Trump Gives Reason For No Schedule Change After Synagogue Massacre

While trying to explain why he didn’t change his schedule after 11 people were massacred and six others were wounded in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Trump had an explanation.  He remembered that after the 9/11 attacks, the New York Stock Exchange was open the next day.  He even mentioned a supportive anecdote.  First at his address to the Future Farmers of America On Oct. 27, 2018, in Indianapolis he said,

"I remember when we had the attack in Manhattan. We opened that stock exchange the next day; people were shocked. A great group of people — the head of the New York Stock Exchange is just a fantastic guy — Dick (Grasso).,  And he opened it up."

Trump in Murphysboro rally Oct. 27, 2018
Note the teleprompters

He repeated the statement and his anecdote a second time in Murphysboro, Illinois later that same day when he said,

"With what happened early today, that horrible, horrible attack in Pittsburgh, I was saying maybe I should cancel both this and that (the speech in Indianapolis). And then I said to myself, I remember Dick Grasso, a friend of mine, great guy. He headed up the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 11. And the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day.,— and what they had to do to open it, you wouldn't believe. We won't even talk to you about it, but he got that exchange open.”

Chairman Grasso opens NYSE on Sept. 17, 2001

The only problem here is that the New York Stock Exchange was closed for a week after the World Trade Center bombings of September 11, 2001.  They didn’t open until September 17, 2001.  Both statements were lies Trump made up to support his point.  He probably realizes that his supporters won’t fact check his statements.  The accompanying picture shows the first NYSE opening after 9/11 showing Chairman Richard Grasso in the center and who is that second from the right?  Maybe she better remembers that day.  Perhaps Trump should hire her to fact check his speeches.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I grew up in a time when we all respected the person occupying the highest office in the land, our president.  We might have differing political opinions but we all respected the man in the office.  We referred to him as Mr. President.  Civility and proper comportment demanded that respect and, during my lifetime, our presidents were generally worthy.  All that ended on January 20, 2017.

While anyone can challenge his (Trump’s) stance on immigration, implementation of tariffs, commitment to a border wall, his tax cut for the wealthy, his repeals of “anything Obama,” these can all be matters for debate.  What is beyond debate is his child-like behavior and calls for violence against his perceived enemies.

Cowardly Lyin'

In the Trumpian Land of Oz, the Cowardly Lyin’ can’t put two coherent sentences together without resorting to either his bucket of clichés and campaign rhetoric or by reading a script from a teleprompter written by a staffer with some semblance of a brain; the Scarecrow, no doubt.  When left to his own devices the man is the embodiment of hate and racial prejudice. 

Trump Script Writer

He has called for violence against reporters.  He supported Rep. Greg Gianforte’s* 2017 attack on a reporter saying, “any guy who can do a body slam, he is my type!”  When Trump was in school, he claims to have given a teacher a black eye because he felt the teacher didn’t know anything about music, [reference Art of the Deal, 1987].  This last reference seems contrary to his normal cowardly persona, [dodged the draft with bone spurs that showed up as soon as he was draft eligible].  Most of his bravado comes from encouraging others to act.

Trump in Montana praising Gianforte* 

During the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, 2016, he encouraged the crowd to “knock the crap out of them” referring to protestors, and he promised to pay their legal fees.  Later that month at a rally in Las Vegas, security guards were being “too gentle” with a protestor so Trump said. "I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you."  Many of the Trump rallies have been the scene of fights and fisticuffs.  There are numerous other instances when Trump has encouraged violence against his enemies at his rallies; he does this because he gets applause from his fans.  Trump’s ego needs this sort of affirmation in order to survive.

Violence at Trump Rally in Berkely

Violence at Trump Rally in Arizona

Most recently, one of Trump’s fans took the calls to action literally and mailed over a dozen pipe bombs to the hit list literally dictated by Trump.  Initially, the Trump Media Network, aka Fox News, touted wild conspiracy theories where “the Dems” were mailing the bombs to themselves to distract from Trump’s fight with the caravan of Hondurans who “were bringing crime and strange lethal diseases” to America.  When the perpetrator was revealed as one of their own, they claimed he was paid by George Soros.  There are literally no bounds to how far afield these folks will go to lie to their radical base and provide nourishment for their hatred.

Trump Supporter and Pipe Bomb Suspect and His Van

I guess I never really expected our president to take any responsibility for the fact that his calls for violence would actually boil over into real violence.  I’ve come to expect very little from Captain Cheez Whiz so he rarely disappoints.  The man lives in a self-made delusional world where he can do no wrong.  I like to joke that I’ve never made a mistake; this man-toddler actually believes he is infallible.

I'M DONALD J. TRUMP
THE "J" STANDS FOR GENIUS

Today, another violent hate crime was perpetrated against a synagogue in Pittsburgh.  An assault rifle and three handguns were used to kill at least 11 people.  While hate crimes have been with us for years, recent incidents seem to have been perpetrated by people emboldened by an atmosphere of acceptance promoted by certain individuals on the Right, including the Immigrant-Bashing Carnival Barker.  Trump was asked to comment and he stated that the Synagogue should have had better security.

*Note:  Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and paid a $385 fine, completed 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management training, wrote an apology letter and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, according to the Associated Press. Perhaps the president would like to join Mr. Gianforte.

