Virus, protest mishandling just latest of Trump failings

No American institutions are as widely respected than the U.S. Armed Forces. So when one of its revered leaders — one with 50 years of service under his belt — speaks out, we would hope all would listen:

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try,” retired Gen. James Mattis stated this week. “Instead he tries to divide us.”

This debate is no longer about policy or liberal versus conservative. It is about leaders, and the current one needs to go. The majority of Americans can’t stand much more, lest they be left standing not at all.

President Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality protests and riots are the most recent of his manifest failings. When a ravaged nation cried for soothing, understanding and compassion, he lashed out in heated rhetoric, further fanning the flames of division, bigotry and ignorance.

He accepts no modicum of blame. The fault always lies with Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, with foreigners, immigrants and Antifa, with the Chinese, the media and Congress, with mayors and governors in Democratic redoubts, with any person, group or agency refusing to pay him sufficient homage.

We wish he would have the decency to resign, but he has shown a lack of that virtue during his public life, either pre-presidential or post. We can only hope to see his reign of hubris and animus end with his decisive defeat in November.

Trump’s modus operandi is attack, attack, attack. There is no empathy in his personality, no civility in his style, no restraint in his approach. His scorched-earth election campaign, marked by mockery, ridicule and lack of any regard for the truth, all-too-accurately foretold what was to come.

His lies range from dangerous to bizarrely unnecessary (no, Mr. President, you did not give Gen. Mattis the nickname “Mad Dog”).

His failings are rooted in exhaustive narcissism. He sees the rest of us as inferiors destined to do his bidding, or else. Everything he does is “great,” “beautiful” and “perfect” because he’s a “stable genius” transcending mere mortals.

He abuses the normal conventions of society because he can — because he has the power, the wealth and the cult-like following to get away with it. He values the Republican Party only to the extent they serve to further his personal aggrandizement, victimizing true American conservatism along the way.

Trump is a man who has never displayed any meaningful religious convictions, Christian or other, or ever affiliated himself with any particular church. But earlier this week, he had a group of peaceful demonstrators forcibly routed by so he could stage a Bible-wielding photo op in front of a church near the White House. He had neither the courtesy to check first with the bishop, nor to respect the demonstrators’ right, under the First Amendment to the U.S.

The Republican Party has traditionally stood for fiscal restraint and states’ rights, but Trump has trodden on both.

He put the nation in hock to give the personal and corporate rich even greater tax advantages. When the states failed to reopen fast enough for his liking, he threatened to impose a dictate from Washington, D.C.; when they failed to suppress protest excesses fast enough for his liking, he threatened to send in the military in to take charge.

Donald Trump is in it for only one thing — his own best interests. The sooner everyone realizes that, and move effectively to curb it, the better.

As Mattis said:

“We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”