I can only recall my giving one genuine compliment to George W. Bush during his presidency. On December 14, 2008, Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw his shoes at Bush who ducked so deftly I wrote, “W. has exceptional reflexes.” (al-Zaidi had excellent aim, though it cost him a three-year prison sentence.)
Bush, remarkably silent during Obama's two terms, has recently commented about Donald Trump. “I don’t like the racism, the name-calling and people feeling alienated,” Bush told People Magazine in a recent interview.
Compared to Trump, Bush seems thoughtful and articulate. (It's like the expression, “If you want to seem thin, hang out with fat people.”) Bush was also highly critical of Trump's labeling the press the “enemy of the people.” W. countered, “The press is indispensable to democracy.”
Trump recently quoted Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln criticizing the press. But he conveniently neglected Jefferson's quote, “If I had to choose between a government without newspapers and newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
On Tuesday, Trump gave his first speech to a joint sessions of Congress. It's easy to understand why white supremacists such as the KKK and the Nazi Party love Trump. As the camera focused in on The Donald, we saw behind him Vice-President Pence and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, three white men.
There were no women, as when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker and no person of color as when Obama was president. (Given Trump's orange Cheeto complexion I suppose he's a person of color.)
Trump as our 45th president is surreal, like a bad dream or a bad movie. Unworthy of the office, he has so many despicable traits, including being a narcissistic hypocrite.
For example, on the campaign trail Trump bragged that he would have Obamacare “repealed on one.” Trump has been president for forty-two days and last I checked Obamacare hasn't been repealed. So much for “on day one.” (There's actually a site that logs the days, hours and minutes of Trump's presidency. (Go to: www.howlonghasdonaldterumpbeenpresident.com.)
Also that day on the campaign trail, Trump said, as he raised his index finger in the air authoritatively, “We will replace (Obamacare) with something so much better and it will be so easy.” A total flip-flop, Trump now says, “Nobody knew it was this complicated.”
Nobody? Of 320 million Americans Trump may have been the only one who thought solving the healthcare crisis was easy. That's because, like everything he says, he doesn't bother to study the problem first, he's too busy bloviating. Besides, he doesn't have the patience to read.
As for Trump's joint session speech, it was definitely a more temperate Trump. It was certainly more upbeat than his dystopian inaugural speech where he talked about “American carnage in the streets.” He was more like Bela Lugosi than POTUS.
Trump's asking for a $54 billion increase for defense spending is terrifying. First, the Pentagon didn't ask for it. And second, Trump's the one who said, “What's the point of having nukes if you can't use them?”
After a botched military raid in Yemen that left Navy SEAL, Ryan Owens dead, killed two dozen Yemeni civilians, and now reportedly produced no significant intelligence, Trump exploited the tragic event. (Imagine what Trump would have said if it had been Obama's operation.)
As Trump spoke of Owens' legacy, his wife, Carryn, received a standing ovation. As though his whole world is ratings, Trump said solemnly to his widow,"Ryan is looking down, right now, ... happy, because I think he just broke a record." Good grief.
Frankly, I don't believe a word Trump says. Take for example his claim that he saw “tens of thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering on 9/11.” Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani both said that never happened. And of course there was Trumps five year birther campaign asserting Obama wasn't born in the U.S. He even claimed he had sent a team of private detectives to Hawaii and, “What they're finding is amazing.” Obviously, he never sent them. Just another falsehood.
Perhaps Trump's biggest con job is that he couldn't provide his tax returns because he was being audited. Where's the audit letter? Could it be “the audit” was a giant lie?
I know it's not nice, I just wish it had been Trump instead of Bush in Iraq when al-Zaidi threw his footwear like torpedoes. Overweight as he is, Trump would have had two smelly shoes smack-dab in his orange puss, sending his falsetto hairdo flying into the air like Bozo the clown.
It only 42 days of Trump's rocky presidency, now it appears controversial Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, during his Senate confirmation hearing, blatantly lied about having contact with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. Can you say “special prosecutor?”
Jack is at facebook.com/jackneworth, twitter.com/jackneworth and jnsmdp@aol.com.
