In this Boomer Opinion piece, BoomerCafé co-founder and executive editor Greg Dobbs writes that he should stop being surprised these days when he sees what comes out of the White House.
Just when I think Donald Trump can’t out-ridiculous himself, he surprises me.
The latest? After controversial first-term congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this past week injudiciously indicted the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for “singling out newly elected women of color” to chastise, the president actually came to his sometimes bare-knuckled rival’s defense, not just proclaiming that Pelosi “is not a racist” but adding that Ocasio-Cortez had been “very disrespectful to somebody that’s been there a long time.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
No, that’s not the ridiculous part. Ocasio-Cortez herself, asked if Pelosi is a racist, emphatically answered, “Absolutely not.”
What’s ridiculous is how erratic and unanchored this president really is. For just hours earlier, reacting to news that Pelosi’s predecessor, Paul Ryan, had told the author of a book called American Carnage that Trump “didn’t know anything about government,” Trump dispatched two late-night tweets, calling Ryan’s record of achievement “atrocious” (adding of course, as only a narcissist like Trump can do, “except during my first two years as President,”), calling Ryan’s tenure “a long running lame duck failure,” and capping it all off with, “Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!”
Put aside the fact that when Ryan announced his retirement from Congress, Trump wrote, “Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question.” Well, nobody except Trump, all of half a year later.
But, sorry to disappoint; even that is not the best example of how this guy can out-ridiculous himself.
President Trump
No, the best is that Trump complained about a freshman congresswoman being “very disrespectful to somebody that’s been there a long time” not 12 hours after showing whopping disrespect for a man who himself had served in Congress for 20 years, who had run in fact as his party’s (and Trump’s party) vice presidential nominee in 2012, and who’d been Speaker of the House, right before Pelosi.
But then again, do we expect anything less?!?
Greg Dobbs
I might have let it all go anyway— because being childishly capricious (and a puerile bully) clearly is the norm, not the exception for Trump— except for a column a friend sent me on the same day the president blew his lid about Paul Ryan.
The column’s title is, “He fights,” and the writer— Evan Sayet— tries to make a case that he’s not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. “He can be vulgar, he can be crude, he can be undignified at times. I don’t care… He fights.”
That’s why, Sayet writes, when he is asked whether Trump’s tweets are “beneath the dignity of the office,” his answer is, “We Right-thinking people have tried dignity.”
His lead example? “There could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush as he suffered the outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds that undermined his presidency.”
Yes, I agree, George W. Bush was— and still is— a man of quiet dignity. Compared to Trump, I would take Bush back in a heartbeat.
George W. Bush
But excuse me, George W. Bush led our nation into a war we never should have started. By invading Iraq, we opened a Pandora’s Box of rancorous rivalries that we never have been able to close again. I will cut Mr. Bush some slack; given his background, he had no reason to understand the pressure cooker into which he was inserting us. But it never appeared that he sought the advice of others who did. We pay the price to this day.
So no, President Bush did not suffer “outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds.” Because he wasn’t attacked for what he was. He was attacked for what he did.
Big difference!
You want to talk about dignity? Despite the rancor millions of Americans felt toward George W. Bush for changing the world for the worse, he kept his dignity… and for many like me, who certainly were no fans, he kept our respect.
It would be too much to wish for Donald Trump to show even a drop of dignity as president, let alone a morsel of respect for his adversaries. He is a ridiculous man. It is a ridiculous way to run a country. I dislike him for what he does. But I detest him for what he is.
A fair assessment of the two recent Republican Presidents.
Good article Bush wasn’t good but he didn’t make me embarrassed to be an American the way Trump does.
Since Viet Nam senior politicians do not deserve respect just because of their age. I never was that fond of Pelosi but she does know politics. The way she attacked the squad is wrong.
Trump’s tweets are “xenophobic comments meant to divide our nation,” as they’ve been called by House leader Pelosi. It’s beyond comprehension why Trump is still followed and supported, as if by a zombie tribe with no intellectual capacity, by right wing evangelicals.
Your rant was totally delusional and seriously warrants a psych eval, promptly. TAKE YOUR MEDS.
Agree!
Phyllis, Trump may not care how he comes across to Left or Right as long as he comes across!!! I’ll take Trump over any of the deceitful, hatefilled, despicable anti-Amrican DemonRat any day!!! Trump keeps his promises and he’s actually building America, a country of which he is proud, back up!!! Pelosi is, in my opinion, a traitor to the USA (just like Obama, Kerry, Clinton and many more on the Left). God Bless America and God Bless Trump!!
Phyllis, I believe his tweets are like a FB post, thrown out to stir the lefties into a rabid swirling mass attacking each other, like the “squad” and Speaker Pelosi were first doing, then closing ranks and moving further left. Moderate Democrats will have no one acceptable to vote for…
Before you criticize our current President, you need to take a good solid look at our current and past members of Congress. Trump isn’t a politician and gives it right back the way he receives it! Maybe that’s why so many normal Americans like him. Liberal people in our country lost respect for government official’s ever since the 1960’s and with the indoctrinating public systems; it will continue. The liberal biased news media doesn’t help either. What happened to just reporting the straight facts and allow the people to form their own option? There’s also a double standard used by one side when it doesn’t get its way; do as I say not as I do!
Agree! Mr Dobbs doesn’t address the nonsense these “Women of Color” are spewing or their lacking behavior. It takes two to tango.
Carl … If that’s your name. There is no doctor named “Carl Marley” in the U.S. I think you are a fake. No doctor says, “take your meds.” That’s Trump zombie jargon.
I wonder if these “women of color” are the problem or the huge chips on their shoulders. I guess no one told them that they’re jobs are to halp their country and their constituents, it THEIR personal agenda’s
There’s nothing to respect as far as the Left are concerned. Democrat’s thinking is completely off the lunacy charts!!
Telling the truth always brings out the neocons with their “Whataboutisms”, misinformation, distraction, projection, transference, fake news, bias, violence, treason, racism, sexism and willful ignorance. Never expect to have a real conversation with a neocon.
Trumpsters, Please spare us all the juvenile name-calling and media bashing perfected by our leader and recite the specific accomplishments of his administration. I can fill one page with his presidential failings and two pages with his failings as a human being. Please, please, please don’t cite “that he fights for us and the conservative philosophy”. He fights to protect his man-child insecurities. Attila the Hun fought. Trump is so committed to the conservative philosophy that he has changed his political affiliation five times. Look it Up!!
If you are old enough to remember the real reasons the U.S. got mired in Vietnam it was the expressed concern, voiced by conservatives, for “the yellow peril” that would invade our Western shores if the commies in Southeast Asia were not contained. Even though it was b-s, a lot of people believed it.
Similar dynamic is at work today by the Trump mob and conservative christians … fan fear of anyone who looks differently than a white man or woman. Hitler did the same in the 1930s when he blamed Jews, academics, and minorities.
Fact is that parts of the U.S. have become “minority majority,” and that’s a good thing. But there are other parts where whites fear anyone different coming into their communities.