Congressman John Lewis, the man known as the ‘conscientious of the Congress’ who had served in the Congress since 1986 and was reelected 16 times, was eulogized by a number of people including three ex-presidents – Bill Clinton, George HW Bush, and Barak Obama. Notably absent – Donald Trump, the current sitting president. If there was ever any doubt about the character of President Trump, his absence today should answer that question.
There is the ongoing Trump antics involving his ‘love affair’ with Russia. There is the dismal performance with respect to the coronavirus ravaging this country. There is the sending of Federal troops to cities run by Democrats under the umbrella of ‘law and order’ but by some accounts are actually escalating the violence. Trump is completely tone deaf with respect to the racial tensions in the country and continues to traffic in white supremacist dog whistles. And probably the biggest dog whistle of all – refusing to pay homage to a civil rights giant like John Lewis.
A man truly worthy of the office of the president would be able to put aside any personal differences and recognize that John Lewis had a tremendous impact on this country. Such a president would rise to the occasion and be able to pay homage to John Lewis – a tribute that he deserved; one that he earned. But Trump just cannot rise above himself. He cannot find the courage to get outside of his little comfort zone and recognize the contributions of anyone other than himself.
I suspect there were also a couple of other reasons. I’m sure he was aware that Obama would be there and would give a moving eulogy, which he did. We all know how much Trump detests Obama so I’m sure he didn’t even want to be in the same room. He certainly would have been uncomfortable when Obama got a standing ovation for his eulogy. And there is no way that Trump would have been able to give a speech anywhere near as stirring. Trump is simply not an orator like some others. But that doesn’t mean he gets a pass to just not show up. Like I said, Trump just cannot get outside of his comfort zone.
I think the other and perhaps the more problematic reason that Trump didn’t show up was because it wouldn’t have played well to his ‘base.’ Can you imagine how the primarily white Trump base would have reacted to seeing and hearing Donald J Trump paying homage to a civil rights icon like John Lewis. Not well I suspect. Like I said earlier, Trump continues to traffic in racial dog whistles and this one was loud and clear. There is no room in Trump’s world for a civil rights giant like John Lewis.
It was just another example of why Donald J Trump is unfit to be President of the UNITED States of America. He is only interested in governing part of the country – his base – and the rest of us can go to hell for all he cares.
Lastly, in one of my past blogs I think I speculated that Trump would try to postpone the election one way or another. That trial balloon took flight today as Trump tweeted that perhaps postponing the election would be a good thing. In some ways he is so chaotic but, in some ways, he is so predictable. In spite of the immediate pushback from both sides of the aisle, I would guess this is not the only time that Trump will raise this possibility. And he will certainly continue to try to undermine the credibility of the election results.
He does not have the authority to move the election; that authority belongs to Congress. Everyone keeps saying that he can’t do it. However, I still think it’s not outside the realm of possibility for Trump to declare a national emergency and then all bets are off. Even his Attorney General, William Barr, waffled when asked the question about postponing the election. Rather than just simply stating that the decision is not up to the president, he talked about the legalities and purporting to having the decision play out in the courts. This is both disgraceful and frightening.
I saw an article in which some member of Congress just dismissed Trump’s statement about postponing the election as ridiculous and that we should all just ignore it. I, personally, don’t think we should just dismiss it. In some of my previous posts I pointed out that almost all authoritarian leaders were duly elected. They didn’t start abusing their authority until AFTER they were in office. Trump and his enablers are getting desperate. Trump is trailing badly in the polls. There are strong challenges against Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham and several other Republican incumbents. I would put nothing past the Republican party to try to retain power in the White House and the Senate.
It is a 100 percent probability that shortly before the election, at least three things will happen – the information that Congressman Nunes has secretly received from questionable (associates of Rudy Guiliani) from the Ukraine will be blown up all over the press; the investigation by Congressman Ron Johnson into the Mueller probe will unleash derogatory information about the Mueller probe to discredit it; and the parallel investigation instituted by Attorney General Barr will publish their final report also discrediting the Mueller probe. And to foot stomp the point about William Barr being in Trump’s pocket, it is Department of Justice policy not to do anything controversial within 60 days of an election but, Barr has already stated that this particular investigation does not fall under that policy and will be released whenever it is available – which you can bet will be within 60 days of the election.
Anyone who thinks that Trump’s statement about postponing the election should just be dismissed as ridiculous, has not been paying attention. He has already done things that many thought no president could ever do. And if he is reelected, as I have stated before, the guardrails will really come off and Pandora’s box will be open.
I came to the conclusion of what people expect from a President. They either want a leader or they what a boss. All of us vote for a person into office of what we want government to do for us. If we want a someone to do only what we want and not to consider what others want, we will choose a boss. If we realize we need someone who could bring us together with compromise that a leader can do to include the other side we will have the opportunity of being successful. Otherwise we are looking for anarchy and destruction of our government because of our own selfishness.