Yes, I know
that the topic of the day is the Mueller Report and the issue of
pursuing or not pursuing impeachment against this fake president. As often happens here, I have chosen to move to a
related subject that has basically received little comment or attention. It has been pretty much ignored since it came
forth. Yet, it also relates at its core to the chaos and the un-presidential
behavior of wannabe 'King' Donald J. Trump. It perhaps
goes to the heart of what’s wrong with this man who should never have been
elected to this high office. It points up that Republicans who continue to
support this man, no matter what he does, are abettors in the destructive
dismantling of our form of government and of our mutual responsibility for each
other.
Turncoat – “a
person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or
deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party.” In political and social history, this is distinct from being a traitor, as the
switch mostly takes place “when the goal that formerly motivated and benefited
the person becomes… either no longer
feasible or too costly
even if success is achieved.”
Synonyms: traitor,
renegade, defector, deserter, betrayer
Hypocrite – “a person who feigns some desirable or publicly
approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements
belie his or her public statements.”
Following are some of Trump’s worst comments particularly
about Mexican (and other Hispanic/Latino) immigrants. They constitute Trump’s original (and
continuing) stance on the threat that so-called “illegal immigrants from
Mexico” pose to our people and to our nation:
TRUMP: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending
you their best…They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re
bringing those problems with them. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing
crime. They’re rapists….” Jun. 16, 2015
TRUMP: “Sadly, the
overwhelming amount of violent crime in our major cities is committed by blacks
and Hispanics-a tough subject-must be discussed.”
TRUMP: “The border is wide open for cartels & terrorists. Secure our border
now. Build a massive wall & deduct the costs from Mexican foreign
aid!” 4:47 PM -
Mar 30, 2015
TRUMP: “love the
Mexican people, but Mexico is not our friend. They're killing us at the border
and they're killing us on jobs and trade. FIGHT! 8:57 AM -
Jun 30, 2015
TRUMP: “What
can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing
their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases,
criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.” July 2015
TRUMP: “Because of “people that should’ve never been allowed
to come over the border,” crime is “going through the roof.” (campaign rally in
California – Thursday, April 28, 2016).
THE TWIST and TURN OF KING TRUMP: Trump is threatening to deliver
these same “murderers, drug-traffickers, people-traffickers, rapists, thieves,
job-takers, and ‘bad’ people” into many of our population centers (Sanctuary
Cities) to pose direct threats to his own loyal supporters and voters, in spite of his prior remarks.
(Reuters) – “President Donald Trump said on Friday he was
considering sending illegal immigrants in the country to so-called sanctuary
cities, prompting U.S. mayors to accept such an offer as the battle over border
security raged.”
“Frustrated by rising numbers of undocumented immigrants
arriving at the southern border, and a failure to get Congress to fully fund a
U.S.-Mexico border wall, Trump taunted Democrats by dangling the possibility of
an influx of illegal immigrants into their communities.”
TRUMP: "Due
to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous
immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to
placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only" (Twitter).
TRUMP: (speaking
to reporters at the White House on Friday, said of sanctuary cities) "We
can give them an unlimited supply" of immigrants.”
There you have
it. Trump as Turncoat; Trump as Hypocrite; Trump
as deserter and betrayer, because he now wants to send “an unlimited supply” of
illegal immigrants into the midst of his non-supporters (Democrats). However, some of his loyal supporters also live in those same
cities.
Thus, his threat becomes not only a threat to Democrats (several
mayors have already stepped-up to counter that threat by saying: ‘go ahead, we
can support these folks just as we have already aided Syrians and others who
have needed our help’).
HERE’S the POINT: TRUMP HAS THROWN
HIS OWN PEOPLE UNDER THE BUS – this
is his real unwritten message to them: They are
expendable.
They are tools in his self-aggrandizement. They are his pawns and his puppets. He will use them whenever he wants to boost a
personal agenda that serves him in all matters.
There’s
more: Trump has perhaps
unwittingly raised the question of the veracity of his claims about Mexico,
Mexicans, immigrants, and “threats”. If
he is willing to send murderers, thieves, drug cartel members, gangs, and
job-takers into communities inhabited by his own supporters, is he thereby jeopardizing
the well-being and the lives of his own voters?
OR, is he now demonstrating that his followers don’t have
anything to worry about because his claims about the “badness” of immigrants is
just propaganda and not real – in fact, very much in doubt? So, which is it? Is there a threat from “bad immigrants” or
are immigrants little or no threat to our communities and to our nation? Apparently, Trump wants to have it both ways,
but he ends up lying to us no matter how he answers.
I have absolutely no
trust in Donald Trump. I believe he will
do anything to advance himself and his fortune.
I believe he will lie about anything to make himself look good or to
cover-up his mistakes. He has been shown
to have a history of using people when it suits his needs. I believe he is, in this case, willing to throw
his own followers under the bus in order to exact revenge upon his political
enemies. His thirst for personal power
knows no bounds.
However, in this case, he has stupidly set-up a situation by which we may be able to determine whether a crime wave breaks out in all those
sanctuary cities, or to determine whether those transplanted refugee immigrants will provide more evidence
of their usual behavior by working hard, caring for and building their
families, contributing to their larger communities; believing in the need to be
helpful to others; trying to build their own “American Dream.”
