By Tom Burke / Herald Columnist
“The only thing to fear is, fear itself,” said Franklin Roosevelt.
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” challenged John Kennedy.
“The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten,” warned Calvin Coolidge.
“A president’s hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right,” advised Lyndon Johnson.
George W. Bush reminded us: “A leader is someone who brings people together.”
And Teddy Roosevelt said: “The first requisite of statesmanship is honesty. There is no stupidity equal to the stupidity of dishonesty.”
Now, politicians say a lot of stuff. It’s their job.
Some of it is incidental, some inspirational, and the best becomes part of our country’s DNA, as from FDR and JFK.
So I thought we’d examine the words of the twice-impeached, convicted felon-fraudster-sexual-assaulter Donald Trump, who said:
“I was told if I got 63 million (votes), which is what I got the first time, ‘You would win. You can’t not win’ (in 2020). And I got millions more votes than that and lost by a whisker.” (Wow! Finally admitting he lost! And 7 million votes is no “whisker.”)
And after getting schlumped, while pitching the Big Lie and attempting a coup, he said:
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” (More than 60 courts have ruled there was no fraud. But if you want to be a “Dictator from Day One” any made-up excuse works.)
His doom and gloom are omnipresent,
“Our country is so sick and it’s so broken. Our country is just broken. I would like to think god thinks I’m going to straighten out our country. Our country is so sick.” (The facts: The economy’s good; violent crime is down; inflation is nearly at its target. Employment is strong and unemployment is near record lows. Infrastructure is being rebuilt; drug prices are coming down; and Ukraine is still free.)
He touts his supposed business talent,
“I took care of our economy the same way as I took care of my own company.” (Right. You do remember you declared business bankruptcy six times; had your charity closed down for fraud; paid a $25 million settlement for your bogus Trump University; were convicted of wire and tax fraud; and Truth Social’s market value is down more than 70 percent since its late March peak?)
His memory seems to be, shall we say, fading,
“I won the big case in Florida (the stolen documents case and he didn’t “win”). I do not know the judge but the judge was a brilliant judge. Strong, smart, and a brilliant judge.” (Errr, Donny, you do know you appointed her.)
And not only is his memory faltering, he lives in some sort of diabolical fantasy world,
“But, uh, the transgender thing is an incredible thing. … Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, Jimmy, I love you so much. Go have a good day in school and your son comes back with a brutal operation. Can you even imagine this?” (No. Because it never, ever happened. Never. Or ever will happen. Does he actually believe there are actual, surgical sex-change operations happening in middle schools?)
His feelings are hurt,
“I never got credit for covid.” (Credit? The Brookings Institute estimates Trump’s inaction is responsible for 70 percent of covid deaths.)
And his reaction to the mass shooting murders in the Georgia high school last week:
“I will roll back every gun safety provision passed by Biden if I win.”
His campaign knows it can’t build Trump up, so he has to tear Harris down. So…
Trump has called Harris “crazy,” “nuts” and “dumb as a rock,” and has falsely suggested she own recently claimed her Black heritage.
He reposted an image of Harris and Hillary Clinton with a comment about “how blowjobs impacted both of their careers.”
“She and her party are trying to throw their political opponents, me, in jail. They always have to remember two can play that game.”
His math skills might explain his six bankruptcies,
“I actually won in California in 2020.” (He lost by five million votes.)
“I don’t know if you heard the latest statistic that of the jobs these (Biden) people created, which is very little, every single job was taken, about 107%, by illegal immigrants. There has been no job creation from them.” (Three lies in one: actual jobs created: 15.7 million, nor were they taken by illegals, and 107 percent?)
“We’re going to be a tariff nation. It’s not going to be a cost to you; it’s going to be a cost to another country.” (This is false. You’d think a Wharton grad, billionaire, and former president might know tariffs are paid by U.S. companies importing products at higher prices, not paid by the countries where they are made. The importing companies then pass the costs on to consumers. That’s you, gentle reader.)
Finally, there’s this,
“I better win or you’re gonna have problems like we’ve never had. We may have no country left. This may be our last election. You want to know the truth? People have said that. This could be our last election.”
Of all the vile, disgusting, psychotic crap he spews, threatening violence and a civil war if he loses may be the worst ever.
Note: As of Monday, I have no earthly idea what he’ll say in the debate.
But if history is any indicator, it will be delusional, deranged, dementia-fueled dreck; served alongside baseless, bile-based B.S.
Slava Ukrani.
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
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