Unfit For Office

It should be clear to all now; Donald John Trump is unfit to be the president of the United States.  He may have been amusing to some in the continuation of his role on The Apprentice when he told those on his appointed staff, “You’re fired!”  For those who believe that it was the fault of brown, black, and yellow people for taking the jobs of white Americans and not the fat-cat corporate CEOs who sent those jobs overseas where labor was cheaper, his antics on our southern border perhaps scratched some xenophobic itch. 

Perhaps some among us felt that this self-proclaimed billionaire born with a $300 million platinum spoon in his mouth was some sort of business wonder who would restore US manufacturing and lost coal and steel jobs to their previous glory.  Some may have enjoyed the fact that he could stand in front of a rally crowd and use a vocabulary befitting a high-school dropout to promise them the undeliverable.  Many Americans questioned their own sanity when he told little lies followed by bigger lies and then doubled down on those statements even after proof arose that showed them to be what they were.  Reality TV had come to the White House and it was entertaining, to some.

Now, at a time of his first true national emergency, he has shown that strong leadership and an ability to wisely govern are not among his strengths.  He first tried to deny the existence of any threat to America and then he tried to minimize the risk.  He then stated that he had everything under control.  When things quickly got out of control, he appointed Mike Pence to be his scapegoat.  He needed someone to take the fall for his own incompetence.  He claimed to be in control but denied any responsibility for anything.

Now, after meeting with fellow Republicans, they have decided they need to get Americans focused on the Chinese as being wholly responsible for our nation’s dilemma.  They have to divert attention away from the obvious mismanagement of the COVID-19 epidemic.  They feel that people will be willing to blame China for the fact that our country is suffering far greater losses than any other country in the world.  While it is painfully obvious that, even IF you could find evidence that this virus is a devious plan developed by some Chinese bio-lab or by the mysterious “bat-lady” of Wuhan, the management or mismanagement of the crisis in this country falls squarely on the shoulders of our elected leaders.  More specifically the blame lies with Donald John Trump.  He is where the buck should stop.  The federal government should be managing this crisis and it should not be abdicated to local governors and officials.

This president and his administration, despite vocal claims of “no responsibility for anything,” have shown nothing if not the ineptitude of a failed leader.  Some have compared his management with chess and checkers in that the rest of the world leaders are playing chess and he is playing checkers.  I challenge that analogy because, even in checkers, you have to plan a few moves ahead.  I think the rest of the world is playing chess and he is playing tiddlywinks.

Donald John Trump may have been an amusing diversion for some who shared a belief that our country was run by a group of corrupt politicians and that we needed a businessman to come in and clean up the mess.  The old “drain the swamp” attitude prevailed.  We now see that the swamp is still just as corrupt as it ever was and is now possibly even more unscrupulous.  As of the last count, he had eight staffers and associates convicted of crimes from just the Mueller investigation.  Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Richard Pinedo, Alex van der Zwaan, Roger Stone, Rick Gates and Michael Flynn have all been convicted and countless others are under investigation.

Our president took a rising economy left him by the Obama administration, borrowed against our future to pay for the largest ever tax cut for corporate America and its wealthy ruling class, and saw that economy continue to rise.  He didn’t plan for the future.  He didn’t use our strong economy to build our reserves and pay down our national debt.  He did as he had done in business; he borrowed heavily and gambled with our economic future.  Just as in many of his business deals, his gamble was a failure when it faced a crisis.  Trump’s business failures are legendary and now it looks like the legend lives on.

Trump will say that nobody could have foreseen this economic threat and we now know that he was repeatedly warned.  He was even warned by the outgoing Obama administration of the threat of a pandemic being a serious threat to this nation, but Donald John Trump decided he would take that gamble.  As a businessman, he is simply a gambler.  He just uses that wise business adage that says; if you gamble just make sure you are gambling with other people’s money.  In this case, it was both our money and our lives that were being risked.  That gamble has this nation facing economic meltdown with the greatest losses since the great depression.  Worse yet, that gamble has already cost tens of thousands of American lives.

Donald John Trump may go down in our nation's history, as its most inept leader.  He has been a divisive leader when we needed unity.  He has been a science denier at a time when we need someone who understands the benefits of science.  He has been a reckless spender of our nation’s wealth when we needed a more conservative approach.  He has been an alienator of past allies and a friend to current enemies when we are in desperate need of our friends in the spirit of international cooperation.  He has been a threat to our environment at a time when we desperately need to challenge climate change.  He has shown his sociopathic lack of empathy at a time when our nation is mourning the deaths of tens of thousands of its citizens.

Donald John Trump was unfit to serve this country in his twenties when he invented bone spurs to avoid military service; he is certainly unfit to serve this country now.  Ask not how Donald John Trump can serve his country, ask how his country can serve him.  He regularly tests the limits of tradition and established laws and procedures when he finds them inconvenient.  He sees his presidency as an opportunity to reap financial rewards while he pulls the strings of our economy in ways to benefit his business ventures.  He sees this pandemic as a way to further feather his financial nest while the nation's purse strings are being relaxed to print money to bail out businesses.  He has failed to divest himself from his business dealings as demanded by law.  He sees himself as being above the law and an autocrat beyond reproach.

"Ask not how Donald John Trump can serve his country, ask how his country can serve him."

Now more than ever, this nation needs a leader with a mind and heart not given to heartless pursuits.  We need someone who can lead and manage us out of this hole dug ever so much deeper than was necessary by a man known as much by his business failures as his few successes.  Until November, I’ll be Biden my time.