Trump Explained, Well, Almost

For almost two years, I have tried to understand the enigma, which is Trump.  At first, it was easy to assume he was elected by the racist backlash from people who “suffered” under the rule of our first Black president.  While I truly believe some of his support can be traced directly to racism, I had difficulty believing that there could be that many racists still left in America.  It becomes clearer when you hear some of his supporters interviewed and find that racism has many levels.  Not all his supporters wave the Nazi or Confederate flags or wear Klan sheets while shouting their hatred for all things they perceive to not be pure white.  There are more subtle forms.

Trump waiting for his adulation

Racism still doesn’t fully explain Trump’s numbers.  I recently watched an interview with some West Virginia Democrats who voted for Trump.  While there was some possible hint of racism among them, I got the feeling that there was more to the phenomena that explain Trump.  I heard fear.  There was fear of losing jobs, fear of the unknown, fear of economic uncertainty, fear of crime, fear of a rising drug problem, and certainly, some fear in the loss of what was once an America dominated in numbers by “white people.”  These West Virginians somehow found a glimmer of hope in Trump’s message.

Adore me more

Trump is not a stupid man.  He may be a narcissistic sociopath, but he is not stupid.  He has studied his peers.  People like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro, and other dictators from the past, and he is in awe and envies the power they wielded.  He has managed to ignore the trappings of our democracy and has learned that he can approximate dictatorial control so long as he has strong support from his base.  Can a democratically elected dictator survive?

Trump and his idols

Trump is a musician.  He plays the base.  He plays his base just as if it were a musical instrument.  He feeds on their cheers.  He relishes their accolades.  He needs this reassurance as certainly as a vampire needs blood to survive.  He also avoids the truth just like a vampire avoids the sun.  Trump knows just what to say to fire up the crowd to prompt their cheers.  He has memorized the banter that works.  Delegate blame, to steal a term I first heard from Lou Grant of Mary Tyler Moore fame.  He points the finger of blame in all directions, any direction that doesn’t include His Holiness.  Blame the media, blame the Fake News, blame the Clintons, blame Obama, blame immigrants, blame Democrats, and blame our allies.  Any and all of these are the sources of all the ills in our society.  Stir up the fear, point the finger of blame, and promise a “Great America.”

I blame.....(media, fake news, Hillary, Clintons, Obama, 
our allies, immigrants), pick all that apply

I don’t think Trump is clever enough to be playing “rope-a-dope” by using simple phraseology and stumbling over the meaning of words.  I really think he is not smart in the traditional sense.  His limited vocabulary, however, serves his intended purpose well.  Much of his base overlooks his purported billionaire status and considers him one of them.  He certainly talks like them.

Democrats point to the hypocrisy of a “Christian-values” philanderer.  They obviously haven’t listened to much country music.  Cheating, drinking, flag waving, and dog loving are the staples of most country songs.  Trump checks two of the four boxes.  Think of how dangerous he would be if he could drink a beer and tolerate man’s best friend.  I don’t know that all Trump fans like country music but I would venture that, if at any of his rallies, he played some Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, or George Strait, he would have the entire crowd on their feet and dancing in the aisles.  Democrats just don’t get the mindset of his supporters.

While non-college-educated white people from the “fly-over” states comprise a significant portion of his thirty to forty percent base, they don’t account for the totality of that base.  There are other factions that fill in the remainder of Trump’s posse.  You just won’t see them at his rallies.

Some of these are the college-educated folks who rank money over civility.  Some of these people reside in the rarified atmosphere of the upper one percent who really benefitted from the recent tax cuts.  These people cherish short-term profits over long-term stability or have convinced themselves that the current bull market has no end.  While the people who go to Trump rallies haven’t figured out that they were screwed in the recent tax-cut legislation, this latter group will take the money and run.

This group worships at the altar of the lord-god, MONEY.  All things in life run a distant second to wealth.  You can never be too wealthy.  Do anything; make any sacrifice, as long as it increases your net worth.  Just as a gambler needs to gamble and an alcoholic needs to drink, there are those addicted to wealth above all else.  There are a great many Trump fans among this group, as he seems to share their single-mindedness.

Another portion of the Trump support group, identify themselves as white evangelicals.  They will overlook Trump’s infidelity, his callous attitude regarding the poor, his lack of respect for the environment and God’s green earth, his misogynistic disrespect of women, and his loathing of non-white immigrants, so long as he supports their stance on abortion.  I doubt that Trump has ever performed an abortion but I would have no surprise if I found out he financed a few.

Trump with Evangelicals, Kool-Aid not shown

Trump understands how to be a bully.  Webster defines a bully as a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.  We have all seen Trump shout down female reporters.  We have watched him disrespect world leaders by turning the conversation into something about him that has nothing to do with the other leader or leaders in the room.  Since Trump regularly blames the press and “foreigners” for our problems, his base identifies with his attitude.

Until such time as the Democrats understand the appeal of a “Donald Trump,” they will be destined to submit to his will.  He, and others like him, will prevail in upcoming elections until such time as the Democrats can find some common ground with at least a portion of his base.  I would say abandon the racists, they are a lost cause.  You might, however, find some support among the blue-collar folks that used to be the bedrock of the Democratic Party.  We need to find a way of really putting people back to work at meaningful jobs with a living wage.  Address the fears of this nation in a manner that provides real solutions and not the political feel-good rhetoric so common during campaign time.  Job training and massive infrastructure projects would be one possible direction, I'm sure there are others.