Donald Trump has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that he is an absolute idiot, incapable of leading a third world banana republic, much less a democratic, supposedly civilized nation of more than 300 million people.
In fact, he has brought home to the conscience of thinking Americans the certainty that he has no grasp of how a democratic republic is supposed to work—and that, dear friends, is frightening indeed.
By tweeting that Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and who are “now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States…how our government is to be run” and that they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came,” Trump scored the imperfect trifecta of being ignorant, racist, and an intolerant hypocrite incapable of the civil exchange of ideas—one of the principles upon which this country was built. You might want to throw in more than a little sexism, too.
- Ignorant because of his apparent belief that all four were born elsewhere; they weren’t. Three were born in this country while the fourth, Omar, was born in Somalia but came to this country as a child with her parents who were fleeing civil war in that country.
- Racist because that’s what Trump is, as has been demonstrated throughout his business career and during his term as president (see his statements on Charlottesville). It’s in his DNA and he just can’t overcome that serious character flaw. Even Lyndon Johnson was able to transform himself from staunch segregationist senator to civil rights champion as president because, as he explained it, “I’m everybody’s president now.” Trump has failed completely and miserably to grasp this concept.
- Intolerant hypocrite because he spent the entirety of the eight Obama years tearing his predecessor down at every opportunity, including the perpetuation of the birther conspiracy—the same type of crass behavior he now finds so unpatriotic. Not once did Obama suggest that Trump crawl back into the hole whence he came. Trump suggests anyone who is critical of our government is a non-patriot, a traitor even.
- By that reckoning, we should never complain lest we be so branded. Instead, all is roses and daises, a world of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil robots as it were. Following that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, the genocide of the American Indians was perfectly okay because it was done in the name of manifest destiny. Slavery was just fine and blacks were happy picking cotton: Phil Robertson of the Duck Dynasty even said so, so there. Vietnam was not a mistake despite the staging of the Gulf of Tonkin incident which, many claim never happened. Bombing Cambodia? Go for it. Watergate? Nixon got a bad deal. Civil rights murders of the ‘50s and ‘60s? shut up and pass the biscuits. Everything’s okay. Don’t complain or you’ll be ostracized as a bad citizen by Trump.
What Trump also does not seem to grasp is that in this country, the First Amendment gives us the right to be critical of our government and those who lead it—even the president. That’s that this country is all about: freedom of the free exchange of ideas. Even weirdos have the right to tweet their warped, demented thoughts.
It was Voltaire who said, “I wholly disapprove of what you say—and will defend to the death your right to say it.”
If anyone has the right to say “go back where you came from,” it’s the Native Americans.
To see wrong and to say nothing does not a patriot make. My country right or wrong is, well, wrong. Support your country, yes, but try to correct inequities in the process. Injustices should be made just, and wrongs made right. To stand idly by and to pretend all is well in the name of some misguided perception of patriotism is to take the fast track to destruction.
Trump has every right to disagree and to take issue with the four members of Congress. But he has no right to insult them with race-baiting rhetoric. That feeds the frenzy of his rabid devotees but in the end, solves nothing
If our neighbor complains because our kids egged his house, where should discipline be directed? Under Trump’s line of reasoning, the pesky neighbor should be singled out for derision and ridicule because he didn’t like his house being egged by our kids.
If your child gets involved in drugs, you try to intervene as a parent, not a despot, to help him—if, that is, you have a shred of decency in your soul. I simplified my analogy as much as possible so that Trump’s more delusional followers could follow the reasoning. That’s because Trump said in doubling down on his bigotry that “a lot of people agree with me.”
Unfortunately, he’s correct. A lot of people take their cues and their talking points from the Idiot-in-Chief. How many times did you hear the expressions “fake news” “witch hunt” “no collusion” before Trump? Now you hear it spew from the mouths of his followers daily—because he and Fox News have conditioned them to do so—like so many Stepford wives and husbands.
Republicans, from Mitch McConnell, whose wife’s family is from China, to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, whose families fled Castro’s Cuba, should be ashamed of their silence.
