Kudos to Dr. Wayne Roth for his letter which appeared in the March 22 issue of Blank Slate media papers.
Under the headline, “My Gratitude for Trump Continues,” Dr. Roth informs us that he previously found “27 reasons” for liking the 45th president and now he has discovered “21 more.”
I say “kudos” because I doubt if anyone else could come up with 48 reasons to like a man who is xenophobic, misogynistic, narcissistic, incapable of writing a correctly spelled and punctuated sentence and is mentally unstable.
These aren’t just my opinions. Steve Schmidt, former campaign strategist for George W. Bush and John McCain, said Trump was “a small man, a vile man, a mean man, a corrupt man, a dishonest man,” but Schmidt did not despair. He went on to say, “What we’re going to see in the months and year ahead is the resiliency of the American constitutional system… as we confront what increasingly seems to be an illegitimate and criminal regime in the White House.”
Barbara Bush in her new biography “The Matriarch” calls Trump “greedy and selfish.”
If you Google Republicans who dislike Trump, you will find hundreds of names.
Trump has effectively hijacked the Republican party. Polls show that about 90 percent of Republicans still support Trump, but there is an explanation for this loyalty.
Elected officials fear facing a primary challenge if they cross Trump. Others simply “suck up” because they lack the courage of their convictions.
Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio come to mind. Then there is “the base” which is ignorant and, as Trump himself has said, would be loyal even if he shot someone on 5th Avenue.
It’s time to refute some of the reasons Roth admires Donald Trump.
One is: “Generously refused to take his presidential salary…” He didn’t need to since he never put his assets in a blind trust, refused to show us his tax returns (remember they were under audit) and then there are his lucrative business enterprises.
Business is booming at Mar-a-Lago since he doubled the membership fee to $200,000. Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C. raked in $20 million in its first few months. Why would U.S. companies and foreign leaders stay there? It’s called “access.” If you want something from Trump, stay at his hotel. One wonders: Doesn’t this practice violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution?
Finally, during the campaign, Trump said he would avoid “big money donors,” yet six groups of ultra-wealthy donors (from the gambling, finance, real estate, and energy sectors) gave him $54 million. Then there were the “dark money” donors whose names are never disclosed. When the millionaires and billionaires have your back, you can make disingenuous gestures like saying your campaign will be self-financed.
Another reason Roth cites for liking Trump is “the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau harassed pay-day lenders during the Obama administration. Their dictatorial intention was designed to eliminate the industry,” to which I say… good riddance! Let me quote from a May 28, 2016 Des Moines Register editorial.
“Payday lenders gouge the poor. They offer cash ‘advances’ or ‘check loans’… Some charge interest rates as high a 360 percent and employ deceptive and illegal practices to take advantage of consumers… (Lenders) are frequently located near low-income neighborhoods and college campuses.”
Some payday borrowers use their car titles to secure short-term loans. If they are unable to repay the debt, they lose their car. The lessons to be learned here is that it’s expensive to be poor in America and that around every corner there’s a rapacious businessman eager to provide “help.”
Roth likes the fact that Trump repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. According to David Zarang, this law “made the financial system safer, limited the size and scope of the larger banks, and created a new system of oversight that is affecting the way they do business today.”
On the other hand, the Motley Fool opines, “At the end of the day… one can argue about the prescience and necessity of the Dodd-Frank Act.” So the jury is still out on this.
But the evidence about Trump is crystal clear. In his first 787 days in office, he made 9,179 false or misleading statements. (For math lovers, that’s 11.6 per day.) He has promoted bigotry and racism. His appointees have destroyed the environment by getting rid of every regulation President Obama put in place.
He has abandoned Puerto Rico. Can we forget the sight of him tossing paper towels to a crowd which needed food and the restoration of electricity? He promulgated one of the most heinous policies in history when he separated families, handing the children over to Child Protective Services while their parents were sent to detention centers. He has debased the office of the president by using profanity “sh**hole nations,” “pu***” and “b***sh**.” If that weren’t enough, there was his romancing an adult film star and a Playboy bunny.
Sean Wilentz writing in the New York Times points out that presidents try to avoid partisan and factional rancor… they dedicate themselves to safeguarding… democratic rights. Do I hear gales of laughter?
Historians love to rank American presidents. Trump is already among the bottom three. I am not so kind. He is, without a doubt, the absolute worst in our nation’s history.
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
