President Trump is once again disparaging thousands of American lives lost due to his administration’s incompetence during the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
As someone who grew up on that beautiful island, and who has family there that weathered the disastrous storm and its deadly aftermath, his comments blaming Democrats for the death toll of Maria are not just additional proof that Trump is woefully and temperamentally unfit to lead our country. They prove he is dangerous to American lives and livelihoods.
If this president truly believes, as he disdainfully tweeted this morning, that the new official death toll in Puerto Rico of close to 3,000 Americans is something that “was done by the Democrats” to make him look bad, and that the numbers were padded with people who died “for any reason,” then this president may very well be the cause of additional deaths if he is unwilling and unable to learn the lessons of the post-Maria debacle.
Narcissism and delusion are bad enough traits on any normal person. But these traits, in the commander in chief of the most powerful country in the world, can be exceedingly dangerous and, perhaps, should be reasons for others in power to use the instruments at their disposal to do something about it for the sake of the country.
I am talking about “anonymous,” a member of the “quiet resistance” inside the White House, who went public in a now-famous New York Times op-ed with their efforts to thwart the president’s worst instincts.
But what good are members of the resistance by remaining quiet? If they really believe, as the writer stated, that their “first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic,” then the president’s continued willingness to put his narcissism and delusion before the lives of Americans should be proof enough that he is beyond redemption.
Drastic measures must be considered. The president is telling the world that he believes the opposition party made up an “official” death toll in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, simply to harm him politically.
The hurt and outrage these claims have caused is difficult to express. It was bad enough that Trump proclaimed, on the heels of news of the much higher death toll, that his administration’s efforts in Puerto Rico were an “unsung success.”
To say the president is out of touch or has a tin ear is like saying Hurricane Florence is a late summer sprinkle.
There is no other explanation than that the president says these things to deliberately inject venom into an already festering political wound of his own making, as he doubles down on lies, misguided statements and delusional myths about his handling of the issues.
Perhaps he does it to distract from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which is not going so well for him. Perhaps he does it to distract from the abysmal political environment of his Republican Party due, in large part, to his unfitness to lead this country and his inability to show or govern with empathy, sensitivity, or common sense.
Trump’s approval ratings are once again at all-time lows, historically low for a president nearing the midterm elections of his first term. Majorities of Americans believe Trump is not honest, the generic ballot is at 14 points for the Democrats, and Trump is losing drastically with women, independents and even some white working-class men.
His base is shrinking, and Republicans on the ballot this November in the House — and now even in the Senate, long thought an impossible task for Democrats to take over this year — are shaking in their boots.
These trends are much starker in the multicultural, non-white communities that Trump has disdained and disrespected. The number of women of color who are running for office as Democrats (and who have a great chance of winning) is indicative not just of the unrest that exists in these communities across the country but also of the fear, anger and frustration they feel toward a president who has been nothing but openly hostile to them, their communities, their families and their needs.
Which leads us back to Puerto Rico, to the almost 3,000 American lives Trump has dismissed as a political “hoax,” and to the political hot mess he continues to create for himself and his party.
Puerto Ricans will be a decisive vote in Florida and in other key swing states. But it is not just Puerto Ricans who are outraged; most Latinos feel attacked on a daily basis by Trump. So we not only side with our Puerto Rican brethren, we also side with our brothers and sisters of Mexican or Central American heritage as we see images of kids ripped from the arms of their mothers and put in cages. Is this a Democratic hoax as well?
As Republicans such as Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas, Brian Kemp of Georgia and Kris Kobach of Kansas run as mini-Trumps, Democrats will run on the needs of all Americans. They will run soundbites and show tweets of Trump making light of American lives, and hold their opponents to account — on this and on other egregious rhetoric, behavior and policy prescriptions that are tearing our country apart.
So, “anonymous,” it’s time for you to come out of hiding, for you and the other members of the so-called “quiet resistance” to consider your next steps. Invoking the 25th Amendment? If “anonymous” is to be believed, it already has been talked about.
- Maria Cardonna
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