And just where is our congressional delegation in defending the people’s right to express themselves? You know, those super right-wing conservative Christians we elected to represent all of us?
Sen. John Kennedy, the mouth of the south, has been uncharacteristically quiet on the subject. Any other time he’d be trampling over women and children to get to a microphone or TV camera. Bill Cassidy just seems to be missing in action.
Steve Scalise? Forget it. Even a bullet couldn’t shake his position on the right to bear semi-automatic weapons. If he won’t stand up to the NRA, he’s not about to stand up to this president.
Clay Higgins? A joke. He’s still deluding himself into thinking he arrested “thousands” of perps during his career as a public information officer for the St. Landry Sheriff’s Department. If there’s a bigger idiot than Trump in Washington, it’s Higgins.
Mike Johnson? Has he ever made a public statement that reflected a scintilla of courage?
Ralph Abraham? He says he would pay for their tickets out of the country. What an a**h*** that he would demonstrate such arrogance, that he would pander in such a shameless manner for votes.
Garret Graves? Too busy wrestling with FEMA over relief funds flood victims will probably never see.
Cedric Richmond? The only member of the Louisiana delegation with the guts to criticize Trump.
It would be great if the other five representatives and our two senators had a set of cojones between them.
One last thought: I love my country. Despite its warts, it’s still the greatest country on the planet. But that doesn’t mean I cannot speak out when I see injustice, corruption, or disregard for human rights and dignity. I’m a small, insignificant voice and I know Trump will never read these words (hell, he doesn’t read anything). But should he happen see this, I defy him—or anyone else—to question my patriotism simply because I believe he is mentally deranged.
I don’t agree with everything AOC, Omar, Pressley or Tlaib say—or anyone else in Congress. Nor do I agree with everything our governor or my legislators say or everything Ronald Reagan said or George W Bush or Barack Obama said. And I certainly agree with very little our pompous assclown president tweets. But the last act of a true patriot would be to attempt to muzzle them simply because I disagree with them.
It’s also the first thing a plutocratic dictator would do.
Louisiana Voice 
So, so scary. It’s as if our “leaders” have lost their soul. I grieve for the U.S.
As usual, you get your lefiist panties in a wad about much of…nothing.
Your rant will not hurt the sales of your book…unless your book espouses breaking the law by allowing yet another million illegal aliens across the border ( in the past year )…that taxpaying citizens will then be subject to paying for their health care, meals, and housing. As a sovereign nation, we should be allowed ( and expected, to be sure ) to uphold our own laws. Many other countries do this ( Switzerland, for example ), yet I don’t see you ranting on about how “racist” the Swiss are. Get a grip dude.
To be clear, the President ( yes, your President also, like it or not ) said that those individuals who didn’t agree with America could return to their country of origin..and then COME BACK and tell us all how much better it is than what they already have here ( which was the point, and besides that this “squad” are sworn to uphold our laws by taking the Congressional Oath of Office )..
Get your facts straight…then cry on. Your President hears you….
I don’t know what point you’re trying to make about Tom’s blog entry but what the president tweeted this past weekend (while the Louisiana coast’s residents and property were in peril) was divisive, unproductive and factually incorrect. It was not “presidential.” It was “Trumpist.” There are mentally unstable persons living freely amongst us reading Trump’s nonsensical, irrelevant and unnecessarily hateful tweets and these persons may take the tweets seriously and do who knows what psycho destructive actions in response thereto. If we cannot lawfully lock up all the crazy people before they do something hurtful and/or destructive, then our elected officials should at least refrain from tweeting incendiary nonsense out to the World Wide Web. If something is not important or compelling enough for the president to call a press conference or issue an official briefing, then he should just write that crap in his diary/journal (like a middle schooler) or preferably in his hollow head to himself.
By your rationale, perhaps Trump & Company should all leave since by his definition criticism is the ticket. He criticizes and tries to terrorize our very rules of law. Some love of country that is? This is really a moot discussion because Trump has no respect for your Constitution, which he tramples. Eventually, this will hurt you and yours. But, your ignorance seems to be your bliss…proceed!
