This is the last in a series of articles detailing why Donald Trump has been a disaster for America. Underlying his failure as a President is his failure of character. The many reports from family, former business associates, and hand-picked members of his own administration tell a story that reinforces what’s obvious to many of us. His narcissism, hypersensitivity, allergy to accountability, racism, misogyny, belief that the rules don’t apply to him, willingness to lie and promote conspiracy theories, and tendency to lash out all combined to result in one fiasco after another. As a result, he failed us on race relations, health, security, international affairs, the economy, and the rule of law.
First, Donald Trump is a racist. If it wasn’t already clear from the repeated dog whistles to white supremacists:
- It was made clear by his response to Charlottesville (“there were good people on both sides”).
- It was made clear by his lack of response in the 2020 debate with Biden when he was directly asked “do you condemn white supremacy?” to which he stammered before replying, “Proud Boys…stand back and stand by.”
- It was made clear by his immigration ban on individuals from majority Muslim countries.
- It was made clear by his lies about immigrants through our southern border.
- It was made clear by his comments about “shithole countries.”
- It was made clear by his continued use of the term “China virus.”
Also first, Donald Trump is a sexual predator and adulterer:
- In his own words from The Access Hollywood recording, “I don’t even wait…can do anything…grab ’em by the pussy” (here’s the transcript…it’s worse than just that one phrase)
- Walking in on naked teen girls in beauty contests: “five Miss Teen USA 1997 contestants did allege in 2016 that Trump walked into the dressing room as contestants — some as young as 15 years old”
- At least 25 legitimate, independent claims of his sexual misconduct
- Paying off women to keep his affairs from going public, most publicly the one with Stormy Daniels while his wife was pregnant with their son. The actions of “Little Mushroom Man” indicate that he does not take his vows and commitments seriously — whether that’s to be faithful to his wives or to his country.
Third, he’s a cheat:
- Numerous times he has cheated workers, contractors, and suppliers
- He cheated on taxes (or is a failed businessman, or both)
- He committed fraud through the Trump Foundation
- Multiple sources including family confirm he cheated on the SAT to get into Fordham, his dad then bought his way into Penn (famous people have been arrested for the same recently), where the only thing he became renowned for was his multiple deferments including one for supposed bone spurs in his heels.
If you have any doubt he didn’t get into Penn on merit, the indications have been numerous:
- He didn’t know the UK has nuclear weapons
- He didn’t realize Finland is not part of Russia
- He can’t spell quite a few common words…and these are not just typos, some of them being in his own handwriting
- He does not seem to know the meaning of quite a few common words, such as “per capital” instead of “per capita”
- I’ll sum it up with 5 words from his “very difficult” cognitive test that was in reality a test for dementia…person, woman, man, camera, TV
Fourth, he’s a con man:
- Claiming he’s incredibly rich when he’s instead in massive debt and losing more money every year. His unwillingness to share his tax return is one indication how likely this is.
- Privately admitting the seriousness of Covid and publicly insisting it was a hoax, and privately acknowledging systemic racism while publicly claiming it’s not a thing, as shown in this video
- Admits to promoting wingnut conspiracy theories, and has done so continuously throughout the past decade so he can obfuscate the truth,
- Remember how he served as his own fake publicist
- He takes no responsibility for his irresponsible and unethical retweets, and even plants reporters to bolster the conspiracy theories he claims to “know nothing about.”
Among some highlights of the lies and conspiracy theories he’s promoted:
- Obama birther conspiracy
- Russia didn’t help him get elected
- His inauguration attendance
- “Obamagate”
- His great health (the bone spurs alone must have been debilitating!)
- Everything from QAnon
- Everything he says about Biden
- Claiming Kamala Harris wasn’t born in the US
- Conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein’s death
- Everything he claims bout mainstream media
- Obama didn’t have Bin Laden killed and instead killed Seal Team 6 to cover it up
Fifth, not only does he not respect people who deserve it, he demonizes them. Remember his attacks on:
- Gold Star families
- American troops
- The Pope
- John McCain
- US generals?
- The captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and other service members
- US Army Lt. Col. Vindman?
- Evangelicals, African Americans, and Latinos?
- Civil rights leader and US representative John Lewis?
- Jewish people?
- Mexicans?
- Allies’ leaders — especially women leaders like Angela Merkel and Theresa May
- Any fellow Republicans who dare to disagree with him publicly about anything, including Ben Sasse, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and more
- Obama, Biden, Harris, and really any Democrat
- Pretty much everyone who disagrees with him or has ever said anything unflattering about him
He’s the most partisan and polarizing President we’ve ever had. He demonizes anyone and everyone who doesn’t sing his praises. Even lifelong Republicans are turning against him.
Who has corroborated the truth many of suspected about Donald Trump? Is it what he likes to call “fake media”? No, it’s everyone from former members of his own administration, to the ghost writer of his book, to former colleagues, to his own family.
- Former staff, in numbers unheard of for any previous President: second former National Security Advisor HR McMaster, third former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, former chief of staff and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and many, many more.
- The concerns are so great that 500 former national security leaders, including three senior officers who served under Trump, signed a letter backing Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.
- His family, including niece Mary Trump who wrote “hundreds of thousands of American lives will have been sacrificed on the altar of Donald’s hubris and willful ignorance. If he is afforded a second term, it would be the end of American democracy
- His ghostwriter for The Art of the Deal
- His attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen
- Former contractors and workers
- Bob Woodward in his book Rage, quoting Trump’s own words
With these many firsthand accounts of his failure of character, how is it anything but willful ignorance to claim he’s anything but a racist, a sexual predator, a fraud, a con, and someone who’s overcompensating for the very little man he is?
Character matters in leadership. Consider how it doomed his response to Covid. Some of his supporters know this and agree.
He’s a poor leader by many measures, such as:
- The U.S. Army’s leadership standards
- His inability to build an effective team, his failure meaning that talent has deserted his administration and he’s now playing with his C-team, resulting in poor work like this PR video that inadvertently exposes his own failures
- His inability to build unity during a time of national crisis. More than any President in my lifetime, he divides us, as James Mattis confirms.
- His inability to be a Selfless Leader and put others first
- His inability to accept criticism without taking it personally
People are on to him and his failures. Forbes. Republicans. Fox News. Even Rupert Murdoch.
No one exposes it better than the Republicans at the Lincoln Project — see how they frame “the choice.”
Trump has been the wrong President at the wrong time. He would be the wrong President at any time, but at this particular time he has failed to protect us from Covid, divided our country, inflamed racial tensions, and has left us with a weak economy while incurring record levels of debt. For the sake of our country, do not give this utter failure of a person and failure of a president another 4 years in office. Vote!
