Perhaps the truest thing Donald Trump ever said was a cocky assertion he made during a 2016 campaign stop in Iowa where he proclaimed this: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
He was right; the more unhinged he becomes, the more hard-core Trumpites worship him.
Every president has lied from time to time. Lies, exaggerations, broken promises seem to come with the territory.
However, Trump is in a class all by himself. Scores of fact checkers have described him as a “serial liar.” They have tallied up his lies, distortions and disinformation to more than 30,000 instances. And that’s just during his White House years.
He was charged in Florida with taking, hoarding and hiding boxes of sensitive documents that belong to the National Archives. After his arraignment Trump flew to a campaign rally where he and his worshippers listened to a recording of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” Trump then launched into a temper tantrum. Sneering, snorting, jaw-jutting, jeering in bitter defiance, he spit out venom as his listeners cheered. The bigger the lies, the louder they clapped.
His angry diatribe was larded with vicious accusations, stupid suppositions and – naturally – lies. It was another one of his “Poor Ol’ Me Witch Hunt” speeches.
Some lowlights of his meandering ramble:
The 2020 election was “stolen” from him. (the Big Lie he longs to believe but doesn’t).
Biden is the “most corrupt president in American history.” He “put together a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists to destroy American democracy.” (Look who’s talkin’!)
The Clintons and Biden had their hands on documents and were not indicted. “I did everything right, and they indicted me!” said Trump. (He alone can do no wrong.)
His arraignment was another attempt to rig and steal a presidential election. (future hoax).
“Under the Presidential Records Act, which is civil, not criminal, I had every right to have these documents,” Trump said. Only HE had the right to take those documents and de-classify them by just thinking so (a mental wand-waving). They are HIS documents! (acute megalomania fueled by delusions of grandeur.)
Jack Smith, the prosecutor of the case, Trump called “deranged,” a “thug,” a “lunatic” who is “not beholden to the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law.” (Mmm, sounds like self-projection.)
If the “communists” get away with this (indicting Trump), “they will not hesitate to ramp up their persecution of Christians, pro-life activists, parents attending school-board meetings and even future Republican candidates.” (The demons are coming, the demons are coming!)
Trump said he’ll end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He will appoint a prosecutor to go after Biden and the “entire Biden crime family.” To which the crowd responded with “Lock him up! Lock him up!”
Then came the scariest part of the speech, a mixture of bloated egotism slyly combined with phony populist rhetoric. It was yet another veiled threat of revenge against his perceived enemies, an incitement to fear and violence.
“We’re not going to have a country anymore. I will totally obliterate the deep state. We will obliterate the deep state. And we know who they are; I know exactly who they are. They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom. They want you silent. And I am the only one that can save this nation, because you know they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you.” (Ah yes, Mr. One and Only!).
An increasing number of previous Trump Administration supporters, including once-chummy former Attorney General William Barr, are (at long last) speaking out against him. Some Republican legislators (Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, to name just three) persist in slavish devotion to All Things Trump. They should be ashamed; they are enablers and opportunists purposely undermining faith in our nation’s institutions.
Trump has repeatedly flouted the Rule of Law; he is a danger to Democracy. Lock him up! In a jail. Or a mental institution.
