Racism, revenge drive Trump on Obama
If you believe someone has done you an injustice and you want to get even, for some this brings on excessive behavior illustrated by attempts to tear down the accomplishments of your adversary, along with personal attacks. If you add in the fact that your target is an African-American, and you are a Caucasian racist, this increases your desire for revenge.
A perfect example of the above are the relentless attacks by President Trump on anything and everything President Obama accomplished during his two terms as president. At the White House Correspondence Dinner in 2016, Obama joked about Trump's chances of becoming a president and these comments stuck in [Trump's] craw and won't go away. With his enormous ego, his thin skin, and his racist views, he could not tolerate Obama's put down.
Ever since Trump was elected president, he is doing his best to smear President Obama's legacy, hoping to stamp it out as if he never was president. For example, attacking Obama's actions to deal with climate change, becoming buddies with President Putin, undoing legislation that was enacted to ensure clean air and water, and also advocating the repeal of laws passed to protect investors from unethical stock brokers. In addition, Trump has issued numerous executive orders attacking anything he can find with Obama's name on it.
A partial list of his personal attacks on Obama include the following:
(1) From the very beginning Trump was a leader in the so-called "birther movement," alleging Obama was not born in the United States and therefore not qualified to be the president, all of this despite a birth certificate evidencing that he was born in Hawaii.
(2) Alleging that Obama would go down in history as the worst president of the United States. You would be hard pressed to find many who would support this comment, other than Trump's core supporters who continue to see Trump as Jesus like.
(3) Criticized Obama for taking time off to play golf during his presidency and the cost to the taxpayers for the trips, saying that he would be a president who took no vacations, but then he takes numerous trips to his Mar-a-lago resort and other vacation spots, at a much greater cost to the country.
(4) Saying that during Obama's presidency the State Department was in disarray, apparently forgetting what his looks like.
From the very beginning of his campaign Trump has zeroed in on repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has refused to even consider amendments to said act (which would probably have been enacted by now) because he couldn't stand the act still being connected to Obama's name.
Trump reminds me of Capt. Ahab in the novel Moby Dick, where Ahab's obsession to kill a white whale blinded him of existing dangers resulting in the destruction of his ship and the death of himself and all but one of his crew.
Bass Trumbo
Fayetteville
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Is this really going to make America great again?
Commenting on a story reported by the Washington Post, the White House confirmed Donald Trump at least "weighed in" on the misleading statement his son made in July about his meeting with a Russian lawyer. ABC confirmed this story, but used the word "dictate," suggesting a much higher level of involvement from the president. This admission contradicts multiple denials by Mr. Trump's lawyer that the president was not involved at all. Which means that either Donald Trump lied to his lawyer, or the lawyer lied to protect his client. Under the ethics rules of the American Bar Association, Jay Sekulow could thus terminate the relationship or he could apologize and face disbarment. Either decision though requires that at least an ounce of honesty and ethical behavior is left in the man.
As with many other people defending Mr. Trump, I have my doubts that these repeated lies will have any consequences. When will enough be enough? How much longer can you look at yourself in the mirror and believe that this is the way to make America great again?
H. Peter Elzer
Fayetteville
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Working together necessity for getting things done
OMG, am I dreaming or what? Two headlines in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Aug. 2 read: "Bipartisan group to work on health law," and "Democrats offer tax-revamp help."
The R's and D's working together to actually accomplish something -- isn't that what they are supposed to be doing in the first place?
So many of us are so tired of the petty squabbling and immature infighting displayed by those we elect to represent us. I'm no wizard, but I have been advocating for a long time now that the most sensible approach to fixing the Affordable Care Act is to identify those areas that are broken and fix them. Duh.
Regarding re-vamping the tax code, just like fixing the ACA, a bipartisan effort is what is necessary here as well.
Maybe, just maybe, these folks in D.C. have finally woken up and realized that to accomplish something they are going to have to work together. Hallelujah.
Pete Rathmell
Garfield
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A report card on President Trump's health
A few weeks past there were concerns expressed in the news about the state of President Donald Trump's health. I have assembled my own report card of his condition, broken down by three strengths and four problems:
Strengths
Manual dexterity -- tweets with the best of them, from morning 'til night.
Flexibility -- easily flip flops on issues, and can bend over backwards for Russia.
Stamina--watches cable news all night and can still tweet early in the morning.
Problems
Ears -- can't listen to and take good advice.
Speech -- prone to crude, provocative and ill-advised words.
Impulse Control -- can't do it ... takes the bait every time and overreacts.
Vision -- clouded by self-interest, and can see only as far as his base.
Like any 71-year old man, President Trump needs to focus on improving his health, and I sincerely hope and pray he will do so. The health of our country depends on it!
Greg Moore
Holiday Island
Editorial on 08/05/2017