m not sure if he were running today if he would get re-elected.

For those Americans who still believe in voting for the candidate who will best lead the most vital country in the world in the future, I’d rather have a frail old man than a hateful one.

Trump thrives on attention and he has already made his mark in history.

He is the first president to be impeached twice.

He is the only former president to be a convicted felon.

He is the only president to break with the traditional smooth transition of power began by George Washington when he refused to attend Biden’s Inauguration.  That act is what separates us from other countries.

People have short memories of when Trump was in office.  Not a week went by without a hysterical false statement from him or a cabinet member resigning from the chaotic West Wing.

After the debate, it is surprising how many Democrats dumped on Biden or wish to drop him off the ticket.

There is one thing Biden has going for him more than any other Democrat:  he beat Trump by seven million votes.

When your guy is down, it is not the time to step on him, but to offer support, to get him up from the mat.

This election is not about Americans’ personal financial situations, it is about America’s democratic situation.

The question foremost on Americans’ minds should not be, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”  The question must be, “Is democracy better off today than it was four years ago?”

The clear answer is January 6, 2021.  Trump almost didn’t leave office.  He refused to accept facts that he lost the election.  If he’s elected again, what will he do come January 6, 2029?  He may never leave the White House.  His followers will be more violent.  How can voters hand over the keys to American democracy into his hands again?  This country will never be the same again.

Leave a comment Posted on Public Education, public schools, schools, teachers

DeVos: The Anti-Education Secretary

There I was, using 20 minutes out of my 56-minute period on Jan. 20 showing my mostly non-native English speaking students democracy in action, the inauguration of a new president, when I felt slapped in the face from Donald Trump who said, “An education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”

As he seems to do with so many issues, Trump took the low road with a clichéd type of sentence that connects extremes—lots of money with nothing to show for it—that reflects his deprivation of knowledge about education.

It’s one thing when the public makes comments about schools without researching the facts.  It is quite another when the man holding the highest office in the nation makes such a remark, then appoints a person to head the department of education who may actually know a little less than he does about schools.

Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos has never attended a public school, never taught school, and it is doubtful that her children attended one either.

DeVos is a billionaire, Forbes estimating her family’s wealth at $5 billion.  And she and her husband, son of Amway’s co-founder, aren’t interested in making schools better, but in promoting school vouchers which takes money away from public schools and gives it to parents to spend on charter, private or religious schools.

In other words, taxpayer dollars end up funding private companies and religious organizations.   That runs counter to the separation of church and state edict of this country.

Yet Trump is entrusting her with the highest position in education to do what’s best for America’s public schools.   Does that make sense?

At her confirmation hearing, she exhibited, to borrow Trump’s language, a “deprivation of knowledge” about the federal law that funds special education which has been on the books for nearly three decades.   She also could not explain the difference between the terms “proficiency” and “growth assessment,” a distinction even an average-skilled teacher can clarify.

DeVos also argued against gun-free school zones saying that some schools like those near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming should be able to arm themselves especially “to protect from potential grizzlies.”   Thus far, there have never been reports of grizzly bears attacking school children.  Besides, most experts agree that bear repellent is more effective than firearms.

I have long felt it inherently wrong for people who lack teaching experience to hold powerful positions in education, telling teachers how to teach.  Unfortunately, DeVos has company.

Since the Department of Education was created in 1979, there have been 10 secretaries.

Only Terrel Bell, Rod Paige and John King, Jr. were public school teachers before serving their post.  That means 70 percent of the U.S. Secretaries of Education had no first-hand experience of public schools, the institution for which they were setting policy and implementing mandates.

Since Trump thrives on having the biggest, the best, the largest, he has succeeded with DeVos in appointing the most unqualified individual as education secretary.

In fact, she is the anti-education secretary.

As Stephen Henderson wrote in the Detroit Free Press, “She’s not an expert in pedagogy or curriculum or school governance.”

Until her nomination, she was chairman of the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice advocacy group whose website refers to DeVos as a “national education reform pioneer.”

In a speech given at the South by Southwest education conference in 2015, DeVos listed “government really sucks” as an “inconvenient truth” about public education.  Nice language coming from the soon-to-be top “educator” in the land.

Some senators requested a second hearing on DeVos, but the request was turned down.

Her confirmation is expected to happen this Tuesday.  If only that were fake news.

 

 

1 Comment Posted on Don Rickles, George H. W. Bush

Anti-Americanism of Donald Trump

Words can inspire or they can injure.

Donald J. Trump’s words do the latter.  He gets the loudest ovations for using the most hurtful words.   If someone was deliberately trying not to be a role model, Trump has succeeded.

He mocks immigrants, the disabled, and women.  It’s as if Don Rickles is running for president, except that Trump isn’t that funny, his act isn’t in Vegas, and the audience isn’t in on the joke.

I understand the Mt. Everest-like aversion some have to Hillary Clinton.  As an independent voter with no political party affiliation, it is a shame that both the Democrat and Republican parties nominated candidates this election cycle who have high unfavorable ratings.

However, how much anger must you have within yourself to get behind such a despicable person as Trump?

