Rejecting the "Trump-era Normal"

“We are not going to succeed as a country unless we’re united. In the past, once the presidency was won, our new president would try to unify the country and make everyone feel represented. Not Mr. Trump. He seems to be trying to divide us”. I posted this sentiment on Google Plus today and that’s the way I see it.

Recently, I posted this to Google Plus: “Some things happening on Capitol Hill are just not right! We don’t have to accept what some folks call the new normal in Washington. Let’s remember that.”

Let’s talk some more about this so-called “new normal”- which I call the “Trump-era normal”.

Trump’s constant attempts to divide Americans based on archaic concepts of race and cultural differences are “played out” and are not a normal path to take for an American president. However, sadly, it does represent the Trump-era normal.

Many of us feel alienated from the Trump-led administration. We nervously wait while wondering when the next Trump bomb is going to explode, due to the erratic and irresponsible words and actions of a man who acts more like an underworld kingpin, than the president of the United States.

Recently,Trump played a high-stakes game of Missle Russian Roulette with the North Korean despot, Kim Jung Un. Since becoming president he fired Sally Yates, Preet Bahara, and James Comey, all of whom were uniquely positioned to pursue him legally. Trump has often shown little regard for some of our best allies around the world, while he sidled up to known strongmen like Putin of Russia, and Duterte of the Phillipines.  Notably, he heaped praise upon Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin, while putting down our own past leader, Barack Obama. These actions, and more, are not normal for a president of the USA. But again, they represent the Trump-era normal.

Donald J. Trump very rarely accepts responsibility for his own flawed decisions or mistakes. It’s always someone else who is worse or has done worse things than him. Bill Clinton did worse things or said worse things. Barack Obama did this, Hillary did that. This behavior is more reminiscent of the preteen on the school yard than the president of the free world. This is not normal for a true leader. However, it is the Trump-era normal.

In the era of the Me-too movement, the likes of Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Charlie Rose, Tavis Smiley, John Conyers, Roger Ailes, Anthony Weiner, and more have been brought to justice or lost their jobs for sexually related indiscretions. Yet despite the many allegations against Mr. Trump, he is still employed as the president of the USA. There are legal issues pending against Mr. Trump, but so far there have been no sexually related legal judgments or penalties placed against him after several years.

The number of serious accusations and lawsuits made against Trump are enormous-unprecedented for an American president. Still he swaggers around spouting his signature rhetoric to his admiring supporters as if everything is fine. However, the majority of Americans writhe in pain, and clench their teeth daily because of his oftentimes impulsive and questionable actions. Many of his impulsive and questionable actions can be said to be not normal, but they are Trump-era normal.

But, why should we expect anything else from Donald Trump? You will recall that when he bulldozed his way onto the political scene, he deliberately set-the-stage for his rise to power. We all remember how he alienated the press and called the press purveyors of “fake news”.  He said that congresspersons on Capitol Hill were know-nothing, do-nothings. He made bogeypersons out of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. When he negatively invokes their names in his rallies, the crowd goes wild. He has his supporters in the palms of his hands, so that when he states half-truths and even lies to them, somehow they believe him, and continue to rally to his cause. His behavior on the stump at some of his rallies appears more reminiscent of Adolf Hitler, than Abraham Lincoln. This is not normal for an American president. However, this is the new-normal for President Donald J. Trump.

Trump’s crony, Devin Nunes, hijacked the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia Investigation and came out with findings (really bogus findings) favorable to Trump. After silencing the Democrat minority, the Committee found “no evidence” of aTrump collusion with Russia. The Democrats claim that the “majority Republicans” did not allow them to present certain witnesses and did not fully question witnesses in a real truth-seeking effort.  It appears that the Nunes-led Committee wanted to force a conclusion favorable to Trump. They were never interested in “uncovering the truth”. This is America. Such things should not be allowed. This is not normal for us. However, yes, it is the Trump-era normal.