It’s funny how everyone talks about freedom of speech, but you don’t think the President has that right. What? The president is not allowed to say what he feels? I’ve got news for you. HE IS RIGHT! And yes a lot of people do feel the way he feels. I feel that way. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think we should let anybody in the country. I don’t care if they are illegal or not. I get so tired of you snowflakes saying all these things against Trump. If the damn Democrats would stay the hell out of everything we might have a decent country. I for one am ashamed of the United States and the embarrassment that we have become. We used to be a proud nation. Now we are just a bunch of Wussies that worry more about offending dumbasses than we do defending our country. If you dont like America get the F out. That’s all he saying and I agree wholeheartedly. If you don’t like us go your ass somewhere else.
Of course the president has a right to speak. I said as much in the seventh paragraph (first paragraph after the bullet points) and it is my policy not to censor comments unless they are obscene or racist. That’s why I even gave you a forum for your comments which made my case in a more compelling manner than I ever could have.
I rest my case bigly.
The President speaks for himself. You have but to look and listen to him to know who and what he is. You support him. Others, including me, cannot do so. Apparently, we see a different person when we each look at the same President Donald J. Trump. Yes, he was elected president by the electoral college. No, he was not elected dictator.
We have 3 branches of government and freedom of the press for very good reasons. I view President Trump as doing his best to rule the legislature and ignore the Supreme Court while destroying the faith of our citizens in any information not sanctioned personally by him. The very basic principles on which this country was founded are being trampled.
In his book, “Escape from Freedom” [1941]. Erich Fromm explained the rise of Nazism as a function of unhappy people wanting dramatic change, but not wanting personal responsibility for bringing it about. People can excuse inexcusable actions by a leader if they think the end justifies the means because they are not calling the shots – the leader is. Many of those who oppose him have the freedom to protest, but they choose not to so as to avoid any responsibility for whatever happens. It is much easier to let somebody else tell you what to do and think than to have to think about what you should do.
These are dangerous times for our country. It is a real shame some 45% of our population does not believe it. The smaller segment of President Trump’s supporters are elites who are personally profiting from this presidency in increased wealth or power – or both. The larger segment believes he can return us to a mythical America that never existed by restoring it to fit their individual beliefs about how things ought to be. If they pay attention to the kind of person President Trump is, they believe he shares and promotes their beliefs.
Ah, Outlaw, name calling and insults. How novel. Where’d you learn to be such a glib master of debate?
No, dude (I’d call you by name, but you never seem to want to provide that bit of information), he did NOT say anything about “coming back” until his follow up “clarification,” after the backlash started. And the country of origin for 3 of the 4 is none other than….the good ol’ USA. You may wish to get your facts straight.
One more thing. Go back and read the last three paragraphs of my post and let it sink in.
I find it just so sad and disturbing that you had to write this…but, I am so glad that you did. As we look at how these Republican “public servants” rush to repeat Trump (this must reaffirm for him that he really is already their dictator), their behavior is a foretelling of how they want the rest of us to be…mindless idiots. Not while I still have a breath in this old body!
We often hear the term “Eloquently Said” but seldom is that truly the case. However, my friend, you have eloquently said here what we as a nation of diverse citizens and those praying to become citizens mean and intend by our motto E Pluribus Unum. When Trump and his misguided minions speak and act in contravention of that, they are unAmerican and deserving of the chastisement that you have given to them. Yes, “Our Country right or wrong. When right to keep her right. When wrong to set her right again.”
Thank you, Tom, for your bold, accurate, and needed treatise on what and who is taking America down the path to perdition. .
Ditto.
Thank you! Well said!
Excellent!
Great points as always. And I think your characterizations of the orange buffoon and our Louisiana reps are spot on.
Thank you for saying in print what I have been saying myself. The sad part is I have many friends in other countries and almost to a person, they ask how could someone like Trump be elected considering his past. But then I have friends and family who have dipped their cup into the Kool-Aid that Trump is peddling.