Trump is not just a turncoat – he could be an abettor of
criminal activity against his supporters if he carries out his threat. Unless, of course, the immigrants are NOT a
threat to anyone! Which is it?
So, here is my call to progressives and conservatives alike:
1. Support
those sanctuary cities in every way possible to aid them in refugee settlement;
2. Publicize
the probable betrayal by Trump of his own supporters by threatening to send the
very ‘dangerous criminals’ he describes into their neighborhoods. Based on his own words and actions, the
‘danger’ he touts is so imminent and pervasive he has actually ordered troops
to our southern border to maintain order; and, he continues to search for ways to
build a retaining wall because of the great danger he attributes to these immigrants
no matter the expense or the failure quotient;
3. Publicize
the stupidity of Trump logic in providing a proving ground for the very people
he denigrates, i.e. if a large crime wave attributable to immigrants does not break out in these cities,
it shows that he lied about their character and the threat he says they pose;
4. Bring forth
to those Trumpites known to you that Trump has shown his disdain for all of
them by his willingness to see them harmed by the “criminals” he wants to send
to their communities; to their neighborhoods
Ask
them the question: how can they support
someone who tells them one thing (‘these Mexican immigrants are bad, violent
and dangerous and we need to stop them from coming across our borders’) but
then turns completely around to send those same “dangerous criminals” to
certain cities to spread their supposed harm and hurt to everyone (including Trump
loyalists)?
This is ultimately what lying or cover-up or limiting access
to facts by a government or its leadership produces. It results in untenable situations. It affects those who least expect it. It poisons the atmosphere in which we live
and work. It grows and spreads like a
cancer because it is pervasive, insidious and toxic. The ancient Hebrew nation knew this well, and
it is no accident that it became one of the strongest prohibitions of the Ten
Commandments: THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE
WITNESS. It wasn’t just individual
morality that was involved; it was the health, welfare and mission of a whole
community/people/nation that was at stake.
In case you missed it, this is one of the basics of real democracy: the corporateness – the interdependence -- of
our lives and our very existence.
Those who preach and base their lives and faith upon ego-centricity
as their primary motivation for their actions have little or no comprehension
of the interdependence and corporal well-being that must be the formative basis
of a community. They do not comprehend,
for instance, the harm that can be caused to a society’s health by insisting on
an individual’s “right” to reject vaccination of their children against harmful
diseases. The effects of such individualization, without regard for the health
and welfare of the rest of the community, deserves condemnation. Such disregard for the community welfare is
what leads to health epidemics such as the measles scare currently active and
growing. In other words, when individuals
fabricate and invoke questionable freedoms for themselves, they can end up undermining
and destroying the rights of others to “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness;” in fact, the whole foundation and fabric of society and government can be
threatened.
Whenever we ignore the expression of false witness by our
leaders -- the Big Lie, obstruction of justice, or the abuse of truth and trust
-- we jeopardize our commonweal (community well-being).
We must always react to – and reject -- untruthfulness (LYING). The high crime of utilizing and
normalizing falsity is what the ancient Hebrews called apostasy (falling away),
a crime against both God and His people.
Such falsity breeds corruption, and corruption is the destroyer, not the
builder, of democratic institutions and values.
Donald Trump and his followers are not just de-constructionists—they are active destroyers of our democracy, corrupting it from the inside out.
Something I read recently stuck in my mind on this subject. It came from Hillary Clinton, I believe, who
said something to this effect: if this
(Mueller) Report came forth about any other President, impeachment charges would
have been started immediately against that person!
We cannot continue to allow this man to get away with “high
crimes and misdemeanors” pursued with the intent of destroying our government
and our well-being. He is not worthy of
the office or of the support of people whom he has now betrayed and denigrated by his
own words and actions.
Thus, I proposed in a recent tweet that Congress (mainly the
Democrats in the House of Representatives) begin the process of impeachment in
a unique way.
1. Use the
Mueller Report as a guide to further investigation by the appropriate House committees
especially regarding Obstruction of Justice
2. Following-up
on the results of each hearing, take what is learned about each charge
investigated, and produce a series of “censure resolutions” that essentially
encompass the conclusions of the hearings as to Trump culpability in terms of
possible impeachable offenses.
3. This series
of censure resolutions could serve as steps in the all-important task of
educating the public, and perhaps as the basis of building toward eventual
impeachment charges and proceedings
Above all, Democrats must not be complacent or afraid to
carry out their constitutional duty. We
cannot ignore the damage of doing nothing in the face of a lying obstructionist/de-constructionist/destroyer
who is using his powerful position as head of our government to enrich himself,
his family and others of his ilk who are content to use every means at their
disposal to gain all the power, control and profit that will enhance them at
the expense of the rest of society.
After all, any leader who would turn on his own followers and
threaten their well-being by threatening to send into their neighborhoods in
‘Sanctuary Cities’ those he himself has
characterized as criminals, thieves, rapists, drug-traffickers, murderers and terrorists ('bad’
people), is the epitome of a man that no one should trust, support, tolerate or
vote into any elective office.
In conclusion, I leave you with a slight variation of what Trump himself has said: “KICK HIM OUT” and then LOCK HIM UP!”