Trump’s handling of Charlottesville, DACA, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the NFL protests, and more, was not normal, enlightened, and sensitive leadership for an American president, but under Trump it represented his new normal.

The Trump-era normal may be good for Trump’s questionable agenda, but it is not good for America.  It diminishes our status in the eyes of the world, and decreases our respect abroad. We must reject the Trump-era normal and return to the values that have historically made America great.

If we have to Dump Trump in an effort to reject the Trump-era normal, then so-be-it!

Donald J. Trump: Dean of Division

Once you put information in cyberspace or put it in a book, there is a good chance that it will be there for posterity. Future generations will be able to view Trump’s actions and hear his words well into the future. In earlier articles I mentioned Charlottesville, the Central Park Five, Trump’s DACA reneging, his inciting followers to violence, his denunciation of the Hispanic judge, the Matt Lauer interview, and the Billy Bush interview. To me, these issues (and more) help define Trump as a politician who does a lot to divide us rather than unite us. I call him, the Dean of Division.

A lot of who we are is formed in childhood. I recently ran across an article where someone had interviewed an elderly woman who taught Sunday school to Trump’s sister about sixty years ago. When she was asked how Donald was back then, she replied that he was just as “egotistical and arrogant as he is now”. She also said that he “teased and bullied” other kids. This confirms what I heard from one of his biographers on television some time ago. I can easily see Donald as the type of child we’ve all known over the years. You know-the type of child that throws a spitball at the teacher then folds his arms and acts innocent while the other kids take the blame. I see him as the boy bully who whacks a foul ball on the kids’ baseball field and calls it a home run, when everyone knows better, but they let Donald have his way.  Donald probably never wanted to fit into that confined world where all the kids play together with the same rules applying to everyone. I see Donald as always playing outside of the rules of the game or perhaps making the rules to benefit him.  I don’t see Donald’s selfish nature starting in adulthood. It’s more likely that it started way back in childhood.

In adulthood, Donald went into the family business. Some of his employees would comment that Donald had a management style centering on “division”.  He would devise and employ strategies designed to divide his employees-one against the other, but he would call it “competition”. Trump seemed to enjoy the chaos of division in his business, and I’m sure many found their way to Trump to “tattle” on each other behind closed doors.

This divisive and chaotic mind-set accompanied Trump to the White House, where he demonstrates these characteristics daily.

Before ascending to the White House, Donald was instrumental in settling a housing discrimination lawsuit which resulted from the family business refusing to accept minority applicants as tenants in his more exclusive apartment buildings. In effect, the Trump Organization actually selected the buildings in which minority applicants were allowed to rent. Many minority applicants qualified for rentals in his high-end buildings by each-and-every measure but race. However, it was because of race alone that they were denied occupancy in these prized Trump buildings. The Trump Organization clearly divided potential renters into two groups-the whites who could rent apartments in the “prestige” buildings, and the blacks and minorities who could not!

The Central Park Five were a group of four African-American teens and one Hispanic teen, who were accused (among other charges) of assaulting, raping and sodomizing a 28-year-old white woman in New York City’s Central Park on April, 19, 1989, per Wikipedia. Though the rape kit didn’t implicate any of the suspects, following a trial based on what has been said to be the “coerced” confessions of the youths, they were tried, convicted, and incarcerated for the alleged crimes in 1990.

In 2002, Mr. Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and rapist (already serving a life sentence in jail) confessed to the crimes against the jogger, Trisha Meili.  DNA and other corroborating evidence proved that, Reyes was, without a doubt, the perpetrator. The CP-5 convictions were vacated in 2002, but by then they had already served between 6 and 13 years in prison.  According to Wikipedia, after suing the City of New York for emotional distress, malicious prosecution, and racial discrimination in 2003, the men were awarded a somewhat delayed settlement of 41 million dollars in 2014

Trump was the most prominent opponent of the CP-5 from the start. According to NBC News, Trump insisted on the guilt of the CP-5 from the onset in 1989, to at least 2016, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  At the time of the crime (and because of the crime) Trump took out full-page ads in all four of the city’s key newspapers, requesting that the death penalty be reinstated in New York. Whenever Trump develops a viewpoint he usually doesn’t deviate from it. To my knowledge, to date, he has not changed his view about the guilt of the CP-5.  Trump has a long and verifiable history of taking uncompromising and divisive positions on serious issues involving race.

