My Views on Trump have Evolved
Prior to August 2015, I viewed Trump as an egotistical businessperson who loved to see his name in public.
On my drive to Petoskey from Ypsilanti in August 2015, I decided to pass the time by listening to the first Republican primary debate. I figured it to be entertaining. It didn’t take long to prove me right. Trump refused to commit his support to any of the other candidates if they were to win the nomination over him. He belittled Megyn Kelly, one of the Fox News moderators of the debate. I was appalled that no one else on the stage called Trump out for his rude and unprofessional comments.
Less than a month later, in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, he said this about Carly Fiorina, presidential candidate and former CEO of Hewlett Packard. “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that the face of our next president?! I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s’posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?” At this point in time, I thought to myself there is no way he can win the Republican Primary. There is no way women are going to vote for him. Silly me.
I continued to be appalled that no one in the Republican Party would stand up to him. I realized that the rest of the candidates were afraid of him and his followers.
When he and Hilliary Clinton won their party nominations, I thought to myself, this is great, we have two people running for president that I cannot trust for different reasons. How did this happen?
During the 2016 campaign I was amazed at how low Trump would go in his comments about Hilliary and her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Nothing was off limits for him. No lie was too big.
When he won the presidency, I decided to have an open mind about his presidency. It didn’t take long for me change my mind. It started on the day after his inauguration, when he went on and on about the size of the crowd, being the biggest ever, which the whole world knew was a lie. I wondered to myself; how dumb does he think we are?
As he named members of his staff, I was astonished at some of his appointments, especially, Steve Bannon as Trump’s chief strategist. Bannon is right of Atilla the Hun. I had hope that his cabinet and chief of staff would provide guardrails to keep Trump in line. Not so much.
During his campaign he talked about the deficit and how he would bring it down. His strategy of reducing taxes for the top five percent and for corporations had nothing to do with the deficit, it had everything to do with lining his pockets.
During his presidency, it became clear early on that Trump was a compulsive liar and he did not think rules and laws applied to him as president. As a result, he surrounded himself with people that would gladly carry out his wishes, which led to his first impeachment.
I tried to ignore him, but it was getting harder and harder. My good friend George warned me more than a year before the 2020 election that Trump would not allow for the peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election. I discounted George’s warning. I shouldn’t have.
When the pandemic hit, it was clear that Trump was in over his head. He never grasped the magnitude of the crisis. He put politics over science. He refused to wear a mask, yet when he became infected with the virus, he received the best treatment in the world. Treatment that was not available to the average citizen.
Over 1.2 million Americans died in the pandemic. Many of the deaths could have been avoided had Trump followed the advice of his medical advisors and used his position to support their advice. Instead, Trump looked at the pandemic as a business problem and made his decisions accordingly. His miscalculation resulted in thousands of avoidable deaths of people who did not take the advice of the CDC seriously.
When Biden announced his candidacy for president in 2020, I was elated. I knew that Biden was the only candidate who could beat Trump.
During the debates, when Trump told his people to stand down, I knew we were in trouble. I knew my friend George was right; it was going to get ugly.
Once Biden was declared victor, Trump started the Big Lie, which led to January 6, 2021, a day that will live forever in my mind. I watched with shock as Trump instigated an insurrection at the Capitol. I watched as the Confederate flag was flown in the Capitol for the first time ever. I watched as senators and representatives feared for their lives. I watched as Trump’s supporters took their hate out on the police who were trying to protect the Capitol.
I can never forget or forgive January 6, 2021. Trump and his supporters led an insurrection against our Capitol. People died, and over 100 police officers were seriously injured, including one who died.
I can also never forgive and forget the Republican senators who refused to convict Trump on his second impeachment for his role in the January 21, 2021, insurrection. If they had done their job, Trump would be out of the picture and the country would have moved on from his hold on the Republican Party.
Trump is unfit for public office. He is a convicted felon. He has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault in a civil case. He is facing 60 additional charges, including insurrection. He is a compulsive liar. He cannot be trusted.
