2017 Jan 30^th

Dana Milbank, in his column this morning, asks, “Can Trump separate fact from fiction?” It is impossible to view this question as anything but rhetorical. Consider this: There was Trump’s early claim that President Obama was born abroad and hence not eligible for the presidency; there was Trump’s claim that Muslims were dancing with joy in New Jersey as the towers fell on 9/11; there was Trump’s claim, described by Milbank, that the rain stopped and the sun beamed down unimpeded just as he spoke on his ascension to the presidency. All of these, and many more, which could be cited, are provable lies.

Trump’s entire candidacy is based on lies. His theme, announced over and over, “Make America Great Again,” is based on the obvious lie that the country has drifted down to a second or third rate power, and then he claims the he, and only he, can “make it great again.” He sees no contradiction in claiming that he has to construct a great and beautiful wall to keep people out of this awful deteriorating country.  

On the Holocaust Remembrance Day, Trump, with the help of his white supremacist advisor, Steve Bannon, issued a proclamation that does not even mention the Jews. Lest anyone believe that Bannon has influenced him toward bigotry, Spicer, his flack helper is quick to point a finger at his son–in-law Jared Kushner’s grandparents who were bona fide Jewish resistance fighters. Grandma Kushner also remembered Roosevelt sending a boatload of Jewish refugees back to Germany to be exterminated. Making refugees go home does not sit well with most of the Kushner folks, although it seems OK with Jared. (Kushner’s cousins are outraged that he is lending his grandmother’s name to this pathetic immigration farce.)

Trump assures us that his new emigration restriction plan is going just swell. The demonstrations against his ham-handed restrictions at airports of entry all over the country must have escaped his notice. There was consternation everywhere: One Stanford University graduate student who had gone home to Ethiopia to visit her parents and who holds a Green Card, presumably entitling her to all the rights of citizenship except the vote, was held for five hours before she was released. She was warned by her attorney not to leave the country again. Trump insists that these restrictions are not aimed at Muslims although Christians from these same seven countries can still come here without much fuss.

Trump has moved up the announcement of his SCOTUS pick to tomorrow or the next day. He must hope that the announcement will drive all of this unfortunate immigration news off the newspaper pages. I doubt that any announcement by Trump, short of his resignation, can undo this damage.

Even though Trump’s activities are legal and we might have to wait sometime for an impeachable offense, The politicians might try to get him on the 25^th amendment. His actions and comments are certainly irrational. If it is determined by a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate, that he cannot carry out the duties of the presidency, we will wake up some morning to President Spence. On second thought….