He surrounds himself with personnel ill-prepared, unqualified, and (now we learn) uncleared by the agency charged with keeping bad guys out of sensitive positions.
Using gutter English, he taunts other countries and disparages immigrants who have come to the U.S. in search of a life where they can make the most of their gifts and talents—and where many have already made tremendous contributions. (Click here to see the story of Chobani, for instance.)
He throws rolls of paper towels to people whose lives and country have been devastated by Hurricane Maria. He plays golf.
He labels Democrats treasonous for their failure to stand and applaud as he ponderously reads a teleprompted speech. (Treason is punishable by death.) “Basically Archie Bunker is president of the United States,” Jon Meacham, Pulitzer price-winning biographer, later opines in an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Now, having helped his party pass a disastrous “tax reform” which will ramp up the national debt, Trump wants a military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, a parade which would cost millions and would bring to mind the autocrats and their hostage peoples in places like North Korea. He may be Cadet Bone Spur, as some in Congress have dubbed him, but now he fantasizes receiving the salutes of troops as they parade below his reviewing stand. How’s that for overcompensating for your insecurities?
It’s not just pathetic. It’s pathetic taken to a whole new low.
Mike Barnicle, a journalist and political commentator (also speaking on Morning Joe), comments simply, “The American people do not need a parade. They need peace.” If Trump wants to honor the military, Barnicle suggests he take an hour or two and walk through Arlington Cemetery where presumably he might reflect on the enormous sacrifices of those who lie there and the families who lost them.
Others suggest Trump spend the money that would be used on a parade to create scholarships for the children of veterans killed or wounded in battle or set up a fund to help homeless vets. Those steps could make a tremendous difference in the lives of real people.
But those quiet steps wouldn’t give Trump the hour or two of empty glory he so needily craves so I’m not holding my breath waiting for any of that to happen. As I said, pathetic.