What happened to Melania’s anti-bullying campaign? Perhaps her husband bullied her into shelving it. He seems to have the market cornered as the biggest bully in the country right now. He certainly has the loudest megaphone.
A friend told me that he read a story written by an elementary school classmate of the Orange One’s. Guess he’s been doing this his whole life, as the classmate recounted that Little Donny would pull the girls’ pig tails, grab kids’ lunches and kick them across the room and other incorrigible things; all things that school yard bullies do. Even his father couldn’t handle him and sent him to a military school, which tapped into his worst compulsions, strengthening the need to dominate for this forlorn boy.
As an adult, his early mentor was Roy Cohen, the self-hating, closeted gay man (who died of an AIDS-related illness), lawyer to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the House Un-American Committee hearings, the 1950s Communist witch hunt that black-listed and destroyed so many lives in Hollywood and beyond. From Cohen, Trump learned to never back down and hit back hard, be the BULLY, and embrace the lie. If you tell it often enough, people will believe it. He learned those lessons well. Too bad too many of the US electorate have been taken in by this con man. They think he’s “telling it like it is!”
On Martha’s Vineyard, we have many friends from the New York/New Jersey area who did business with or know someone who did business with this compulsive liar. His idea of negotiating with a contractor after his building is done is to offer ten cents on the dollar and say, “Sue me”. Another form of bullying. Thanks to his father’s money, he thinks he can outlast anyone in a court case, so no reputable person will do business with him any longer. Once burned, twice learned. Hence the need to go to other sources to borrow money…like Russian oligarchs. So who knows what he owes across the world, both in money and influence.
Just yesterday, a trusted friend posted a story on Facebook telling of a wonderful tour of golf courses he took, with one of the preeminent designer of courses in the world today. The designer concluded by saying that he wouldn’t work with Trump. “Why not?” “He doesn’t pay his bills.” A direct quote from a man I’ve known and trusted 38 years, not a secondary news source.
Name calling on Twitter is just juvenile bullying; “Sleepy Joe”, “Low Energy Jeb”, “Crooked Hillary”. Do these work? He won in 2016. It is frightening to me how he uses his Twitter feed to fire Cabinet members, make foreign policy pronouncements, berate anyone who crosses him, and of course, lie out of his wazoo.
We have never seen anything like it. Warren Harding was corrupt, but he evaded public scrutiny and died in office just before the Great Recession. His weakness and corruption were revealed later. Nixon was a paranoid bigot (with some decent policy initiatives), but his secrets were revealed and he resigned just before he was impeached.
Trump does most things (not all – we haven’t seen his tax records and but for the whistle blower, we wouldn’t know about his relentless squeeze and crazed conspiracy theories, holding up Congress-approved military aid to Ukraine) out in the open. Is this country headed for a fall? Even great democracies don’t last forever. If we don’t tame this bully, he will bring us all down with him.
Betsy PfauRetired from software sales long ago, two grown children. Theater major in college. Singer still, arts lover, involved in art museums locally (Greater Boston area). Originally from Detroit area.
I couldn’t agree more, Betsy. He has set a very bad tone for our country. Incidents of bullying among school children are up. I lived through Nixon and Watergate and thought that was the worst that could happen politically in our country. But compared to now, it seems much less awful. I start every day with a knot in my stomach.
Laurie, it is true that children model their adults. This president sets a very bad example for EVERYONE, but particularly the children. I understand about that knot. I find that I am compulsively eating junk that I never would have just a few years ago!
I’m sure many of us on Retro, when seeing this prompt, immediately think of Trump. I mean, he is, as you note, the biggest bully in the country — though I think you could safely expand it to the Universe.
But what you do so well here is take us through Trump’s long history as a bully, making it clear this is nothing new with him. And as someone who lived in NY for most of my adult life, I can certainly attest to Trump’s reputation over the years. Though most respectable NYers viewed him not so much a bully as a buffoon, and did not take him seriously. And this has clearly fueled his bullying now that he is in a position to do so. (As an aside, it is interesting how many bullies, like Trump, view themselves as victims.) That Melania is ostensibly championing an anti-bullying crusade is the height of irony, hypocrisy and absurdity.
I not only want Trump out of office, I want him so disgraced that his bullying, if he persists, will simply be viewed as laughable again.
