September 10, 2019
It is as if we are drinking battery acid from a fire hose. We are both sickened and overwhelmed by the ceaseless acts of dishonesty and depravity being committed by this White House. Although the news last week was dominated by Sharpiegate, it was far from the most egregious act committed by Trump in the last seven days. The pathetic saga detailed here by Tara Law, would be funny if it were not proof that the President of the United States is incapable of performing his most apolitical and basic function, to keep the American people safe by providing accurate and scientifically verifiable information.
While we were mocking Trump’s ridiculous vanity, we learned of not one, but two instances, of blatant grift. Mike Pence chose to stay at a Trump resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, 181 miles away from his meetings in Dublin, at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $600,000. That obvious corruption was soon dwarfed by news that Air Force planes were stopping at the tiny Glasgow-Prestwick Airport, rather than at air bases to refuel, and putting up their crews in Trump’s Turnberry Resort. This year alone, there have been 259 refueling stops at Glasgow-Prestwick, up from 180 in 2017 at a cost of $17.2 million dollars, (Source: “Trump Had Deal With Scotland Airport That Sent Flight Crews to His Resort,” by Eric Lipton, The New York Times, 9/9/19).
Frustratingly, Congressional Democrats are responding to these newly uncovered grounds for impeachment with firmly worded vows to investigate and the political press continues to insist on viewing everything through the lens of partisan advantage.
A focus on Trump’s corruption, as widespread as it is, risks missing a far graver threat posed by this administration. It is true that Trump is enriching himself at the public trough like a greedy child unleashed on a stash of Halloween candy, but the project that Trump, Steven Miller and all of their Republican enablers have embarked on is far more sinister. Since taking office, Trump has relentlessly attacked the media, in an effort to undermine public confidence in a free press. Last week, Trump was particularly vicious, threatening The Washington Post, and attacking everyone from CNN to MSNBC, (Source: “Even for Trump, it’s been a busy stretch of media attacks,” by David Bauder, AP, The Washington Post, 9/9/19).
In a seemingly unrelated development, a conservative investor and Trump ally purchased a stake in AT&T and sent a letter to management questioning the wisdom of its acquisition of the former Time Warner, parent company of CNN, among others. In case anyone missed it, Trump immediately tweeted his approval, speculating “perhaps they will put a stop to all of the Fake News emanating from its non-credible ‘anchors’,” (Source: “A Hedge Fund Becomes A Very Noisy Stakeholder In AT&T”, by Michael J. de la Merced and Edmund J. Lee, The New York Times, 9/9/19). Although it would be tempting to dismiss this as more of Trump’s vindictive rambling, we should heed the warning of Ian Bassin, founder and Executive Director of Protect Democracy. As Bassin, former Associate White House Counsel under President Obama,laid out in this Twitter thread yesterday, these moves come straight from the playbook of Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban. This campaign to destroy a free press is a frontal assault on the First Amendment.
Lastly, yesterday, Trump reacted to the news that 119 Bahamians seeking to evacuate after Hurricane Dorian had been kicked off of a private ferry because they lacked visas by asserting that The Bahamas had “some very bad people,” insinuating that the ferry captain was justified in leaving them stranded. Trump’s relentless attacks on people of color aim to do nothing less than to convince white Americans that Black and Brown people are, as a group, criminal, lazy and fundamentally not human, and thus not deserving of the same rights and privileges as white people. This is nothing less than a frontal attack on the Fourteenth Amendment.
Trump’s constant corruption certainly merits impeachment. Trump’s erratic and reckless foreign policy decisions are proof that he is unfit for office. But the assaults on our most fundamental Constitutional rights are a group project of the Republican Party and defeating Trump will not be enough. Every Republican should be voted out of office. Every Republican government official should be stripped of their position. They have shown that they don’t believe in the American experiment and we need to get them out of power, root and branch. Our democracy won’t be safe until we do.
The other disturbing factors about the debacle with Trump saying Alabama would be hit is how he has bent the organizations we thought were above politics like NASA to his will as well as his approach that he is beyond dispute. It is frightening to think how he will continue to try to use this tactic to abuse power.
Let’s not forget that the administration pressured the head of NOAA to verify his ludicrous claim that Alabama was threatened by the hurricane …and he caved. So now, a credible source that hasn’t been previously called into question has jeopardized its reputation in order to back an obvious lie.
So true.