What a week this was.
First, we had the saber-rattling, except those were nukes that were being rattled.
Then we had the spectacle of Donald Trump soft-pedaling the racist violence in Charlottesville, Va., that resulted in the death of a peaceful counterdemonstrator.
Is this what made America great? Is this how we want to remake America?
A pariah on the world stage instead of the leader of a world seeking to live in peace?
A home to white supremacists and nationalists?
About those schoolyard threats lobbed back and forth between the head of the most powerful nation in the world, both militarily and economically, and the latest dynasty to lead a small country barely able to feed its own people.
Were they really necessary?
Are they likely to lead to a cessation of North Korean efforts to put nuclear warheads on their intercontinental missiles?
Or to negotiations leading to a dismantling of its nuclear capabilities?
Instead, the tweeter-in-chief is feeding Kim Jong-un’s paranoia that he would suffer the same fate as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. As Kim sees it, the only protection he has is those nukes.
Since Trump’s repeated threats have (fortunately) not been followed up by the evacuation of American citizens in South Korea or military preparations on our part, it appears that they were, in truth, nothing more than the empty ravings of a schoolyard bully.
Or the latest effort to distract attention from his low approval ratings.
But, in this case, the bully’s taunts could lead to a miscalculation and the results of that miscalculation could be catastrophic.
As for the neo-Nazi rally in Virginia, if ever there was a time for the occupant of the Oval Office to speak out in unambiguous terms against racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry, this was it.
But, clearly Trump was not willing to offend a core constituent of the base that elected him and that remains a large part of his otherwise sinking approval ratings.
That the clarification issued by the White House on Sunday was anonymous and did not bear the Trump name only served to underscore his unwillingness to disown the lowest and most abhorrent constituency of his base.
As a handful of Republicans and others denounced the display of hatred and his weak statement, Trump doubled down, criticizing the chief executive of Merck who resigned from a presidential council to protest Trump’s equivocal response.
Finally, 48 hours later, Trump was forced to personally condemn the racist demonstrations as “evil,” though the delay will undoubtedly give rise to a narrative that Trump was forced to make the statement, but doesn’t really mean it.
As the West Wing continues to circle the wagons, Robert Mueller’s probe into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, questionable financial ties, possible obstruction of justice and who knows what else continues.
Or did we forget about that investigation.
How easily we can be distracted.
Jay Feldman
Port Washington