Let’s hope we can quickly consign him to the junk-heap of history and back to buffoon status, John. His desire to be president was fueled by the mocking he took at the White House Correspondent’s dinner, where he seethed. Seth Meyers is to blame for all of this!
Alas, this bully is setting a new, lower standard for all bullies. Great but sad recap, Betsy.
Sadly, thanks Marian.
Betsy, great job of tackling a thoroughly unpleasant subject. I especially like the way you opened with Melania. Interesting about his early mentor being Roy Cohn, another slimy character. I almost used the term Bully-in-Chief in my story – great minds think alike! I love the sign showing that gas station sushi (is there such a thing?) is more trustworthy than he is. Thanks for this reminder of all the reasons we hate him!
We do tend to think alike, Suzy. I don’t know if gas station sushi is real or not, but certainly doesn’t sound like something worth trying.
#VOTEBLUE2020
Yay!
Yes! I completely agree, Betsy, and I love the way you wrote this. Teaching us his history as a bully was informative and gave me facts that will help me discuss Trump with a friend who continues to support him. So thank you! Beautifully written in every way!
Thank you, Steve. Happy to be of service in the FACT business, something sorely lacking these days. I would hope if people knew (and BELIEVED) the truth about this man, his base would quickly erode. Even a conservative columnist in the Globe today wrote that they need a better Republican candidate! And he’s an observant Jew who loves Israel, so there was none of the misplaced “he’s good for Israel” nonsense either.
Betsy, since we pretty much all agree about our Bully-in-Chief, I have to chime in from here in LA-LA-Land about Marianne Williamson. I know, I know…I can hear the groans, and I am under no illusion as to the likeliehood of her gaining mainstream acceptance. BUT…if we don’t start at the cradle, with love, then bullying, in all its guises and forms, will never stop. Bullying comes from fear, and contrary to popular belief, fear — not hate— is the opposite of love. This is the basis of Williamson’s platform. Unfortunately, few are listening. But maybe someday we’ll have a U.S. Department of Peace and it will encompass this very topic.
Barbara, I agree that the opposite of love is fear. And I like some of what I’ve heard from Marianne Williamson, but I don’t think she is ready to be leader of the free world. Having more consideration for peace and kindness would be a good idea, though.
Yes Barbara, but I fear it’s wishful thinking!
Betsy, you should write more like this — it’s op-ed and full of facts to inform your claim which you buried at the end but, boy did you lead up to it well!.
You’ve got a great, direct writing style with one helluva momentum because you’re pissed off and that’s coming through. You’re seeking justice, and you’ll be goddamned if you don’t get it, but you’re going after it anyway. It’s all in there.
Thanks, Chaz. I am more than pissed off. I am genuinely frightened that we could have four more years of this crap and our country and way of life will be forever damaged and changed. His crowds are angry, hate crimes are up, young people model his terrible behavior, education isn’t valued, he has alienated our allies, treaties mean nothing. The world is on fire. He is a true demagogue.
He’s going down, Betsy. His descent will be as ugly as his reality, but he will go. But he didn’t come out of the ether. And the origins of his rise to power have been present and will continue. And yes, the world is on fire. But he will not last. And his crowds? Imagine, if you will, the vulnerability of a man who expected to be welcomed by a world series crowd the way he is welcomed by his carefully cultivated rally crowds. They boo’d him into a momentary rush of reality. In the fourth inning they chanted ‘lock him up.’ He’s not a true demagogue as much as he is only our first.
I hope you are correct that he can be defeated in a year’s time (I hope the Dems can pull together and run a good candidate and good race against this horrible person). But I fear your last statement is also true. He is only the first demagogue. Our country seems to be spoiling for more.
I confess to loving it when I saw the chants at the ballgame the other night. I confess to shouting the same at the TV screen myself lately. Yes, I have been reduced to that!
I’ve been wrong so many times about this odd phenomenon that I have been partially dissolved into a puddle of my own speculation. I don’t know if more information would help in this era and I can only read the signs I read in the i Ching of people, places, and events of the media maelstrom. But I do know that you are writing really well about the world right now and hope you continue with your outward focus. Write on!
Thanks, Chaz. My writing depends on the prompts. Sometimes I get fired up.