I try not to waste much ink deploring the absurdities that spill out of President Trump’s mouth or his Truth Social feed; they get more than enough attention already. Still, it’s worth pausing over his casual misogyny toward female reporters—hurtful and hateful words like “ugly,” “stupid,” “piggy.”
No one, I hope, mistakes Trump for a man of class or a model of gallant behavior. But punching down on women who are simply doing their jobs is especially low. Anyone who finds this funny or admirable has serious issues of their own. Give the insults a rest, Mr. President. In Melania’s words: be best. Or at least be better.
AP photo by Andrew Harnik in 2018
Then there’s his Truth Social lament about the recent murderous assault on National Guardsmen, in which he declared his desire to purge immigrants who are “non-compatible with Western Civilization” and those “incapable of loving our country.”
How exactly are we to measure whether someone “loves” America? What does that even mean? If I wave a flag and chant MAGA, does that qualify? And what about being “non-compatible” with Western civilization—how does he propose to test that? By accent? By religion? By skin color? And which version of Western civilization are we talking about? Hopefully not the one that brought us two world wars and the Holocaust.
Trump is a divisive nightmare. His misogyny, his bigotry, his bullying, and his reflexive contempt for anyone he deems beneath him make him a poor example of a man and an even worse leader.
But we knew that already—right?
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By Bill Astore · Launched 3 years ago
U.S. militarism and politics. Making sense of a vexing and perplexing world.