(ThyBlackMan.com) Donald Trump has done what the meticulous Mueller and feckless Congress have not: he has killed his presidency. Oh it may stagger around, zombie-like, for the next year – or God forbid even the next four – but believe me, it’s as dead as a doornail. The date of its death was October 6, 2019 and the cause, the betrayal of the Kurdish led Syrian Defense Forces.
It was not a long fall. The arc of his presidency has been pretty flat. It began at his inaugural address when it started to rain as he began to speak – an ominous omen – and when George W. Bush could be heard saying as he was exiting the stage after, speaking to no one in particular, “That was some weird shit.” It continued the next day when he sent his first press secretary, and future “Dancing With the Stars” contestant Sean Spicer – he of the ill-fitting suit – to say that his inaugural crowd was “the largest ever:” Despite photographic evidence to the contrary. And at 1,000 days in we are 13,000 lies later, according to the Washington Post.
From the Muslim ban and separating and caging of children at the southern border, to suggesting ‘nuking’ hurricanes and displaying a sharpie-altered weather map, he has careened from the abhorrent to the ridiculous. John Kelly, Trump’s second, or third, Chief of Staff – I lost count – called the White House ‘Crazytown.’ However, the abandonment of our Kurdish allies, who lost over eleven thousand fighters in the battle against the Islamic State, was a singular act of treachery that has left Trump’s presidency bereft of any moral authority and with zero credibility. Even Republican “Moscow Mitch” McConnell had to speak out against what Republican Mitt Romney described as a “bloodstain in the annals of American history.”
This was more than a mere distraction from his “Ukrainian problem”. The precipitous withdrawal of American forces – so hastily that F-15s had to bomb American positions to keep them from falling into Russian and Syrian hands – has already reverberated throughout the Middle East and raised the question among friends and foes alike as to whether America’s “word” can still be trusted.
Dare I mention awarding himself a no-bid contract (since walked back) to host the upcoming G-7 summit meeting? His spokespeople said they evaluated twelve sites, but would not divulge the other eleven and said all expenses would be charged “at cost” but would not reveal the cost basis. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaking at the 2016 Democratic Convention said of Trump’s business practices, “I know a con when I see one.”
If not for the deadly seriousness of this, this farcical presidency would be laughable. But as Admiral William McRaven, former head of the Joint Special Operations Command that took out Osama bin Laden penned in a New York Times op-ed:
“If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us – where will the world end up?”
No, these are not funny, but rather perilous times. Our country is under assault; from within. As the impeachment inquiry into the Ukraine “shakedown operation” has shown, the rot of corruption extends far beyond the Oval Office. So while Trump’s presidency is dead, we have to also get the Pences, Pompeos, Mulvaneys, Barrs, and all the rest of this criminal enterprise, masquerading as a Cabinet, out of office for our democracy to live.
In 1787, after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia had concluded, Ben Franklin was asked “What do we have, a Monarchy or a Republic?” To which he replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” The first words of that document the Founders drafted there are “We the People…” It’s up to us.
Staff Writer; Harry Sewell