Over the past year, Donald Trump has created an issue out of NFL players not standing for the national anthem. He campaigned against the protests as being anti-American.  However, the players were really protesting the unfair treatment of African-Americans (and other minorities) across the nation-especially as it pertained to local police forces.  The players’ intent was never to disrespect the nation or it’s military. In fact, the movement was started by Kaepernick sitting on a bench during the anthem.  He was hardly noticed by the public. However, NFL player and former Army Green Beret, Nate Boyer (a white man), advised Colin Kaepernick that taking a knee would be more respectful than sitting during the anthem. Boyer felt that sitting during the anthem could be viewed by some as being generally disrespectful.  While being careful to not criticize Kaepernick for the reasons behind his protest, Boyer told Kaepernick how the flag is presented to family members of their deceased military relatives. The military presenters kneel, that is, take a knee out of respect for the deceased and their family as they extend the flag to the grieving family members. This is the real story behind “taking a knee” and it has nothing to do with the “lack of respect” notion that Trump repeatedly tried to market to the public at every opportunity. When this type of negative rhetoric is fed to the public, it infuriates many of them and causes division in our society because it looks to them as if well-paid and successful African-Americans are denigrating our flag, our military, and our country.  Many people knew that Trump’s protest attacks were based on false premises, but many other Americans saw the protests in the Trump-inspired negative light. Perhaps that’s the very perception that Trump wanted to plant in the minds of many.

It appears that whenever there’s a chance to drive a wedge between the American people, Mr. Trump seems to always appear on the scene to fully exploit the situation like a hungry ambulance chaser. Consider Charlottesville. Here he divided the nation by equating peaceful protesters standing for equality to torch carrying neo-Nazi types defiantly shouting “Jews will not replace us!”  Trump must stop his divisive rhetoric and actions.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel was set to preside over The Trump University fraud lawsuit, but Trump felt he should have been disqualified to preside over the lawsuit because of his Mexican heritage. This suggestion was racist in nature, divisive, and improper. Not only was Judge Curiel born and raised in the USA, he was imminently qualified to preside over that case. With good cause, the Hispanic community was incensed about this.

In the Lauer/Trump interview in New York City on September 7, 2016, Trump stated that President Barack Obama had committed terrible acts against people like Putin has been accused of. Here Trump equated the actions of a well-respected sitting American president with the totalitarian deeds of a man who is known to have imprisoned and killed political rivals and journalists. This was indeed divisive rhetoric designed to denigrate a sitting American head-of-state. It should never have happened!

Hispanics were hoping-against-hope that Trump would do the right thing concerning DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). However he did not follow through. Consider this segment from my article entitled “Trump: Showman and Master of Deceit”. It states, “Particularly interesting is his “DACA” meeting with members of congress seated all around him.  At the meeting (with cameras all around) he professed a genuine interest in getting a DACA deal done. Days later, when the cameras were gone, he reversed course, and did nothing. This is who Donald Trump really is as seen by those of us who are not his ardent supporters and enablers.” This is the type of action, or non-action, that further divides the country clearly based on us (Trump supporters) against them (DACA) supporters. The USA has historically turned a blind eye to illegal immigration, especially as it pertained to immigrants from Hispanic countries. Their labor has been generally cheap, and many U.S. businesses needed (and still needs) the types of labor provided by these immigrants.  With reference to DACA, Trump is essentially dividing the country and furthering anti-Hispanic racism. He is known to have called Hispanics criminals, rapists, and slackers who drain our welfare system. Therefore, he feels that we should deport illegal immigrants, and build a wall on the southern border to keep them out. Let’s face it.  These people are pawns in Trump’s end-game of further dividing this country along racial lines for his own devious political gain.

