On February 28, 2018
© By John Arkelian
In an interview with Larry King prior to the November 2017
“This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.” (So saith President Trump in February 2017; but, he didn’t specify what kind of machine he had in mind.) Illustration © 2017 by Linda Arkelian.
presidential election, the actor Richard Dreyfuss summed up what he thought of Donald Trump in one word: “indecent.” That word seems as apt as ever. A braggart, blowhard, and bully, Trump seems to embody a man of low character. Dispensing cant as though it were wisdom and brazenly telling bald-faced lies, his very instincts seem to impel him to all that is intemperate, petty, unseemly, and vindictive. He’s quick to ridicule others, while praising his own real or imagined accomplishments to the heavens. Every word that comes out of his mouth is the stuff of egregious hyperbole – variously proclaimed or condemned by him as ‘the biggest,’ ‘the best,’ or ‘the worst’ instance (of this or that) in the annals of recorded history. The apparent dearth of private or public virtue in the man is an affront to people of integrity and a canker on the body-politic.
Consider the man’s pernicious attacks on the nation’s institutions. Referring to the U.S. justice system (which is the envy of the world), he said, “What we have now is a joke and a laughing-stock.” Talking about the free press (which was considered so important to the health of democracy that it was expressly protected by the nation’s founders in the Bill of Rights), Trump has derided it as “nasty,” “vicious,” and “fake.” Citing such major news organizations as the New York Times, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC, he said, “The fake news media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people!” Actively hostile to criticism, he didn’t hesitate to threaten the media: “Network news has become so partisan, distorted, and fake, that [broadcast] licenses must be challenged, and, if appropriate, revoked.” Questioned about the many unfilled vacancies in the State Department (the people responsible for conducting America’s relations with other countries), Trump didn’t hide his egotism: “Let me tell you, the one that matters is me. I’m the only one that matters.” Freudian slip, anyone?
After his State of the Union Address on January 30, 2018, Trump derided those who sat stony-faced and did not deign to applaud his trumpeted achievements, and he agreed (half-jokingly, he says) with subsequent suggestions that those who failed to applaud his self-proclaimed greatness were “treasonous.” Maybe he was exaggerating to make his point; but such accusations are not fit for a president to direct at his critics or opposition. They’re the attitudes of a tyrant, and the United States was founded to overthrow and forever repudiate tyranny. And, now the man is intent on having a vain-glorious military parade, à la the ‘triumphs’ of ancient Rome.
Donald Trump’s presence as a public figure, let alone as leader of the free world, befouls the public discourse; nay, it befouls the polity itself. His grotesque self-absorption, shameless mendacity, and instinctive nastiness of character mark our arrival at society’s lowest common denominator. He has conned too many into thinking he’s a down-to-earth (and earthy) champion of the common man’s welfare – but he’s clearly a plutocrat masquerading as a well-intentioned populist. We can do better; we must do better.
John Arkelian is an award-winning journalist and author.
Copyright © 2018 by John Arkelian.
Illustration © 2017 by Linda Arkelian.