Parents used to encourage their children to pursue their dreams, that one day maybe they could become president of the United States.   What parents would want their child to grow up emulating Donald Trump?

In the debates, it appeared that Trump was saying the first thing that came to mind, often interrupting Clinton with a childish “no, you’re wrong” rebuke.

While people continue arguing whether Donald Trump had ever sexually assaulted women or if it was just “locker room talk,” it doesn’t matter.

Words matter.

In order to talk that way, you have to think that way which is even more disturbing.

If Trump was that comfortable using slang for parts of a woman’s anatomy to a man he barely knew, that means he speaks that way to those intimate with him.

A student of mine told me that her 9-year-old brother heard the Trump tape and asked what some of the words meant.

If a videotape were released with Trump murdering someone, would people still support him?

Even elected Republicans struggle doing the right thing:  coming straight out and without reservation rebuking the nominee of their party.  It makes one wonder if there are any clear thinking people left out there where a sense of duty to one’s country overrides party loyalty.

When a twitter hashtag “#repealthe19th” surfaced referencing the constitutional amendment allowing women the right to vote, it is clear the one thing Trump does well:  bringing out the worst in people.

Like lifting a rock in a backyard to discover bugs underneath, Trump’s hateful messages that receive widespread play in the media he says opposes him have unleashed below the surface racism.

The irony is that Republicans, who view themselves as the family values party, support a candidate who has awful morals.

And this is why I do not belong to any political party.   Too many people ignore the character of a person running for office, focusing on the parenthetical letter that comes after a candidate’s name when casting their vote.

It wasn’t that long ago when Republicans and Democrats would work with one another respectfully.

A letter from former President George H. W. Bush written to his successor Bill Clinton on the day of his inauguration on January 20, 1993 has received renewed attention due to Bush’s civility in losing the election and wishing Clinton “great happiness” as “our President” and that “your success now is our country’s success.”

He finishes the handwritten note with “I am rooting hard for you.”  Apparently for Bush, “a kinder, gentler nation” was not just rhetoric.

Can you picture Trump using such non-locker room talk in a concession speech?

Instead, Trump threatens to jail his opponent if he wins, and not abide by the will of the American voting public if he loses.

If Trump wants to “make America great again,” he first needs to act as an American.

 

1 Comment Posted on Angry Birds Movie, Bernie Sanders, CNN, Donald Trump, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Marco Rubio, Zootopia

Trump Trash-talking Coarsens Society

Last week I took my son to see the animated film “Zootopia” and saw a trailer for “The Angry Birds Movie” which included a 15-second scene of an American Bald Eagle character urinating in front of other birds. While the action was not shown, the sound of it was in full Dolby sound. This is what passes as family entertainment these days.

Of course, this pales in comparison to presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio mocking the size of one’s manhood.

The incredulous campaign of Trump that has captured America’s attention this election season has done more than bring out new voters to the polls and new viewers to Fox News. It has lowered the bar in campaign protocol and human discourse.

How many of us would extol a person who uses profanity in a public speech, mocks a female journalist’s menstruation, insults people who are not white or Christian, and interrupts others who try to question him?   Trump is not trying out material in a comedy club—he’s running for President of the United States.

Just so you know, I am not registered with any political party. Over the years I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans.

I get the anti-establishment appeal of a Trump or a Bernie Sanders.   We should not ignore the concerns of those who vote for these candidates.

However, we want leaders to inspire people. Instead, we have someone whose no-filter, impromptu remarks is bringing out the ugliness in Americans.

Two weeks ago a disturbing event took place at a high school basketball game in Indiana.   Students from Andrean High taunted Bishop Noll students, a school with a significant Latino population, holding up giant Donald Trump heads and chanting “build that wall.” A similar incident occurred earlier in Iowa.

Impressionable young people are picking up on how Trump’s vitriolic language is garnering loud ovations. If it is okay for grown-ups to mock immigrants, it’s okay for them to do it as well.

Trump is tapping the anti-politically correct core that has remained dormant. He is not pushing people’s buttons, he is unleashing demons like a bad horror movie.

In the world of 2016, we don’t need someone antagonizing world leaders.

Part of the reason for Trump’s rise is the amount of media attention he has received. Have you noticed how the debates seem to occur once a week? It’s as if they are a regularly scheduled show.

Here we are in mid-March and the GOP has already held 12 debates. The Democrats have had eight, including two this week within four days of one another. And this does not include the phony baloney town hall meetings that CNN televises.

At the very least, stop inviting audiences to debates. It wasn’t that long ago when people attended debates respectfully, reserving applause until the end. Today audiences chant “USA, USA” as if watching a UFC match. Such a mob reaction encourages Trump to say even more outlandish things.

Also, why do the news networks insist on covering Trump’s complete speech on election nights since it lengthens into a pseudo-press conference ensuring extended free TV time for him to pontificate and proliferate his views?

Electing the most powerful person in the free world should not be an entertainment alternative to “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

A colleague told me long ago that teachers need to be careful of what they say in front of students since one never knows how certain words will affect young people.   Too bad our political leaders don’t follow that same advice. To borrow from Cole Porter, today anything goes.