My view of Trump has evolved. It has evolved from a position of I don’t care to a position of doing everything I can to convince others not to vote for him. See my Video of the Day.
What was he thinking?
No matter how he tries to explain it away, President Biden’s response to Tony Hinchcliff’s garbage comment about Puerto Rico was inappropriate, ill timed, unnecessary, hurtful to Harris’s campaign, and helpful to #45’s campaign.
There is no reason to stoop to #45’s level when it comes to campaign rhetoric. When #45 goes low, Harris and her campaign should go high.
President Biden should be the president and leave the campaigning to Harris and her team. President Biden gets my Onion of the Day
Two Quotes for the Day
From an article that appeared in The Guardian today.
Alarm about a second Trump term were heightened this month when Trump’s former chief of staff and former four-star marine general John Kelly condemned him in the Atlantic as unfit to govern and having said: “I need to have the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
Ex-justice department officials are appalled by Trump’s demonizing his political foes as “the enemy from within”, words used by the demagogic senator Joe McCarthy, and ruminating about using the military against them to exact revenge.
Quote of the Day #1: “Trump’s anti-democratic, authoritarian rhetoric has been ratcheted up the closer we draw to the election. Rather than keeping a covert enemies list, he publicly names his enemies against whom he vows to take action. The implications for a Trump justice department, charged with dealing with Trump’s lust to retaliate against these enemies, are frightening to consider. People who take their oath to the constitution seriously have trouble wrapping their heads around someone who views the constitution and the rule of law as nuisances to be circumvented rather than a set of principles to be scrupulously honored.” said Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the justice department.
Quote of the Day #2: “Trump’s rhetoric is dangerous for two reasons. Using the powers of the presidency to go after his political rivals is an incredibly dangerous deviation from democratic norms and the rule of law. The rule of law requires that we apply the law equally to everyone, and not in retaliation for political activity or speech. Second, the military is to be used against our foreign adversaries, not our own citizens. These tactics are things we see in authoritarian regimes, not democracies. Following through on these threats would change the country as we know it.” said Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor in eastern Michigan and a law professor at the University of Michigan.
World Series
It didn’t take long for Freddie Freeman. In the first inning of game four, Freeman hit is fourth homerun in four games as he gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead before the Yankees came to bat. Fortunately for the Yankees, it was bullpen game for the Dodgers and their slew of pitchers didn’t all have it. The Yankees won going away 11-4, to extend the series to a fifth game. Freeman gets my Orchid of the Day for a second day in a row.
Jameson Williams is Testing the Lions’ Coaching Staffs’ Patience
Per the Detroit News: Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell knew about the gun-related allegations against Jameson Williams last week when he issued a vote of confidence for the third-year receiver following his violation of the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Substances policy.
Williams, 23, is possibly facing even more trouble, as it was reported Tuesday night that he was briefly detained by Detroit police for a gun-related incident on Oct. 8.
For the second week in a row, Campbell’s Wednesday press conference was inundated with questions about Williams’ character and why the team believes he can get back on a straight path. Last week, Williams accepted his second suspension in as many years; he was previously suspended four games to begin the 2023 season for violating the league’s gambling policy.
According to WXYZ-TV, Williams was riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by his brother on Oct. 8 when Detroit police pulled the car over for speeding. Williams’ brother immediately disclosed to officers that there were two weapons in the car, one registered to each brother, the report said. Williams’ brother has a concealed pistol license (CPL), but Williams does not and was briefly placed in handcuffs before later being released without citation.
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Quote of the Day: See the above two Quotes of the Day
Orchid of the Day: Freddie Freeman for his homeruns in the first four games of the World Series. As I said yesterday, the Yankees should consider walking him rather than pitching to him.
Onion of the Day: President Biden. See above What was he Thinking?
Question of the Day: What was he Thinking?
Video of the Day: A Special Monologue for the Republican in Your Life