Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jon Glascoe, of Randolph, who is a screenwriter, a filmmaker and a Democrat.
[D]emocrats (including me) have been barking up the wrong tree for months now with our Russian obsession. Do I think that Putin interfered in our election to benefit Trump? If everyone in our intelligence community says that he did, then he did. If the president says that he didn’t, then he did. Do I think that Flynn, Manafort, Kushner and various Trumps are up to their greedy little necks in dirty Russian money? Of course they are. Do I believe the emoluments clause has been violated? Dozens of times. Do I think there has been obstruction of justice and conspiracy? Yes.
But that’s all besides the point! The daily revelations into how deep the corruption goes does nothing but fuel his angry base and by extension the cowardly representatives who rely on that base for their cushy jobs in Washington. It’s wonky, it’s hard to follow and the knee-jerk reaction of Trump supporters is that it must all be a witch hunt by snowflakes like me who have it in for our besieged leader.
Forget Russia. Forget the daily scandals. We the people need to hammer away at every lie, and every moral deficiency.
No, the real point has nothing to do with Russia or Comey or the partisan showboating in both houses of Congress. We’ve buried the lead. The real point is that Donald J. Trump cannot remain as president because he is unfit for office. Let Robert Mueller uncover the impeachable offenses, of which there will be many if Trump doesn’t get him fired first. But we, the people, and all legitimate news outlets need to redirect our focus to the man himself, not his egregious misdeeds. Totalitarianism is not a political stance; it is always a cult of personality, and this man’s slathering minions feed Trump’s oversized and undeserved ego like chum to a shark. He must be stopped.
Why is he unfit? Let me count the ways. He is a compulsive liar. That is a psychological defect, and exceedingly frightening. It’s not Donald being Donald. It is a clear and present danger to this country. He is impulsive, the way 4-year-olds are impulsive — the difference being that 4-year-olds do not have the nuclear codes. That is a clear and present danger to this country. He is personally corrupt, in every meaning of the word. That is a clear and present danger to this country. He is unwilling to listen to those he should be listening to. He is unable to grasp the simplest concepts of government. He taunts our allies and cozies up to our enemies. He threatens the separation of powers and the Constitution itself. He is paranoid, and has a persecution complex. He is vindictive. He is secretive. He despises more than half of the American people. He is not intellectually gifted, but too arrogant to acknowledge the fact. He is the worst, most venal, dangerous, hateful and unqualified individual to ever sit in the White House. These are clear and present dangers to this country.
Forget Russia. Forget the daily scandals. We the people need to hammer away at every lie, and every moral deficiency. We need to hammer away at him, personally. We need to hammer away until even his blind narcissism can’t save him. We need to hammer away until Donald Trump resigns.
