“We’re going to win ... We’re going to win at trade, we’re going to win at the border. We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, you’re going to come to me and go ‘Please, please, we can’t win anymore.’… And I’m going to say ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to keep winning, winning, winning. We’re going to make America great again.’” Donald Trump, May 26, 2016
President Donald Trump loves to hear himself talk. He loves to throw out wild promises and accusations, and in his mind, if he says it, it must be true. Trump tweets something and then thinks he’s settled the issue, no matter how ridiculous the tweet. He lives in his own little bubble of unreality. And sadly, too many of his followers go right along with him, never asking, “Does this even make sense?”
North Korea has been launching missiles, working to increase range to reach America. Trump thinks he settled this issue, tweeting on Jan. 2, 2017, “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!” Maybe North Korea doesn’t get Twitter?
Jewish Community Centers across the country have received dozens of threats and are asking for federal help to protect themselves. Trump’s response? Too busy tweeting about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A Navy SEAL was killed during a botched raid in Yemen. Was Trump in the Situation Room, monitoring the situation, acting like the Commander-in-Chief? Nope. While the raid was happening, he was tweeting about an upcoming TV interview. “I will be interviewed by @TheBrodyFile on @CBNNews tonight at 11pm. Enjoy!” Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. Trump’s ego before national security and American lives.
“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” Nov. 27, 2016. Later Trump refined this to state there were 3-5 million illegal votes. Voter fraud on this scale would be a massive scandal. Trump has the resources to launch an investigation, but he hasn’t. Why not? Because this never happened, except in Trump’s fevered little brain. In his bubble, if he says it, it’s true, so no need for further action. Or facts.
When Trump’s unconstitutional immigration ban was halted, he tweeted, “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” Feb. 5, 2017. Of course, bad people were not pouring in. Just another example of Trump trying to shift the blame for his incompetence.
To build his border wall (you know, the one Mexico is going to pay for), Trump wants to cut the budget for the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard patrols our shores, rescues people, captures drug smugglers and human traffickers, and does many things needed to keep us safe. Trump wants to cut the budget for this vital service in order to build a wall that won’t keep us any safer and will cause problems of its own. This is about as foolish as it gets. But that’s Trump.
On March 4, Trump went on a Twitter bender, accusing President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
Trump doesn’t seem to realize he is accusing a former president of committing a felony — with the collusion of the FBI — since a president doesn’t have the authority or means to wiretap anyone. Or else Trump is admitting that he is under investigation, since it would require a warrant to wiretap him. If Obama did somehow get the FBI to do an unauthorized wiretap on Trump Tower, this would be a very serious crime and call for an immediate, wide-scale investigation. Has Trump called for any such investigation, or offered any proof? Of course not, since this never happened. Trump is rapidly losing touch with reality, and he’s taking too many people along with him.
There are so many more examples of Trump’s delusions, but there’s no more space here. His endless, foolish Tweets, ridiculous accusations, and unworkable campaign promises make him a loser, bigly. If we let Trump continue on this deceitful, dangerous path, we will all be losers too.
Jeanette Strong, whose column appears every other week, is a Nevada Press Association award-winning columnist. She may be reached at news@lahontanvalleynews.com.