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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGergen: Speech 'most divisive' I've heard from a president
By Eric Weisbrod, CNN
Updated 10:56 PM ET, Sat April 29, 2017
... "To bring your campaign speech into the presidency is something presidents rarely do," said Gergen, who has been a White House adviser to four presidents. "This was the most divisive speech I've ever heard from a sitting American president" ...
"He played to his base and he treated his other listeners, the rest of the people who have been disturbed about him or oppose him, he treated them basically as 'I don't care, I don't give a damn what you think, because you're frankly like the enemy,'" said Gergen. "I think it was a deeply disturbing speech."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/29/politics/gergen-trump-speech-cnntv/
SHRED
(28,136 posts)justhanginon
(3,290 posts)We've had smart presidents and dumb presidents but in all my many years this idiot is the first one I have to consider certifiably crazy. Narcissism, paranoia, delusions of grandeur, incessant bullying, the list is endless and obvious. Very troubling at ther least for our country.
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)Unless you're into hate, revenge, pettiness, and ignorance,Trump has nothing to say to you or for you.
It seems that there are times, all too often, when people are shocked Trump is behaving as Trump.
He will never be "presidential". He will never forgive America for his losing the popular vote. He will never get over being so intensely disliked. Say what he will, it all bothers him. He knows he is unfit to hold office. He knows it and he despises everyone else who knows it. He can't hide his shortcomings and edit out what he doesn't want the world to see, like he could on his TV show.
He blames everyone else for that. He will never blame himself.
JudyM
(29,250 posts)troubling thought.
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)As if they expect something better from him from one day to the next. As if hoping Trump will rise to the occasion. Lose that hope one and all. The longer he is allowed to role-play as president, the greater danger he poses. There's absolutely nothing the least bit normal about his ascension to office or his continued presence in office.
There is nothing normal about Trump, the man. He's unfit, unqualified, and a danger to us all. All stories about him should be framed with that in mind.
He shouldn't be compared to other presidents or anything remotely presidential, because Trump does not belong in any office, much less the office of president.
Of course Trump should be called out each and every day. For the fraud he is and for the danger he is. Each lie. Every ignorant remark.
druidity33
(6,446 posts)specifically for your comment here.
I wish this:
"There is nothing normal about Trump, the man. He's unfit, unqualified, and a danger to us all. All stories about him should be framed with that in mind.
He shouldn't be compared to other presidents or anything remotely presidential, because Trump does not belong in any office, much less the office of president.
Of course Trump should be called out each and every day. For the fraud he is and for the danger he is. Each lie. Every ignorant remark. "
could fit on a placard, that's right i used the word placard, or a small sign if you will. Nonetheless you summed up in a few words of defiance what has been simmering within me for months now. Thank you for framing my queasy irritableness into a frame of language... if that makes any sense.
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)Last edited Mon May 1, 2017, 08:29 AM - Edit history (2)
The Press and people have to stop speaking of Trump in terms of the standards used when normally addressing elected officials. We have a historical frame of reference for what being a president means. There exist a language for addressing a president and how we, as a nation, speak about a president.
That frame of reference does not apply to Trump and the use of it normalizes what should never be considered simply part of the varying scale of what is and isn't presidential.
Trump isn't something new - we've seen his type throughout history. Simply because Trump is American, and some misguided notion that in America - "it can't happen here" - does not mean we should treat him any differently than other tin-pot dictators in the business of reshaping a democracy into an authoritarian state. The entire GOP should be treated the same.
There is something mentally unbalanced about Trump. Dangerously so. It's not meant as an insult to others with disorders who live their lives thanks to treatment. Trump is not under treatment and he would refuse treatment once recommended. It would be an insult to his ego to admit he needs help.
Yet the Press and others dance around the issue as if it is more insulting to America to talk about Trump's instability than the dangers that instability poses. That it somehow insults the office to admit the man holding that office is a threat to very existence of the democracy they are hoping to protect by pretending, somehow, his being in office is a part of the normal democratic process.
