Daily he shames, blames, exaggerates, threatens, and spreads mistruths. The only time he notably stays silent is when he has the chance to stand up against discrimination, prejudice, or lawlessness and he says nothing. If he had spoken up when Charlottesville began, lives would not have been destroyed. He stayed silent in the face of discrimination when he had the chance to make a significant difference.
He turns quickly on any friend that says something or does something he doesn't like. It's common for people to be Trump's friend one day and a foe the next. We've seen this with his revolving door of cronies at The White House. He takes people in and spits them out regularly. He appears to like to take people down--it's a sport for him.
Another sport for him is slick marketing. He knows that at our most base selves, everyone likes a "bad guy" because if there's a bad guy, people feel better since they have someone to blame. People like a "good guy" too that matches their most important values, beliefs, and livelihoods. That's why Trump rallies are predictable performances. He marches out slowly, looks the people over with a smile, repeatedly lauds local heroes and makes "bad guys" out of others who are different than the people he's talking to. He speaks slowly, he uses hand motions and facial gestures, and he wins particular populations over--populations that are satisfied with his woo rather than looking deeper and thinking more about who he is and what he truly stands for.
First of all, those who claim he's a friend to Christians truly are not thinking deeply about what that means. Christ was a champion of the poor. True Christians would be working for solutions for poor refugees, impoverished people, and others who are victims of violence and lack of basic needs. Trump's unfair taxation efforts have not helped average people with the strength possible--good supports such as accessible, quality health care, top-notch schools, safe neighborhoods, fair wages, and environmental protections create good living for people. Trump appears to be more concerned with the power, popularity, and pocketbooks of rich cronies including his own family members than average Americans.
Trump does not follow ordinary rules of a grade school. He bullies people continuously with his verbal and written outbursts, discriminatory actions/words, mistruths, and exaggerations. This is a poor example for America's children who are being taught to be civil, positive, collaborative citizens at school and elsewhere. Trump's lack of concern for this is probably due to the fact that he's always been very wealthy and appears to get just about everything he wants when he wants it--he takes what he wants. Most people, on the other hand, are used to working for what they have and working with others to create situations of good living and respectful effort.
Trump is holding the country hostage right now as he exaggerates his belief that a wall is a good idea in terms of immigration. It seem like he really wants that wall as a physical display of his desire for power. As we really analyze the immigration/refugee situation, we understand it to be a multi-prong problem that can be solved with multiple good solutions. I think the best way to solve this problem includes the following steps:
- Create welcoming border centers that include humane processing areas that greet immigrants/refugees with lawful, humane treatment. Include educational centers where people can learn the truth of immigration as well as offices for officials and others who work with and for immigrants and refugees. Collect renewable energy at these centers and create gardens and other resources to help out with the humane treatment of all involved.
- Work at bettering the laws related to immigration that match the latest research about immigration/refugee trends into the future. I have read that countries like the USA will need immigrants in the years ahead and it is foolish to not recognize and work towards this fact now.
- Work with countries where many immigrants and refugees are coming from. Look for win-win solutions so that people can stay in their homelands if that's what they want to do. Look for ways to forward greater safety and livable wages/conditions in those countries. At the root of most immigration situations are issues like past greed, poor political decisions/leaders, environmental disasters, and of course, a will for better living/wages.
- Create equitable ways for illegals now residing in the USA to become tax paying citizens sooner than later.
- Create laws that provide a fair wage for all workers and disallow people from paying immigrants wages that are too low--a fair wage for all means employees will choose the best workers, not the cheapest.
- Look for ways to make quality health care accessible to all in ways that don't burden small businesses or individuals.
We can build a country that makes good living a priority, good living today and into the future. We can choose respectful, intelligent, collaborative leaders who model what they say and represent the kind of respectful, inclusive, modern, and forward-thinking leadership that will build a strong, good country, a country that is a positive ally who works with other countries around the world towards a high quality international standard of living.
In my opinion, Trump has wasted our time with his abusive, threatening, shame, and blame words and actions. We can do better and we must do better for our own lives and especially for the lives of our children and all the children of the United States and the world. His few short term gains are not grounded on a solid foundation--it's all quick-fix hype to give him the power, popularity, and pocketbook he craves. We can do better.
