The madness of king Trump
By Dorothy Inman-Johnson
Special to the Outlook
In 1994, the movie,” The Madness of King George”, was released. It was a comedy based on King George III’s peculiar behavior as he began his descent into dementia in the 1700s. The title of this column, “The Madness of King Trump”, makes no claim that President Trump is in any stage of dementia; but I do feel madness is the only explanation I have for his ego-maniacal meanness that allows him to attribute all of his inexcusable bad behavior to others, without a hint of conscience. And the title King Trump suits him better than President because since his election, he has treated the office as though he and his family are the newly crowned royal family. There has been no other President that immediately installed his family, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as senior policy advisors to preside over major domestic and foreign affairs though neither has any qualifications or experience to direct policy decisions for all Americans. As smart and articulate as First Lady Michelle Obama is as a Harvard educated attorney, the Republicans would have driven President Obama out of office if he had dared to appoint her as one of his top advisors with power over his cabinet appointees, as Trump has done with his daughter. I thought that was called nepotism and a violation of the law. But, then, those laws only apply to peasants like us, and not to the royal Trump family.
When President Clinton assigned First Lady Hillary Clinton to lead the national effort on healthcare, Republicans exploded with anger and threw every road block in her way. There was even Republican outrage and blowback over First Lady Obama launching a nationwide campaign against childhood obesity, encouraging good nutrition and a healthy life style. Every first lady in recent history has adopted a national project to promote. However, only First ladies Clinton and Obama were attacked for taking on major volunteer efforts to benefit Americans.
And while Donald is happy to let his First Lady Melania continue to maintain residence in Trump Tower in New York with youngest son, Barron, Ivanka has moved into the West Wing of the White House. And though Trump swore to his supporters during the campaign that he would not accept tax dollars for his service if elected, it is a lie of major proportions. Not only is he accepting the salary, but in less than 3 months in office, the secret service has had to request a $60 million increase in their budget due to added costs to provide round the clock secret service protection for the White House, Trump Tower ($26.8 million), for King Trump’s regular trips to his Florida White House in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and round the clock services to Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Erick, who do extensive overseas travel to manage Trump’s private hotels and golf courses from which the American public gains no benefit. Trump has made 5 trips to Mar-a-Lago in less than 3 months in office for a price tag of $10 million just for the first 3 trips in January and February. Erick’s trip to Uruguay for Trump hotel business in January cost all of us $98,000. Their wild expenditure of tax dollars while Trump refuses to show his last 10 years of tax returns, brags about a budget that eliminates entitlement programs like Medicaid, and makes plans for draconian cuts to programs for the poor, elderly, disabled, and children is particularly selfish and inhumane. It seems costs for his sons’ travel to manage the family’s private businesses, for personal profit, should be paid by Republican Party donors instead of the tax payers. How can any moral person cut basic programs like Meals on Wheels that provide the only daily meal some elderly and disabled Americans get each day and healthcare for 24 million other Americans from the federal budget while spending tax dollars like a pirate for his family?
Like kings of the past that were used to having their way, King Trump treats women like property_ including his own daughter that he famously agreed with Howard Sterns’ assessment that she was a “nice piece of a_ _”. He demonstrated his lack of respect for women when he was caught on tape bragging that because of his wealth and celebrity he could get away with doing anything to them, including grabbing them by their p_ _ _y.
However, his lies, total disregard for the rights of others, inability to admit his wrongdoing even when caught, a total lack of conscience and no barometer to help him distinguish good from evil makes his alleged conspiracy with Putin and the Russian mafia very believable. This is the man who encouraged supporters to shout “Lock her up” over Clinton using her home computer to work from home; made Manafort who was paid $10 million a year by Russia his campaign manager, and publicly challenged Wikileaks and Russia to hack Clinton’s e-mails and leak government documents to his campaign. Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager who has lived in Trump Tower for years, is now under investigation by the FBI and CIA for international corruption, King Trump is pretending he does not know Manafort_ even with news video and photos that prove he’s lying. And now that Trump’s campaign is being investigated for collusion with Russia to sabotage the 2016 election, he is raging over leaks that might be his downfall. I say, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Trump spent years lying that Obama, one of the most intelligent, eloquent, honest presidents America has had, was not born in the U.S., was only admitted to the Harvard Law School because of affirmative action, and most recently lied that the former President wire tapped him. Every investigative agency in the country has made it clear Trump lied and that only the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court can authorize a wire tap based on credible evidence from the FBI. I truly believe that Trump has a deep seated jealousy over President Obama’s successes and high regard from the public. He knows he can never measure up. He greatly admires Russia’s Putin who can just imprison or assassinate political rivals, as kings did centuries ago. Donald would have done well during the Middle Ages.
Instead, Trump is a continuing embarrassment for our country. No, his madness does not derive from dementia like King George. His madness stems from an elevated sense of entitlement that he feels places him above all others due to his wealth and privilege. So far, he has been able to get away with his many violations without consequences.
What a fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. Only the Lord can help us now.
Dorothy Inman-Johnson is host of Just the Facts_ a weekly, progressive radio talk show on WTAL 1450 AM Radio, newspaper columnist, author of Poverty, Politics, and Race in America and Lessons from America’s Best and Worst Cities, former Tallahassee Mayor and City Commissioner, and former long- time educator.