The Billy Bush/Trump Access Hollywood Tape recorded in 2005 (and reemerging during the 2016 presidential campaign) highlighted Trump talking graphically about his aggressive sexual maneuverings more appropriate to a red-light district than a prime time television segment. If anything, it showed Trump’s disrespect for women by revealing that he viewed them as basically objects to satisfy his various sexual whims. This tape divided the two men into two camps-the privileged and the unprivileged. For a lesser transgression, Billy Bush lost his job. For much more serious transgressions, Trump ascended to the U.S. presidency, the highest, most prestigious job in the world. Go figure!

Some of the most blatant attempts of division along racial lines became apparent at many of Trump’s campaign rallies where he encouraged supporters to literally assault dissenters, and promised that he’ll pay their legal bills!. He said it wasn’t like this in “the old days”-a semi veiled attempt to have supporters recall the abominable “brighter days” of long ago when white privilege reigned supreme. Again, this constant rhetoric of division must stop. Whenever necessary, we must challenge Trump to explain what he means-explicitly, rather than through code words, coded messages, and brainwashed emissaries. 

Mr. Trump, America has grown tired of you.  Each day we seem to be embroiled in another avoidable Trump-inspired mess! Stop trying to divide us at every opportunity! Please recall that the majority of Americans did not vote for you. Will you change now, or will you remain America’s Dean of Division?

Trump: Showman and Master of Deceit

Why do we continue to tolerate Donald Trump’s laughable Barnum and Bailey-like showmanship and deceitful shenanigans? Since his decision to run for president, the general public has learned a lot more about him as the media focused its spotlight more keenly on him because of his presidential run.

Trump has continually boasted of being a great businessman, but the record shows that he has had at least 6 business (Chapter 11) bankruptcies.  This does nothing to bolster the great businessman image that he wants us to believe. In 2005 Trump launched Trump University which supposedly specialized in providing training in real estate, entrepreneurship and other business related subjects. However, the university was unaccredited and didn’t deliver on its promises. Trump University functioned until 2010. However, the so-called university was not successful, and there were many complaints and lawsuits filed against the school by its students, and the New York Attorney General’s office claiming fraud. In November of 2016, three outstanding lawsuits against Trump University were settled for 25 million dollars, according to USA Today and other news outlets.  The news media also reported Trump’s history of “stiffing” various contractors and independent workers who had done work for him.

The record is full of accusations and lawsuits against the President, including the recent much talked about cases of Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress, and Karyn McDougal, a former Playboy “Playmate of the Year”. 

As a practicing showman, Trump is often seen on TV holding court for the nation and the world to see as he chairs meetings with congresspersons and high -ranking military officers on the critical issues of the day. When he chairs these meetings, his apparent goal is to demonstrate his ability to take charge and resolve issues. Many have criticized these meetings as being show meetings of the highest degree, initiated by a politician who sees success in terms of media ratings, rather than job understanding and job performance. Particularly interesting is his “DACA” meeting with members of congress seated all around him.  At the meeting (with cameras all around) he professed a genuine interest in getting a DACA deal done. Days later, when the cameras were gone, he reversed course, and did nothing. This is who Donald Trump really is as seen by those of us who are not his ardent supporters and enablers.

Following the recent raid on his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen’s home, office, and hotel quarters, Trump is said to be living in fear of what might happen next.  When Trump feels fenced in, he often lashes out at those around him and threatens to fire those he perceives as the enemy. His explosive temperament may well become a problem as he attempts to represent our national interests overseas.  Trump is known to vacillate on key issues and he downright lies on other issues. Can and will the international community trust him to negotiate international deals of critical importance, or will trusted subordinates be called upon to negotiate these deals?

If Trump has any ability at all, it is his expert ability to convince a considerable number of people that he is the real thing, an extremely competent, caring rich man who is foregoing making lots of money in his later years, to work for America for peanuts. However, we all know that he never really distanced himself from his business empire.  Some feel he is using his presidency to make more money or, at least, position himself to make more money.  He wants us to believe that he just wants to represent the forgotten Americans, and to make America great again out of the goodness of his heart.

