After more than three and a half years of enduring Trump's disgraceful presidency, I thought my psyche had become inoculated against further outrages. How much lower could Trump morally go than rock bottom?
But when I saw this image on Twitter last night, I realized the answer was, as low as he can get away with until he leaves office. Walter Shaub is a former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics.
Being 71, and interested in politics for almost my entire life, I've seen countless photos of the White House. This is the first time it has ever been used as a backdrop for a blatant political event.
Not only does it look completely wrong to have Trump-Pence signs defiling government property, what makes it even more disturbing is that so far as I can tell, no Republican apologists for Trump see anything wrong with failing to abide by the Hatch Act, which this stunt likely did.
Until Trump became president, I'd strongly disagreed with Republican presidents like Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush. However, I never viewed them as denigrating the office they held, as Trump has done incessantly. Trump makes everything about him, due to his stupendous selfishness and egotism, which masks his low self-esteem, according to his psychologist niece, Mary Trump.
It's Trump's authoritarianism that is most disturbing.
I used to say "authoritarian tendencies," but those days are long past. Trump is a full-blown authoritarian now, held in check by the most fragile of restraints. This is why it's so crucial to vote him out of office this November before he can become even more of a wanna-be dictator.
Here's another example of how Trump is using the reins of power in unheard of ways. I'll let the New York Times story do the talking through an excerpt from "N.Y.C. Tenants Say They Were Tricked Into Appearing in R.N.C. Video."
It started with an unexpected call last week from Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump associate who oversees federal housing programs in New York.
Ms. Patton told a leader of a tenants’ group at the New York City Housing Authority, the nation’s largest, that she was interested in speaking with residents about conditions in the authority’s buildings, which have long been in poor repair.
Four tenants soon assembled in front of a video camera and were interviewed for more than four hours by Ms. Patton herself. Three of the tenants were never told that their interviews would be edited into a two-minute video clip that would air prominently on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention and be used to bash Mayor Bill de Blasio, the three tenants said in interviews on Friday.
“I am not a Trump supporter,” said one of the tenants, Claudia Perez. “I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back.”
The episode represents another stark example of how President Trump has deployed government resources to further his political ambitions. Ms. Patton is head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and under the Hatch Act is barred from using her government position to engage in political activities.
Since President Trump will not be moving out of his office in the White House for another 4 years, I can't think of a better place to work for him.
Sure; if he was anything like his predecessor, gallivanting about the globe trashing the USA, I would agree.
But No.
If he were like his predecessor's predecessor, firing up endless wars I could agree.
But No.
For once in a LONG, LONG time, have a President that puts AMERICA FIRST!!!
Thank heavens!
GREAT JOB, President Trump!
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Skyline | August 29, 2020 at 07:51 PM