Kai EL’ Zabar
Executive Editor
The Republic is Still in Danger
“If you’re honest, you will admit that Donald Trump acts more like an overgrown preteen who is not quite sure of who he wants to be.”
“What we have here is a failure to communicate,” a line from the film “Cool Hand Luke,” speaks volumes now that we have a president-elect who exhibits behavior that, if not attributed to him, would be considered at best erratic; however, he is the elected soon-to-be leader of America and has stature based on his wealth and visibility, mainly resulting from his reality television show persona, lawsuits, messy marriages, divorces and his tendency toward gaudiness.
You know the adage “You can take the boy out of the country but not the country out of the boy.” So I’m warning you that the president-elect’s erratic personality will not get better.
If you’re honest, you will admit that he acts more like an overgrown preteen who is not quite sure of who he wants to be, allowing his ego’s lust for attention and acceptance to lead him at all times. He’s a crowd pleaser and will do whatever he has to do to get the applause.
So on Nov. 23, before Thanksgiving, the president-elect sat down with the New York Times, America’s most prominent mainstream newspaper, which he had made glaring insults about throughout his presidential campaign that were short of being blasphemous. He expressed himself in his usual unconventional manner.
Trump began with, “Well, I just appreciate the meeting and I have great respect for the New York Times. Tremendous respect. It’s very special. Always has been very special.”
So like him to flip flop!
Trump was unapologetic about openly ignoring the tradition of convention or standards set by presidents, that reflect ethical and political conventions
.
Conflicts of Interest
Trump, speaking from his personal interpretation of what is legal, what is right or what simply is, said he had no legal obligation to establish boundaries between his business empire and his White House, conceding that the Trump brand “is certainly a hotter brand than it was before.” Still, he said he would try to figure out a way to insulate himself from his businesses, which would be run by his children.
This should be seen as contempt for all that has been tried and proven to be a correct line of behaviors to protect the interests of the executive office and the country. It is dangerous to allow this bully to do whatever he wants because as his colleague Paul Ryan puts it, “he won the election.”
So that makes him above the law? Really. You see this is how white men have a tendency to think. Trump is now the leader of the pack because he threw down and won, so now all have to get in line if they wish to remain a part of the winning team.
Beware, Republicans, you’ve been down this rabbit hole before. They allowed Nixon to interfere where he should not have, and gave him carte blanche, which led to his eventual demise.
Trump had the audacity to defend cabinet pick Stephen K. Bannon as chief strategist, against charges of racism, calling him a “decent guy.” And he mocked Republicans who had failed to support him in his unorthodox presidential campaign.
Listen, people, all the Republicans who want to land on Trump’s best side say the same crap, essentially “that the Bannon described in the media is not the Bannon they know.” So screw that, we’re talking about the Bannon who Steve Bannon himself wanted us to know. The man who as recently as this summer called Breitbart News, the website he led, “the platform for the alt-right,” a white nationalist movement. How about that?
You feeling me?
Trump exuberated his overzealous sense of confidence even tough he admitted that he is awed by his new job. “It is a very overwhelming job, but I’m not overwhelmed by it,” he said.
Spoken so true to form. He’s not overwhelmed because he doesn’t take it seriously. Not really. To date, he still isn’t participating in the review of the presidential daily briefings (the same ones President Obama receives) because . . . he knows more than the generals.
His statements about the rhetoric he used to reel in the suffering populace were conflicted and, at best, those of a preteen, betwixt by whether it serves him well to be adamant about those positions stated during the campaign, or not now that he won the election.
So he reiterated that he had no interest in pressing for Hillary Clinton’s prosecution over her use of a private email server or for financial acts committed by the Clinton Foundation, which he had recently announced after his win, shocking many who had chanted, “Lock her up, Lock her up,” led by him at rallies around the country. “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” he said.
Look, I could go on and on, but let me say this. First, he has no authority to press prosecution, and to attempt to would lead him straight to impeachment. So his seeming act of forgiveness is merely a move to save his own behind.
Further, what we need to know is that Trump played the populace, selling them populism and what they’ve got is a plutocracy– a government ruled by the wealthy.
Our responsibility, if we believe in the democracy that this country was, is to recognize that the republic is still in danger and that we cannot afford to accept any of Trump’s missteps to step around what has been tradition and conventional protocol as normal. It is not.
About Post Author