Trump may be the only person who knows if he is actually innocent of any possible infractions that Mueller might discover under his broad mandate authorized by Deputy AG Rosenstein.  If he profesess innocence, why can’t he let the investigation continue to its conclusion?  If he is really innocent, Mueller won’t find a thing on Trump-right? However, if he is hiding something illegal, Mueller may well uncover a wealth of stuff! Perhaps this is why Trump continues to try so hard to derail the investigation.

The acts of firing person-after-person and getting stooges like Nunes and Hannity to try to manipulate public opinion on his behalf, suggests to a lot of folks, that Trump is trying to hide something.  What might he be trying to hide? He must fear something very serious being discovered, because he seems obsessed with halting the Mueller investigation-at almost any cost! It is good that despite the many attempts to derail it, the investigation is successfully moving on.  It looks like the investigation is slowly inching its way up towards the top of the pyramid.

Trump has made a series of public appearances, interviews, and tweets that reveal who he really is. He remains a master controller who manipulates people and compromises the integrity of his subordinates in order to reach his own selfish ends. Consider KellyAnn Conway, Sean Spicer, and Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, to name a few, who many say have surrendered their integrity for the Donald.

I have reviewed film, videos, and documentaries on Adolph Hitler. At first I was amazed at how similar Hitler’s manipulative style was compared to Mr. Trump’s.  I have said before that Trump “plays” the people and history, videotapes, and audiotapes will prove this to be true.

It remains surprising to me that people allow Mr. Trump to tell lie-after-lie while they continue to flock to him as if he has some kind of strange mesmerizing control over them. Trump’s new National Security Advisor, John Bolton, makes the joke, “How can you tell if a North Korean is telling the truth?” and the answer is, “His lips are moving”.   I don’t know how much this joke applies to Kim Jun Un, but it definitely applies to Mr. Trump. Go to the videotape! It’s right there!

I have seen excerpts of film where some former Trump “believers” came to the conclusion that Trump is a fraud.  When I heard this, I recalled how he defrauded those trusting students at that bogus Trump University, and didn’t pay contractors and other workers. In addition, I recalled the various lawsuits and accusations from many women concerning alleged sexual misconduct by Mr. Trump. In the final analysis, I had to agree that Trump is a deceitful fraud. You can’t dress it up!  Look at his history. Again, it  is right there! There’s the TV tape with Billy Bush, the interview with Matt Lauer, the interview with Lester Holt, the sham round table meeting when he pledged support for DACA and reneged, and so on.  Let’s go to those video tapes and resurrect who Trump really is. Let’s relive how he incited people in his rallies to violence!  Let’s relive his denunciation of the Hispanic judge. Let’s relive his Charlottesville remarks. Relive it all. There’s your truth! That’s who Trump really is! He is a Showman and a Master of Deceit! Sad!

Trump: The Innocent Man of Capitol Hill-Part V (The Saga Continues-Alleged Sexual Indiscretions)

April 5, 2018

It’s a never-ending story. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America is dominating the news again under unflattering circumstances.  His current newsworthy problems stem from pending legal cases against him involving sexual misconduct allegations by several women who are seeking legal action against him. Additionally, there are still many sexual misconduct accusations launched against Trump by countless other women.  If more women decide to take legal action against Trump, his legal problems may reach epidemic proportions.

Stormy Daniels has often been in the news and on talk shows lately. She’s the adult industry actress, who Trump’s lawyer paid $130,000 in “hush money” for her not to talk about the liaison she had with Trump back in 2006. Like Trump, Stormy just will not go away. Without a doubt, she appears to be taking full advantage of her moment in the spotlight and relishing the attention.

