After twenty-one years, Fox's biggest star, Bill O'Reilly, will not be returning. (Predicted here last Friday, making me 1 for 100.) Billo's termination was due to his numerous sexual harassment settlements for $13 million and the loss of fifty advertisers in a week following a NY Times expose. Two weeks ago, Donald Trump, with no evidence, reflexively defended O'Reilly. But, then again, O'Reilly had always defended Trump in his many sexual harassment charges. (I'd say, “Birds of a feather” but it sounds too nice.)
At the moment, it's another Trump trait that worries me more, i.e. he doesn't read. This leaves him remarkably ignorant. I find myself simultaneously laughing at Trump's absurdity and petrified of what he will say or do next.
Perhaps because he was a lifelong Democrat, Trump doesn't even know about the Republican Party. This was evidenced in March at a RNC fundraiser. Apparently, Trump had just discovered that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and was delighted, asking the room. “Did you know Lincoln was a Republican?” Inasmuch as many refer to themselves as members of “The Party of Lincoln”, the audience was bewildered. ”Great president,” Trump continued, as though he was sharing a historical nugget.
"We have to build that up a little bit more," Trump rambled. "Let's take out an ad. Let's use one of those PACs." Yes, that's the ticket, Donnie, with talk of nuclear war in the air, let's produce a TV commercial to tell the country Honest Abe was a Republican. To think we've gone from Lincoln to Trump. Borrowing from Mort Sahl, maybe Darwin was wrong.
Another display of Trump's ignorance was reflected in his commemorating “Black History Month.” Inexplicably, he never mentioned slavery but rather how well he had done with the black vote. (In truth, he got 8%.)
It was obvious he also thought Frederick Douglass, former slave turned abolitionist, was still alive. “He (Douglass) is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.”
Those moments reflect the benign side of Trump's ignorance. On the “downright dangerous” side was Trump's statement in early April that “An American armada is steaming toward N. Korea.” He added, “There will also be powerful submarines,” which must have totally flipped out the military brass who wonder about their verbally incontinent Commander in Chief.
By armada, Trump was referring to the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, which has been deployed in “Operation Desert Strike” and “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Most recently, the body of Osama Bin Laden, was buried at sea off the Vinson. Besides the inexcusable “submarine” gaffe, the biggest mistake was the Vinson was 3,000 miles away heading in the opposite direction!
Frankly, I worry that Trump shows signs of dementia. I'm serious. His father, Fred, suffered from Alzheimer's prior to his death in 1999. During a Fox Business Channel interview Trump went on in strange detail about the “most beautiful piece of chocolate cake” that he and Chinese President Xi had enjoyed at Mar-a-Lago.” (You and I paid for that dinner and the money goes directly in Trump's pocket!)
Moments afterward, Trump blurted out that he had “Launched 159 missiles into Iraq.” Stunned, interviewer Maria Bartiromo, interrupted, “You mean, Syria, don't you?” So, we are left to conclude that, while Trump recalled every detail about the chocolate cake, he forgot which country he'd bombed.
Or how about on the April 2 Executive Order signing ceremony in the Oval Office. Embarrassingly, the seemingly absent-minded, Trump simply walked out of the room having forgotten to ... sign the Executive Order! (Early signs of dementia?)
For all his “balance the budget” campaign promises, at enormous taxpayer expense, Trump has essentially spent 5 minutes of every hour of his presidency at Mar-a-logo.(Membership price has doubled, meaning more $$ in Trump's pocket!) Or, how about the unbelievable hypocrisy of his “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order when his own products are made in China or Mexico.
Also disturbing is Trump's twisted admiration for ruthless dictators, including: Putin, Saddam, Qaddafi, Kim Jung-un and Mussolini. On Tuesday he personally phoned Turkey's autocratic President Erdogan to congratulate him on an election most observers feel he stole.
But the “mother” of all of Trump's lies may turn out to be his so-called tax audit. Despite countless promises to produce his returns, it appears Trump will never do it. (As I also predicted, making me 2 out of 100?) How did I know he was lying? His lips were moving.
If there was no audit and Trump insists on breaking his many promises to produce his returns, it will have been a blatant con job. I hope the Democrats don't cooperate on tax reform until Trump produces his returns. After all, if Bill O'Reilly wasn't too big to fire, maybe the same can be said of Trump.
For a laugh, hopefully, go to YouTube and type “Bill O'Reilly Freakout.” Jack can be reached at Jackneworth@yahoo.com.