Our democracy has been long undermined by those who would deny facts and spread ignorance as an acceptable way of governing. Trump is a creation of that disregard for democracy.
The man is delusional and lives in denial - and his denial, along with the denial embraced by far too many about the dangers we are facing, serves only to create barriers in acting against a very real threat.
America is being lead by a madman. Pretending otherwise normalizes Trump and his actions.
Sure, some have questioned his stability. And in doing so have been treated as if they have harmed the civility of discourse by merely pointing out the truth. There's nothing civil about what Trump is doing. Nothing civil about how Trump came to be. Why pretend it is necessary to be civil about any of it? The house is on fire, people. It's OK to shout "Fire!".
Bush earned an asterisk by his name. A well earned asterisk. But Trump needs multiple question marks after the word President????, followed by a WTF, America after the his name. (President????? Trump WTF, America???)
The Press (and others) needs to separate the office from the man. The idea of a president and how said individual should be treated needs to be divorced from the reality that is Trump.
His ignorance of government is not some refreshing reminder that he is an outsider. Anyone with a TV who has seen "SchoolHouse Rock" knows how a bill becomes a law. But Trump didn't and probably still doesn't understand the process.
Governing is complicated, hard, and there's more to it than he knew. Seriously? There's nothing charming about that. Nothing refreshing about that. Nothing endearing about that. America should be appalled by Trump's willful ignorance and act and speak accordingly. Some people actually take pride in Trump's ignorance - because they take pride in their own.
There is always a learning curve for those elected to office but that learning curve should never start from the very basics of government.
He doesn't want to learn how to govern either. He wants to change how the Constitution works to fit his ignorance. To allow him the power to by-pass all the rules and laws so he can act on his whims without any checks and balances.
He calls those checks and balances "archaic" - "news" that should be front page, with blow-back that eviscerates anyone thinking, much less voicing, such a thought.
Trump has been handed the office of trigonometry and he doesn't even know what a triangle is, and instead of learning about triangles, he wants to declare the standard to be an ink blot. An alternative fact that allows him to claim a fact isn't fact because it all depends on how you look at the ink blot. With Trump, it's always a vagina he needs to grab and fuck over.
The GOP is useless because they are not only complicit, they are the primary reason America has gotten to this point.
Trump is the GOP golem, created from the rancid clay of hate and ignorance they have been molding for years.
The Press is also guilty because they have sold the lie that an opinion is as valid as a fact and that "news" means framing a lie as being on par with the truth.
Between the Press and the GOP, far too many people now feel justified in dismissing facts because they don't fit into how they want the world to be.
It's not respect to pretend there is any validity to their ignorance or hate. There is no purpose served in claiming we have to listen to the complaints of those who would rather cling to ill-formed opinions rooted in misinformation and lies.
Water is wet even if your only experience has been bone dry drought. It's not dismissing your experiences to state a fact - just because you don't know water is wet doesn't mean you get to claim water doesn't exist. Ignorance can be cured. Doubling-down on your ignorance causes terminal stupidity. It says to the world that you would rather drown in dust than to dig for relief.
That's fine - as long it is only you doing the drowning.
You can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think. Thinking is hard. It's complicated. Who knew?
Almost everyone knew. So let's stop pretending those who didn't know are somehow equal to those who did.
Shout it from the headlines the world over - your ignorance is not acceptable. It is not a desirable trait and it will never be a valid way by which to view the world.
If, like a good deal of the right-wing, your goal is to nurture ignorance and hate to sustain your greed, then you are a threat to people the world over. Some on the right are true-believers in their all-too-comfortable ignorance that self-justifies their existence. For them, water couldn't possibly exist because if it did, why aren't they wet?
We have to stop giving credence to their way of thinking. Stop treating them as if they have something to say. It's not a case of differing opinions. It's not a case of seeing a problem and not agreeing on how to solve it.
Those who would ignore facts, who push lies, who use hate as a means to sway, and attempt to strip a democracy of its needed and necessary checks and balances are not people to respect. They are dangers to put down.
They are the fire that needs to face the reality of water.
Sorry. Rambling, I am.