Trump  kept mum on the Stormy Daniels issue for several days, but today, in response to a reporter’s question (as he entered Air Force One) he said that he knew nothing about the hefty payment that his lawyer paid on his behalf to Ms. Daniels in 2016, just prior to the election. The fact that Trump’s lawyer admittedly paid Daniels with monies he secured from his personal home equity loan makes this clandestine deal all the more strange. Why would Trump’s long-time attorney, pal, and confidant pay $130,000 to an adult film star/businessperson without the knowledge of his client? No one knows. We’ll have to wait and see what develops later regarding this controversial payment.

Besides Daniels, there is a young lady named Karen McDougal, the Playboy 1998 Playmate of the Year, and former Pre-K teacher who came forward to report an amorous relationship with Mr. Trump lasting several months.

Around the same time that Trump was romancing Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, he was married to former model, Melania Knauss, who gave birth to the couple’s first child within this same time frame!  During the media coverage of Karen McDougal, it was revealed that she was paid $150,000 by AMI, a firm that owns the National Enquirer.  AMI essentially purchased her story involving Donald Trump to “kill” it -never to be published, apparently to protect Mr.Trump. The National Enquirer is a long-time avid supporter of Mr. Trump.

In addition to Daniels and McDougal, Summer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice accused Trump of unsolicited fondling, kissing, and the thrusting of his private parts against her.  Mr. Trump has denied this.  He stated that the alleged Zervos incident (like the claims of many other women) is patently false. According to Trump, all these women accusers are liars! After the statute of limitations for the Zervos sexual impropriety claim elapsed, she could no longer sue Trump for that action.  However, she is currently suing him for defamation of character, stating that Trump defamed her by calling her a liar.  Lawyers familiar with the case say they think she has a good case. The judge in this case has given the “green light” for the case to move forward. However, the decision to go forward is being appealed by the Trump legal team.

The most egregious sexual claim against Trump comes from Katie Johnson (not her real name) as reported by Daily Mail.com. She alleges being lured to a sex party by known pedophile and billionaire, Jeffrey Epstein, when she was 13 years of age and in New York City pursuing a modeling career. She alleges being forced into rough role-play sex with Trump and Epstein. The alleged assault took place in 1994. She reports that at the time she didn’t know that one of her attackers was Donald Trump until she saw an episode of The Apprentice.  Her original claim was filed in a California federal court in April, 2016 and amended in New York federal court in October, 2016, claiming “rape, criminal sexual acts, assault, battery and false imprisonment”, according to Daily Mail.com.

Following numerous alleged “threats”, Ms. Johnson dropped her suit in New York on November 4, 2016, four days before the presidential election of November 8th 2016.  Daily Mail.com has also reported that Ms. Johnson has a criminal history which includes a felony arrest and drug abuse which she believes stems from her unpleasant childhood.

Again, besides the above-cited claims by these women, there are countless claims by other women still waiting to have their voices heard. Trump continues to brand them as bearers of false news and liars.

It is well known in the U.S. and abroad that Trump is the consummate liar. He lives in a self-created world of fantasy and acts as if it is his world, with the rest of us passing through it, only with his benevolent concurrence. He represents the epitome of arrogance on the world stage, and that is not good for America!

Many people purposely refrain from judging Mr. Trump’s morality, or lack thereof, but other folks are asking, “When is enough going to be enough?”

Nowadays Trump has to be on “pins and needles” because of the myriad of personal, legal, and job-related problems besetting him at the same time.  Behind closed doors he is said to be exploding! Not many people can withstand a constant barrage of incoming fire raining down on them every day and every hour. Even steel breaks! However, one cannot legitimately feel sorry for Mr. Trump because he has had countless opportunities to correct the “errors of his ways”, but apparently he has chosen not to change. Sad!

Many well-known and powerful people have been brought to justice and/or penalized for the same behavior demonstrated by Mr.Trump. Why hasn’t he been brought to justice or penalized for the same actions?  So far, The Innocent Man of Capitol Hill has emerged as the second coming of “Teflon Don”. Sad!  Justice must be just around the corner.  Justice, a beleaguered nation calls out for your help! We need it now!