On Trump (Patterns Of Behavior)

I had this great shirt that Liz bought me during the Bush years that said "Worst President Ever" across the front. Man I loved that shirt. And Christ I hated that lying, intellectually and spiritually stunted warmonger.

Of course, I lost the shirt somewhere along the way, which is just as well. It would have left my 2006 self in disbelief, but it probably doesn't any longer apply. At least not to George W.

The United States has had our share of hypocrites, liars and top shelf ass hats in the White House. From Jefferson’s willingness to ignore the equality he proclaimed to the world was “self-evident,” his rape of the absolutely defenseless and his dehumanization of America’s original inhabitants, to Woodrow Wilson’s waging of a war “to keep the world safe for democracy” while actively working with the KKK and other pigeon brains to deny basic civil rights to American citizens, from Tricky Dick Nixon’s sad paranoid delusion of innocence to George W. Bush’s absolutely transparent lies about why a trillion dollar war against Iraq was necessary to national security, the American people have been duped quite a few times.

And let us not forget that most insidious villain, John Quincy Adams. No, just kidding. Just wanted to see if anyone was still paying attention. John Q was actually an early supporter of the anti-slavery movement and from what I can gather a halfway decent human being. For a politician.

My point is this. There is a pattern here. People see what they want to see in our leaders. Even to the point of mentally warped and indefensible delusion.

And it is happening again. Some might look at recent polls and say, less than 40% of Americans are falling for Trump’s absolutely fantastic bullshit – thank goodness.

Me? I look at these numbers and think, how in the world are almost 40% of Americans still supporting this lying cheating deranged buffoon? What does he have to do? How outrageous do his lies need to be, how transparent his contradictions, how dangerous do his pretentious narcissistic little shows of “bravado” or whatever the hell he thinks he’s doing need to become, how much more obvious does it need to become to all those honest hardworking coal miners, truckers and small businessmen that voted for him that he is NOT ON YOUR SIDE? He DOES NOT HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND. I can’t stand all caps but I’m just so flabbergasted that I can’t help myself.

Okay, so he fooled you once, Trump voter, no shame. Okay, well, a little shame, but hey, we have all bought a lemon before. But fool you twice, thrice – go fuck yourself. Or at least stop voting. Please, you obviously don’t understand. Anything.

This man has demonstrated, consistently, that he has little to no respect for

1. Dissent – he can’t stand the idea of athletes (read: black men) or comedians (read: liberals, probably gay) or mothers and daughters in the streets (read: femi-nazis) voicing opposition to him.

2. Women. See above. Also, everything else he’s done and said.

3. Minorities. Again, see above. Apparently political free speech is reserved for neo-Nazis.

4. The environment. Dude does not even acknowledge that there is a problem.

5. The poor. See tax plan taking from poor and middle class to give to already wealthy and elimination of healthcare.

6. America. Even as he rails against thugs on the football field being disrespectful, he endorses the pillaging of the U.S. treasury (the people’s money), the theft of national parks, monuments and reserves (the people’s land) and the destruction of public schools by multinational corporations. What is this if not a pattern of unpatriotic behavior?

7. Unions (the workers’ voice). Remarkably, unbelievably, American workers have been convinced that they are better off NOT standing up for fair compensation, respect and decent conditions.

8. The free press. Yes, right, everyone else is lying. There is a massive conspiracy perpetrated by journalists, college professors, climate scientists and 150 million of their closest friends.

9. Democracy. Even if Trump was not involved in colluding with a foreign enemy (and that is a big if), he failed to win the popular vote (the people’s will). Look, the Electoral College is what is. He won that game. I’ll admit that. But don’t try to pretend you have some kind of mandate from the people.

10. Other things Trump (and many other Republicans) has no respect for – history, Puerto Rico, Palestinians, Native American Land, contracts, science, Islam, Christianity (full explanation forthcoming), genuine free markets, exploited children, truth…

As a history major I was trained to look for patterns of behavior. As a teacher I try to get my students to do the same. It is a pretty simple, even natural thing. We do it all the time. That team is likely to lose because their offensive line play this season thus far has sucked. That person is likely to show up late to the party because they always do. It’s not climate science here folks. We can even reasonably expect that when the temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, water molecules will get really slow, snuggle up against each other for warmth and create a solid state that most of us refer to as Upstate New York winter.

Yet, when we look at our leaders, some of us forget how easy it is to predict molecular, human and all sorts behaviors, especially when someone is as clearly uninterested in any kind of personal growth as Donald Trump. Is he the worst president ever? Sadly, I’m not sure. But what I am sure of is he is definitely on the way there if people don’t pay attention to obvious patterns of behavior.