The Big Picture

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Free Press Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

We all know the many atrocities Trump has committed in his 32+ months in office and they are never far from our minds, but there are so many that sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture.  David Leonhardt’s column in the New York Times today simply lists, line by line, 40 of the worst atrocities committed by the man who calls himself ‘president’.  Note that there are many not even on this list, such as his rollback of environmental regulations and his 12,000+ lies.

Take a look at the list … some you may have even forgotten, in light of newer, more vitriolic ones.  And after you look at all 40 of these, ask yourself a question:  How can anybody in their right mind possibly support this ‘man’?  And yet, in the past week, his approval rating has actually gone up!  If you still have any Trump-supporting friends left, show them this list, and ask them the question.  It has become one of life’s greatest mysteries to me … even greater than how many stars are in the sky!

Donald Trump vs. the United States of America

Just the facts, in 40 sentences.

david-leonhardt-thumbLarge

By David Leonhardt

Opinion Columnist

Sometimes it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture.

He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election.

He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.

He divulged classified information to foreign officials.

He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.

He hired a national security adviser who he knew had secretly worked as a foreign lobbyist.

He encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at his hotels.

He genuflects to murderous dictators.

He has alienated America’s closest allies.

He lied to the American people about his company’s business dealings in Russia.

He tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.

He spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at resorts.

He often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic functions of a president’s job.

He has aides, as well as members of his own party in Congress, who mock him behind his back as unfit for office.

He has repeatedly denigrated a deceased United States senator who was a war hero.

He insulted a Gold Star family — the survivors of American troops killed in action.

He described a former first lady, not long after she died, as “nasty.”

He described white supremacists as “some very fine people.”

He told four women of color, all citizens and members of Congress, to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”

He made a joke about Pocahontas during a ceremony honoring Native American World War II veterans.

He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American.

He launched his presidential campaign by describing Mexicans as “rapists.”

He has described women, variously, as “a dog,” “a pig” and “horseface,” as well as “bleeding badly from a facelift” and having “blood coming out of her wherever.”

He has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women.

He enthusiastically campaigned for a Senate candidate who was accused of molesting multiple teenage girls.

He waved around his arms, while giving a speech, to ridicule a physically disabled person.

He has encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his political opponents.

He has called for his opponents and critics to be investigated and jailed.

He uses a phrase popular with dictators — “the enemy of the people” — to describe journalists.

He attempts to undermine any independent source of information that he does not like, including judges, scientists, journalists, election officials, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Congressional Budget Office and the National Weather Service.

He has tried to harass the chairman of the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates.

He said that a judge could not be objective because of his Mexican heritage.

He obstructed justice by trying to influence an investigation into his presidential campaign.

He violated federal law by directing his lawyer to pay $280,000 in hush money to cover up two apparent extramarital affairs.

He made his fortune partly through wide-scale financial fraud.

He has refused to release his tax returns.

He falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him.

He claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal investigations across the country.

He has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents.

He has suggested that America is no different from or better than Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

He has called America a “hellhole.”

He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.

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61 thoughts on “The Big Picture”

    • Overall, I like Ms. Gabbard, but in this case I disagree with her. First, she says she can beat Trump in 2020, and she’s not even close to the nomination, nor will she likely be. But, as far as impeachment dividing the nation … heck, Scott, it’s already more divided than it has been at any time since 1865! Not impeaching isn’t going to bring the two sides together, either. And, perhaps the most important point in favour of impeachment … Trump, the ‘president’, has committed a crime … a very serious crime, the only reason for which was his own personal gain. If this nation is to have any honour at all, we must do everything in our power to hold Trump accountable for his words and actions. If we don’t, then we might just as well burn the Constitution and send the Statue of Liberty back to France. Whether it is successful or not, whether it further divides democrats and republicans or not, and whether it harms or helps the 2020 election, we cannot sit back and allow his crimes to be swept under the rug.

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  2. Hello Jill. Yet his cult is proud of him, and his those in the party he leads that claimed to be the party of morality, family values, and personal responsibility say nothing about these things. Hugs

    Liked by 1 person

  3. While I find the list of infractions long and unpresidential, I find it curious how war is part of the American psyche- in describing McCain, Leonhardt had to add a decorated war hero which always gets me asking why we reward large scale murder but punish one murder?

