WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF A PRESIDENT THAT CAN’T STOP LYING?

….Crazy Trump vendors and Supporters

 

Trump apparently still can’t believe that he won the 2016 election.

 

Once again, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we saw the president lying about how much he has accomplished in his 150-plus days in office.  If there is one example of a democracy headed down the drain, it’s when its leader is allowed to lie to his public but to not be brought up to deal with the real truth.

 

So, what does the most powerful individual in the world do when this happens?

 

Donald J. Trump then sends a warning to Syria’s President Assad, and therefore also to Russia, that if they mess with using chemical weapons again, they will pay a very big price.  A warning that was not previously run through all the parties within the US government that seriously “need to know”.

And this all happens just after a rally event, just for boosting the president’s ego. 

 

Even though he is already the president, Trump had his election campaign staff set up another campaign style rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Trump just can’t get past the idea that he really did win the 2016 election.

 

To make all this look like the “good ole campaign days”, a local former female contestant from “The Apprentice” tells the several thousand adoring supporters, (most wearing “Make America Great Again” hats), that they were “a great looking group of deplorables.” 

 

During the rally, the campaign staffers handed out signs that read “Women for Trump” and “Make America Great Again.” And as usual, Trump gave one of his rambling speeches in which he falsely boasted about his “amazing progress in Washington,” as he blamed the Democrats for all the problems he is having.  Once again he incorrectly reflected on his crowd size, while promising sweeping changes which probably won’t happen, and he expressed his great love for this same state that didn't pick him during their 2016 caucuses.

Uncharacteristically, Trump took to the stage on time, which he seldom does, but this time to Lee Greenwood's, “God Bless the U.S.A.” number.

 

As in most of these bogus rallies, Trump wore his traditional suit and red tie, and he regularly pumped his fist, while calling his supporters “American patriots”.  (By the way, has anyone ever seen Donald Trump wearing something other than a business suit or golf attire?)

 

Just as an addict needs a regular fix, Trump loves to bask in the glow of supporters who apparently still love him, regardless of what the polls and the pundits are saying today.

 

As it was during the election campaign, it was “DeJa’ Vu all over again”, as the crowd cheered nearly every sentence from Trump.  They booed the mass media as Trump continued to call them the “fake news” and the crowd still demanded that Hillary Clinton be thrown into jail.

 

They also broke into a chant of “USA! USA! USA!” multiple times and afterwards, street vendors sold T-shirts containing profanity against all Democrats. There were some protesters and some of Trump's supporters got into shouting matches with them.  At one point they were chanting: “Your team lost! Your team lost! Your team lost!”

“We're not even campaigning and look at this crowd,” Trump said about halfway through his 70-minute speech.  But the crowd was still into the campaigning, even though they had already won.  Was this just his fix of crowd adulation, or was it a preview of what we will be seeing for the 2020 campaign?

 

That is, with all the problems that Trump has brought on himself, will Trump still be in office by 2020....?

 

It is amazing that, and I hesitate to say this, but just as Germany’s Adolf Hitler was so loved by his supporters, no matter what he told them, the same situation is happening in America with President Trump.

 

“It is great to be back in the incredible, beautiful, great state of Eye-oo-wa,” Trump declared to the mob

 

Trump then congratulated the Republican candidates that won the special elections in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, and in South Carolina's 5th Congressional District.  He embraced these two wins as what he sees as evidence that the country agrees with what Trump is doing as president.

 

Of course, nothing was said about the fact that these were solid Republican districts that had previously been won by Republicans by 20+ points, but this time were only won by low, single digits. (The Georgia district was barely won by the Republican candidate.  A district that was previously held by former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, and the new HSS Secretary, Tom Price.)

 

Minutes into his remarks, Trump was interrupted by a whistle, but Trump completed his thought as he looked up into the stands.  There, a protester was blowing a whistle and tearing up a Trump campaign sign.  “Never fails,” Trump said with a chuckle. “Never fails.”

 

A security escorted the protester and those with him out of the arena, while the crowd booed and then chanted “USA! USA! USA!”.

Over the next hour, Trump said that he would lay out the next steps in “our incredible movement to make America great again,” but as usual he kept veering off on tangents as he once again reflected on the past. (Never did he explain what those “incredible movements in America" would be….?)

 

Trump falsely told the crowd that even if he presented Democrats with “the greatest [health-care] plan in history,” they would all vote against it because “they're obstructionists.” He reminded them that he wants a health-care plan “with heart,” tapping his own heart for emphasis.  But of course, the Republicans' current plan that he supports would result in millions of Americans losing their coverage.  (Not exactly what he promised while campaigning.)

Trump pledged to “never be intimidated by the dishonest media corporations who will say anything and do anything to get people to watch their screens or to get people to buy their failing papers.” Once again, never saying why and what he was supposed to be intimidated by with the “dishonest media”.

 

Trump complained that the media has unfairly expected him to have passed health-care legislation by now, even though prior administrations spent years trying to do so.  But he failed to mention that he promised on the campaign trail to repeal and replace Obamacare with something better on his first day in office. 

 

 

In bashing CNN and “this phony NBC television network,” Trump again plugged his party's recent wins and then he said: “They're very lucky that our people don't protest, believe me. Believe me. They're very lucky.” (With a less than 20% approval rating, Trump is the lucky one.)

 

In another move into changing the subject, Trump said he wants to get rid of the so-called “Death Tax” to make it easier for farmers to pass their farms and ranches along to their children and grandchildren. He added bizarrely that this would also make it easier for bikers to pass along their motorcycles. “I've seen what you ride — not so bad,” he said.

 

 

What he didn’t say is that only those estates worth $5.49 million per person are required today to pay the federal estate or “Death Tax”.  I question how many farmers fit in that financial category and how many have a concern about passing their Harley’s on to their children after they are gone…?

 

But like always, Trump continued to keep the focus on himself.

 

“So from the time that I announced [I was running], I've been hit, hit, hit," he said. "Then from the time that I got in, I said: 'Oh, this is going to be great. Finally, we can all come together.' They then hit me harder, harder, harder. They've now learned, I think, that that doesn't work."  (Really?)

 

He then told the crowd to imagine what a unified country could achieve. He reflected on his trip to Saudi Arabia and called its leader “a very special man,” even though it’s a country with a disgusting human rights record. Finally, he started to finish up.

 

“You don't want me to leave,” Trump threatened the audience. “and I don't want to leave either,” he said smiling.

 

He at the last told the crowd that the country is getting stronger and better (based on his leadership), and that he will be setting records, and that he will straighten out “the mess” overseas.  But as always, leaving out what “mess” overseas he would be fixing.

 

“You are incredible people. I want to thank you for your incredible support. And I just want you to know that God blesses you. And I just want to say you are special in every way. God bless you, and God bless America.” 

 

 

How would a God-less man like Donald Trump know who God blesses?

 

This will be the “Trump Fix” that I believe we will continue to witness over and over again because it what this narcissist needs in order to survive.  Especially for this particular president with record levels of disapproval and a president that doesn’t know how to stop lying to his constituents.

 

I do ask God to please help us all.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017