A president of personal revenge: pray, people
Atone, America.
The high holiday Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, just passed us by at sundown on Sept. 21. Our country, thanks to Donald Trump, has become the scourge of the world. Nowhere was that clearer than in the United Nations General Assembly (Tuesday) where Trump asked world leaders if he should “annihilate” Iran.
Yes, he really said that. “Disgrace” is too good a word for Trump. And to vote for him a third time, as millions did after we saw his true ugly nature, has brought us to this terrible fate.
All of America should pray and atone for the dismal state of our once-beloved nation. We are all implicated in Trump’s stream of boasts, lies, insults and violence.
Here we have a Middle East war we’re stuck in — again. Nobody wanted that except Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and Trump’s reckless Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth. (More on the special relationship between Trump and Hegseth coming up.)
On the same day, Trump threw 750,000 people off Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, health insurance plans.
There is no end to his heartless revenge presidency: Let’s call it “personalismo.” Every day’s “dish best served cold” almost makes you forget about yesterday’s — whether it’s the press or universities, there’s always an enemy to denounce. So here’s a rundown of those who see the dark side of Trump — and the list is getting longer.
Every American who likes Canada and depends on trade with our good-natured neighbor to the north.
Every farmer whose fertilizer shipments are stranded or slowed by the Strait of Hormuz closing.
Everybody who enjoys theater, opera, dance or symphony performances, all silenced and threatened by Trump right now in the nation’s capital. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is in mortal danger, which is why thousands of Washingtonians showed up to defend the center from possible demolition.
Everybody who fears the force of Immigration and Customs Enforcement kidnapping and deporting undocumented thousands who aren’t criminals, particularly Haitians, whose home country is a dangerous place.
Everybody who stresses about the price of gas and groceries going up because of Trump’s tariffs and catastrophic war with Iran. (That is most people.)
Everybody who hates to see children go hungry when Trump cuts food assistance.
Everybody who remembers Trump’s plot to set a mob on Congress and overturn the 2020 election, which he lost. He should have been locked up then and there — or at least removed from office by the Senate after his House impeachment so he couldn’t run again.
Everybody who notes the derisive way he treats women reporters, with abusive epithets.
Everybody who understands the value of NATO and foreign aid. Trump has burned bridges between our allies and halted aid to former friends in less-developed nations.
Everybody who cares about our first-class science and history institutions. Trump is setting his sights on controlling National Institutes of Health grants and the Smithsonian’s truth-telling exhibitions.
Everybody who knows that everything is not a “hoax,” Trump’s favorite word.
Everybody who resents and resists presidential aggression against American democracy.
As for Hegseth, he represents the masculine ideal for Trump — the broad shoulders, bright blue tight suits, every hair perfectly in place. He likes to work out with midshipmen. “Nobody’s ever looked better on camera than this guy,” Trump has said. The former Fox News host is wildly underqualified to run the Defense Department, but that’s all there is to it.
Some like Ty Cobb, a former White House lawyer, say Trump is a “malignant narcissist.” Others, like Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple, say he is the “inmate-in-chief.” These are about right.
I’m worried about the criminal element too, that there’s nothing Trump wouldn’t do to win and stay in power some way, somehow. Worse, I don’t know who or what would stop him, given how much of the government he’s bent to his will in less than two years. It is truly incredible.
How many felonies does he have — 34?
The last day of summer, it rained: like tears falling for America’s predicament. A prayer for the people: that November’s winds bring a big change.
The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com.