By Tom Burke / Herald columnist
Trump is leaving office just in time; as people have simply run out of the words needed to describe this worst president in U.S. history.
It’s like we’ve spread open a Merriam-Webster, turned it upside down and shook out all the Trump-describing words; and now there ain’t none left. He’s been called abhorrent, blubbering, clownish, corrupt, criminal, dog-whistling, fascist, hateful, inept, narcissistic, oafish, shameless, thuggish, venal and vulgar, and the inkwell is nigh-on dry; except, now that he lost in a landslide 306 to 232, we can call him “loser.”
For me, it was “game over” waaay back in 2016, when it was clear he was … a liar. His subsequent 26,000 falsehoods not only betrayed American democracy but killed people. A lot of people. Over 3,000 people a day now; 275,000 souls and counting.
Which causes me to ask: Where is Jack McCoy when we need him?
Sam Waterson, the actor who played New York District Attorney McCoy on TV’s original “Law & Order,” often prosecuted defendants for depraved indifference to life (also known legally as depraved-heart murder) when they killed someone not with a gun or knife, but with utter lack of concern and disdain for the consequences of their actions.
We need Jack McCoy now — voice quavering with indignation — because if anyone could actually be charged, in real life, with depraved-heart murder it’s Donald Trump and his callous indifference to the lives of 324 million Americans. I’ve had friends die; family members who’ve been infected; and know a woman (suffering from end-stage cancer) who is at a greater risk of dying, not from the cancer, but from the covid; because Trump has ignored and lied about it since February, the confession recorded and reported by Bob Woodward in his book “Rage.”
And, speaking of his lies, many people are terrified Biden is going to turn the U.S. “socialist,” as Trump has claimed over and over again.
That is, of course, another Trump lie. But one he’s repeated so many times it’s worrying some people.
And it’s a bunch of Trump bull for two reasons:
• Calling Biden a “socialist” betrays a total ignorance of what a socialist actually is. (Socialism calls for a complete public ownership of all means of production. That ain’t Joe.)
• Nothing Biden has ever said, stood for, or done in any way makes him a socialist.
So Biden’s call to expand health care (not “socialize” medicine), offer free college tuition (like we now do here in Washington for qualifying students), and promote clean energy is no more socialist than Medicare, Social Security or farm subsidies. And to quote Harry Truman about Republicans and socialism: “Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.”
But as much as I’d like to explain Biden’s no socialist, you really can’t talk people out of paranoia; and if you try pointing out factual errors, they just dig in deeper, call it “Fake News,” and continue running off the cliff with the other MAGA lemmings.
Now the Grifter in Chief’s latest con calculated to part fools and their money is Trump’s campaign to “Stop the Steal.”
Donald’s grifted as much as $206 million from folks who think they’re fighting election fraud, but are actually contributing to Trump’s personal-piggy-bank-PAC for whatever he wants (like putting family members on the payroll; read the fine print on his mailings).
And his evidence-free “election fraud” attack got me to asking, why? Why did Trump allow an “illegal” election under his presidency? Ain’t it his job to insure elections are fair? (Note: The elections were fair, even Trump’s AG Bill Barr couldn’t find fraud.)
Trump — President, businessman extraordinaire(!?), and the nation’s chief law enforcement officer – has been complaining (loudly) about stolen elections since 2016. So why, I ask myself, didn’t he actually do something about it?
At the end of Trump’s 46-minute lie-filled video rant last week, Trump described himself as the defender of America’s election system. He said he’d been told the single most important accomplishment of his presidency would be protecting the integrity of the voting system.
He had four years to do that. He had four years to allocate billions to insure a fair election. He had four years to pass laws to insure an “honest” election. He had four years to do something, anything, beyond whining, to protect voting integrity.
But he did nothing. He just complained and whined and kibbitzed, like it was someone else’s job to do all that and he wasn’t involved. And now, after the election, he’s blubbering “It ain’t fair” (it was) and Trumpian extremists are calling for martial law and a do-over.
Well, we don’t need a do-over election; and we gotta wait for Joe and Kamala for covid help.
So buh-bye, DJT. Is it Jan. 20 yet?
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
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