There Are No Reasons Left to Keep Donald Trump In Office
On the night of November 8, 2016, I went to bed early, gut-punched by the inevitability of the unthinkable: a classless, predatory man of limited intelligence, pathological crassness, and no qualifying experience was being elevated to the highest office of the land, aided and abetted by Russian interference, Republican election shenanigans, Wikileaks subversion, and an antiquated Electoral College. It was a debacle I could neither endure nor fathom, and one that has, tragically, played out just as I imagined.
We have all suffered through presidents we didn’t like, didn’t support, thought were bad for the country, that is true. But when assessing the complaints and criticisms of any president, and despite party affiliation, we can usually give a nod to some element of their value or worth, whether their “likability,” their general integrity; their intelligence and political savvy, their adherence to laws, or their respect for both country and electorate.
The same cannot be said of Trump. He has, in fact, none of the discernible traits we typically categorize as “presidential,” and many we’d frame as disqualifying, even criminal. Yet there is a contingent in America who not only voted for him in 2016, but intend to again. They have articulated the reasons for their support, usually based on local needs and personal beliefs, with less consideration for moral imperative or the “greater good.” They are, without a doubt, an eclectic, confounding bunch:
The red-hatted MAGA crowd who laps up his every inciteful rant, fist-pumping the “bully” whose crassness translates as power. The blue-collar workers who honestly believe he has their best interests, and the preservation of their jobs, at heart. The small town/flyover Americans who feel their needs haven’t been listened to by “coastal elites.” The evangelical Christians who believe he will help facilitate their “rapture narrative,” as well as appoint enough right-wing judges to rescind women’s reproductive rights. The whites who revel in his dog-whistling embrace of racist ignorance and xenophobia. The patriarchal sexists who wink at his “pussy grabbing” ethos, and the cooing women drawn to those kind of men. The “masters of the universe,” confident he’ll prioritize the protection of their wealth above laws or ethical barriers. The political players (who make up much of his inner sanctum) willing to eschew legality to profit from international income sources and use extortion to get necessary “dirty work” done (think Ukraine and Biden). Though a lot of that particular crowd is currently in prison or awaiting sentencing, there’s no shortage of those applauding the new power they have, now that corruption is standard operating procedure in the White House.
Every person on that list, and surely many others, have framed Trump as their guy because they believe he’ll provide particular and specific remedy and support for their needs. For their worldview. For their priorities, wants, and wishes. They were willing, in a sort of civic “deal with the devil”—and driven by either “fear of other,” political ambition, misinformed hope, or the need to preserve wealth and power—to ignore his classlessness, questionable patriotism, and almost bottomless corruption.
Looking around today, one has to ask, “How’s that working out?”
Months into a global pandemic that Trump ignored, minimized, and continues to bungle, it’s clear that ALL the reasons Trump supporters might have had to keep him in office have not only disappeared, but will take years to recover, if ever. Consider this grim list, just in the last month:
1. Unprecedented job losses
2. Historic levels of unemployment filings
3. Catastrophic stock market volatility with loss of wealth
4. Potential destruction of entire industries (cruises, tourism, travel, etc.)
5. Decimation of small businesses in both cities and small towns
6. Gross mismanagement of supply stockpiles and distribution
7. Spread of potentially dangerous medical disinformation
8. Expansion of the national debt to wartime levels
9. Ineptitude on all levels of federal response.
10. And most egregiously, catastrophic loss of life
The list goes on…
At a time when we most need smart, serious federal leadership, we’ve got a man who initially dismissed the virus as a “hoax,” who chose not to respond to early warnings, even removing and dismantling relevant staff and agencies, and who now, as the virus spreads killing thousands of Americans, continues to lie, dangerously disinform, denigrate reporters, aggrandize himself, and spin his press conferences as election rallies.
Certainly Donald Trump did not cause this pandemic, and it would have burdened any president who might have been in office when it occurred. But this president blundered and botched every opportunity, before it arrived and after, to handle it well, to make the serious, rational, life-saving decisions that would have mitigated impact and saved lives. Instead, his most egregious failings as a person, and certainly as an ersatz leader—evident before but now exposed in high relief—reveal his naked ineptitude, which, at this juncture, has become a literal matter of life and death.
Whatever arguments will be made, whatever propaganda will be spread, whatever spin, lies, disinformation, partisanship, ass-saving, pandering nonsense will be uttered, it is now clear that every reason, any reason, to keep Trump in office has disappeared. There is NO reason to keep Donald Trump in the office of the president. In fact, there is every reason not to.
We are at a moment of grave, civic triage, with a very long and difficult road ahead, and we need a president who is many things but, mostly, who is not Donald J. Trump.
Whatever your politics, your party, your personal preferences, please understand that this country and its battered citizens CANNOT endure another term of this president. We cannot. When November comes around, please do the right thing and vote to save America.
#JoeBiden
Photograph: Dump Trump! by Alisdare Hickson from Canterbury, United Kingdom
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Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.