    Liked by 2 people

    • I do understand your point, and I don’t like war, wish people would just learn to get along. But, I also understand that in some cases, fighting a war may in fact be the way to saving more lives than are lost. For example, the war McCain fought in was to stop a madman, Adolf Hitler, from murdering even more than the 6 million Jews and others that he had already murdered, for he was on a mission to take over the world and rid the entire world of Jews and other minorities. Also … McCain is a hero more for the fact that he was captured and brutally tortured by the Japanese. When he was offered his freedom, he refused, saying not until all the other POWs were released. I think that is more why he is considered a hero than the actual fighting.

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  4. You must of course take into account the loyalty of his supporters as reflected in their battle song:

    Hail to the Chief the bane of anyone liberal
    Hail to the Chief! We salute him, one and all.
    Hail to the Chief, just make those folk miserable
    In proud fulfilment of this great and noble call.

    Just as long as you say we are grander,
    This you will do, ignore all those fake news stats
    Hail to the one we selected as commander,
    Hail to the President! Just keep annoying the Democrats

    Tragic isn’t it?

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Well … you voted for him!

    Democracy, boom boom — she can’t be beat.
    Aaaaahhh, yes … but whose democracy? Surely if the dude were no good he’d simply be voted out? Or are we not quite that democratic in the US of A?

    Liked by 3 people

  7. What can you expect from a country who has far too many people who believe the Earth is flat and a new one I saw today that Australia doesn’t exist, people who are climate change deniers, and they don’t want to even do one thing, just in case it might turn out to be true, people who believe a god of the entire universe cares about making some idiot president of a country on one insignificant planet in one insignificant galaxy, people who love guns more than their children, people who believe it’s logical to always be involved in some war for the sole purpose to make money, people who believe in any quack medicine that’s out there, people who think they’ve been abducted by aliens, people who believe in ghosts, people who are against science and the list goes on and on…

    We are not an educated country, nor an intelligent one. We are a racist country, a greedy country and a dying country. Trump is just a thug loser put into place by a large percentage of people who are also losers. Harsh…but it’s the simple truth.

    Liked by 4 people

  10. I have to smile, not because of the content of this post, but because I was thinking of you as I read David Leonhardt’s newsletter a bit ago! Leonhardt does list some very salient points, however…Trump’s base of supporters choose to overlook them, as well as the many of those profiting from his policies will also continue to do. Thank-you!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Jill, the list is long here, but is actually much longer as you note. While Trump is attacking Democrats and the media, it is worth googling( Foxs News host) Shep Smith on Ukraine and read or watch him call Trump and Guiliani on the carpet. The issue is not Biden (as there is no evidence of wrongdoing per Smith and others), it is the call and failure to adhere to the whistleblower requirement. This is obstruction of justice just as what peppers the Mueller. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Blind loyalty is a hallmark of followers of dictators down through the ages. Trump supporters are, for the most part, more of the same old same old, and being American doesn’t excuse them. If anything, more’s the pity, because America professedly and supposedly stands for higher ideals than any other country in history.

    Liked by 1 person

        • Whoa … not sure what your problem is, but that’s a bit antagonistic, isn’t it? I have asked the questions time and time again of Trump-supporters, and no, I’m not afraid of much at this stage of my life, certainly not afraid of answers to questions. But, you know what? The only answers I ever get are b.s. answers like, “He tells it like it is”, or “He’s making America great again”. When I press and ask just HOW he is making America great again … specifically what has he done that has improved our nation, they tell me it’s none of my business, or change the subject. Why? Because they have no idea … they are just mimicking the pundits they hear on Fox.

          Liked by 1 person

          • My previous comment did come ouy all wrong, didn’t it? I think I even realized that while I was writing it but didn’t really know how te rephrase it. Congratulations on resisting the urge to hike up the sarcasm and giving me exactly the answer I was looking for. 🙂

            Liked by 1 person

            • Thank you! I was concerned last night, for the phrasing of your question … I wasn’t quite sure how to take it. But, I see now no antagonism was intended, and I’m glad that I managed to answer your question in spite of it all! 😊

              Liked by 1 person

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