Useless in FL
(329 posts)Yours is the best rant I have ever read! Perfect!
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)Thank you.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)I'm off to a doctor's appointment soon and wouldn't be able to respond properly. I always feel the need to host an OP I start. Responding and moving the conversation along. Otherwise I feel guilty. Like I'm neglecting my guests. I know that sounds weird but it's true.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)druidity33
(6,446 posts)of such a poetic and righteous ramble!
Solidarity!
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Best assessment I have heard of the situation yet.
malaise
(269,022 posts)Thanks.
Trump is every ignorant thought the right has ever had or expressed. A walking, talking meme born of ignorance, then passed around by those who preach abstinence while wallowing in an orgy of stupidity.
malaise
(269,022 posts)on steroids
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,053 posts)kimbutgar
(21,155 posts)Instead he has become more divisive and hateful towards those of us who didn't support him.
Obviously he wants to divide and conquer us so that we are against each other. How many family, friends and acquaintances have been hurt by his election? Those hateful rallies like last night only made it worse.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I remember in late October and early November just before the election, there were a whole bunch of columns devoted to how a presumptive President Clinton was going to have to reach across the aisle and make sure that Republican voices were heard and acted upon. The next essay I read about how President Trump has to make nice with Democrats will be the first.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)In his 50 years of reporting, he hasn't heard a speech from "a president" more divisive and more full of lies, big and small.
A campaign rally speech given at the same time we are celebrating the First Amendment and the constitutionally mandated freedom of the press entrenched in the Bill of Rights!
calimary
(81,298 posts)An individual who, himself, is deeply disturbed.
You're catching on, Gergen.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)His rhetoric could lead to that.
Boomerproud
(7,954 posts)They did it out in the open and on camera too. Reporters are next.
barbtries
(28,798 posts)is deeply disturbing and has been so since ever.
JudyM
(29,250 posts)Initech
(100,079 posts)barbtries
(28,798 posts)i posted on fb that i could imagine saying "what did you expect?" many times over the coming days, months, or years...i just have to wonder how anyone could have NOT seen this coming.
but what really galls is how many people think this is just fine.
Initech
(100,079 posts)People making white power hand gestures in the White House is not fine.
The president attacking news outlets as fake is not fine.
barbtries
(28,798 posts)we're in a shitload of trouble here. nazis in the white house, republicans so craven and corrupt they let this sick, sick child get away with anything and everything...the country is sick. it's mean and cruel and getting worse, and sometimes i just have to stop paying attention. then i feel guilty. if we cannot get enough people to vote and change the balance of power both in the states and in DC, i really do not like to speculate about where we're headed. but then i just read The Handmaid's Tale for the first time. maybe i'm overstating the peril, but i don't think so.
Initech
(100,079 posts)I feel like we're living in the Star Wars universe where the Dark Side has taken over and stomped out all the opposition. Putin is Emperor Palpatine. Trump is Darth Vader. And they're about to unleash the Death Star.
roscoeroscoe
(1,370 posts)Well said, Sir.
speaktruthtopower
(800 posts)dalton99a
(81,513 posts)Typical tin-pot fascist
tavernier
(12,389 posts)Sure, here in DU, and those who get involved in knowing who is running our country and how, but for the most part, folks are just living their lives and accepting that if something drastic happens, wiser heads will prevail. If you don't believe me, ask the next ten people you meet on the street if they heard trump's rally speech the other night, and with what other event it coincided. Bet you a buck over 75% will say no.
not fooled
(5,801 posts)When the opportunity arises, i.e. I'm discussing current affairs with someone, I will gently lead into politics. It's sad how many otherwise aware and intelligent people just don't want to even think about politics. They say as much--literally, they don't want to even think about politics.
I reply by stating--in a diplomatic and calm manner--that the problem with trying to ignore politics is that it impacts every aspect of their lives, whether they pay attention or not. They agree but seem so turned off that they just can't go there. These are also the same people who think "both sides are equally bad".
The Gingrich/toxic puke strategy of turning people off has worked well on a lot of 'Muricans.