“The civil exchange of ideas.” What a novel concept. Yet I remember a time when good people on both sides agreed to disagree — and did so without branding each other. And they still managed to solve problems. This was before the Tea Party, when the country split into ideologues who did not seek to understand each other but who used words to gain political power at great cost to seeking the truth. I can’t see how we can mend this rift. It’s the very civil exchange of ideas that made our country great. And now the very fabric of America has been ripped asunder. Every word in your post is true. For those readers who don’t believe me, please go back and take a class in American history, particularly one about our founders and why they wrote the Constitution the way they did. Think about the Mafia or any criminal enterprise and how it flourished. The don surrounded himself with loyalists who did not disagree with him, who were toadies, and who would do anything to protect him and their organization. How will we ever get beyond this? How do I buy that book?
The current occupant of the oval office is a racist. He was born into a racist family, was reared as a racist and is in fact, still currently a racist. He tried to hide his racism during his campaign. He can no longer hide it. These are facts, plain and simple. He has now been compared to the likes of Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace, Richard Nixon, and of course, Vladimir Putin. He sows chaos and hate wherever he goes. He divides this country with his racist policies. He has always been this way. All of his life. Most of us democrats and yes, some knowledgeable republicans, do not want this for our country. And yes, our “panties are in a wad” because we care about our country and all of the people, no matter what race or creed. We care about the laws of the land, human dignity, humane treatment of all peoples, our place in the world. And here’s a fact: every one of us has the right to disagree with any policy of our government. To suggest we go “back to our country of origin” for disagreeing with a policy is simply saying we should live under a dictatorship that tells us how to think, how to believe and how to feel lest we be placed in jail. This has already been tried many times in the past in the McCarthy era, the Wallace era, with white supremists, and now the current occupant of the oval office is trying to do this again. But rest assured, we haven’t let this happen yet and we will never allow this to happen in our country. This is America. This isn’t North Korea, China, or Russia. Also, know that this current “episode” from this insane, bloviate, racist madman is simply a new shiny object to deflect from all the criminal acts that surround his life. As well as Tom Aswell’s new book, I highly recommend for your educational reading “The Making of Donald Trump” by David Cay Johnston and “Everything Trump Touches Dies” by Rick Wilson. These two books will tell of the history of this occupant of the white house, his life, his family, his treatment of people all of his life and will give all an insight to why this man was, is, and always will be a racist.
Pray for our country. Peace to all.
Thanks Tom. I tried to send you my last letter to Abraham but didn’t have the correct email. I am soliciting fellow democrats to march in front of Abraham’s office in St. Francisville with a big middle finger, one side for Trump other for Abraham, and now I can add KKK for our Congressman. send me your email thanks ron thompson
I’m not gonna lie, whenever you rant about Trump I ignore it. You understand and “get” state corruption better than most. But you have Trump derangement syndrome and cannot think rationally on issues related to anything Trump. It’s not your fault, you’ve been programmed by the Mockingbird media and the leftist propaganda you take in.
Nothing he said was racist. Not a single word. Take your blinders off and pay attention. He is winning for America. The minority communities have been the biggest beneficiaries of his policies. He is a breath of fresh air and the best thing to happen to the Presidency in my lifetime.
Oh, dear God. Minorities the beneficiaries of his policies? Seriously? You’re really going with that?
If facts matter? Then yes., without a doubt. You are witnessing the best economy in your lifetime. And Trump has a 40% approval rating in black communities. He has passed criminal justice reform and reversed the “super predator” racist policies of Clinton. He is cutting off the pipeline of drugs to these communities. And he is bringing jobs.
Btw…approval ratings went up 4 points in the last few days. America believes you are wrong. I’m predicting Omar will be deported. Wait for it
The economy is a carry-over from the Obama years. Check the data. the Dow increase percentages were higher than under Trump. And remember, Obama took over a collapsed economy from Bush and brought it back despite a Republican House and Senate. And while the economy is doing well for corporations, it has not translated to higher salaries for working Americans. Fact.
Deport Omar? Won’t happen.
My comments in response to outlaw53 above apply here as well. There may be people with TDS, but my definition would be the opposite of yours.
More like a foul stench.