We have all heard that ” the system is broken,” that “Washington is dysfunctional” and that we must “drain the swamp” and “make America great again.”
POTUS’s tweeting does not help him achieve these goals.
A recent salvo had to do with four women of color, all Democrats and all duly elected to the House of Representatives. They are Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Presley of Massachusetts. The president, in a fit of pique, advised these representatives to go back to where they came from. Since three out of four of them were born here, the question arises—where should they go?
This is an old trope used many times in our past. In the McCarthy era, protesters were told that if you didn’t love America, you should leave it.
Protesters against the Vietnam War, were similarly told to leave this country. And in the Civil Rights era, activists were told to “go back to Africa.”
There is an irony here since Trump’s mother came from Scotland in 1930 and didn’t become a U.S. citizen until 1942.
A further irony, the first lady of the U.S. (Trump’s third wife) Milania was born in Slovenia which was part of Communist Yugoslavia. Of course, we are a “nation of immigrants” with the aborigines being the Native Amerians.
There is another flaw in our “tweeter-in-chief’s” logic. He has repeatedly stated that the four progressive lawmakers “hate America.”
Our president equates protest with hatred. Had he ever read a book on American history, he would see that protest is as American as apple pie and is designed to bring about “a more perfect union.”
In Monday’s tweet, “45” admonished the squad (a name given to the four listed above) to apologize “to our country, the people of Israel, and even to the Office of the President for the foul language they have used….”
It is fascinating that a president who has a potty-mouth unlike any other, lectures others on cursing when in the infamous Access Hollywood tape, he has talked about “p…y” and later described African nations as “sh..hole countries.
On Tuesday, July 16, 2019, after much wrangling, the House passed a resolution condemning the president for his “racist remarks.” This is the first time in one hundred years that such an action was taken.
I am wary of seeing this as the beginning of the end for Trump. Too often, I have predicted his demise only to have to acknowledge my error.
Only four Republicans crossed party lines to vote with the “Dems.” Such cowardice on the part of Republicans stems from a fear of bucking Trump and possibly being “primaried.”
Finally, one needs to determine whether Trump is
a racist. I state, categorically, that he is. He refused to rent properties to blacks, he was at the heart of the “birther” movement. and he took out a full-page ad in the New York Times stating the alleged rapists in the Central Park case should get the death penalty.
Even after DNA samples proved their innocence, he did not admit he’d been wrong. Donald Trump may be the only person in American political life who stands by his racism and then doubles down.
I give the last word to civil rights icon John Lewis who eloquently stated “l know racism when I see it. I know racism when I feel it…I rise with a righteous sense of indignation to support this resolution.”
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
