Who Coined the Term “Fake News”? Adolph Hitler. Who Brought It Back? Donald Trump.
Donald Trump repeatedly calls the press “the enemy of the people”. He’s the only president to do so, apart from disgraced Richard Nixon. By doing so, he insults the American people, the history of the American press in uncovering multiple political scandals, crimes, and incompetencies, and the Constitution which elevates free speech as a foremost value of the nation. Who used, if not also coined, the term “enemy of the people”? Lenin, the founder and dictator of Communist Russia? In any case, it’s a term only used by dictators and autocrats, who, being in complete control, invariably silence the free press and have critics assassinated or jailed. For now, Trump is not in complete control, though AG Barr seems to want to help him reach that goal. If he somehow remains president after the November election, many fear he will be able to act as an unfettered autocrat.
Donald Trump, a well-documented inveterate liar and con man, also reintroduced the term “fake news” coined by Adolph Hitler, applying it to all news not in his personal or political interest. It’s a term only used by dictators and autocrats in self-defense, not having valid arguments for self-defense. An honest politician would want to counter critics with well-reasoned arguments, to prove that the criticisms are mistaken.
Donald Trump has also said there are “good people” among neo-Nazis. His domineering father, the son of a German immigrant, might well have been a Nazi sympathizer, which would explain a lot about Trump.
Donald Trump, on live broadcast during the 2016 campaign, shockingly asked for Russian help in getting Hillary Clinton’s missing emails: “Russia, if you’re listening…” That should have been an immediate disqualifier, as it indicated that Trump was willing to be indebted to a hostile nation in order to get elected. Sure enough, the Russians were listening, and they released the missing emails through WikiLeaks.
Donald Trump during a televised debate, in the typical knee-jerk reaction of all guilty persons who don’t have a valid defense, immediately reacted to Hillary Clinton’s accusation that he was Vladimir Putin’s puppet by retorting “You’re the puppet”. His body language and facial expression appeared to many as indicative of guilt.
Donald Trump in a 2018 Helsinki televised news conference, immediately after a private meeting with Putin with no American translator, rejected his own intelligence agency’s findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 election in his favor. With Putin at his side, Trump asserted that Putin denied any interference, and that Putin was more credible than American intelligence and its director Dan Coates. Apart from being an insult to his own agency, its director, and his own countrymen, that outrageous statement is weighty evidence that Trump is indeed “owned” by Putin. At that televised press conference, Putin confirmed that he wanted Trump to become president. Furthermore, what is very disturbing and raises the worst suspicions is that Trump and Putin have had multiple private meetings with no American translator and no American cabinet member present, only a Russian translator. Trump clearly wants no American to be present when he meets with Putin. What does he have to hide?
Suspicions that Donald Trump may well be “owned” by Putin have been justified by his refusal to release his tax returns and his bank records, which could reveal financial entanglements with Russians, even Russian government agencies. Such suspicions are also justified by the fact that American banks stopped doing business with Trump, and that he ended up being financed by Deutsche Bank, a bank suspected of international money-laundering.
Suspicions that Trump is compromised by Russian ties, if he actually is not a Russian pawn or an outright Russian agent, were heightened by his non-reaction to a televised Russian propaganda video showing an advanced Russian hypersonic missile striking Florida. That was a clear act of intimidation and an insult not just to Trump but to the United States, demonstrating Trump’s being completely dominated and at Russia’s mercy, which Trump passively swallowed. Now come revelations that Putin has offered bounties to the Taliban to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan during peace negotiations, and no reaction from Trump to that information for over three months. Actually, there was a reaction: Trump, after a call from Putin, proposed that Russia be allowed to rejoin the G-7. Trump has also publicly argued against sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. If Trump is not “owned” by Putin, what is the explanation for his strange behavior, clearly pro-Russia and anti-USA?
Apart from very worrisome suspicions about Trump’s patriotism and loyalty to the nation and its Constitution, there are also suspicions that he ordered the CDC not to recommend masks at the onset of the coronavirus crisis. Trump has always refused, and continues to refuse, to wear a mask and to be an example for the nation, for absurd political calculations, with the result that the Covid-19 crisis has not subsided as it has in the nations where masks were made mandatory. The CDC’s explanation that it did not recommend masks for months was that it feared a shortage of masks for health care providers. Even Anthony Fauci, the director of the NIH, has given that explanation. It does not hold water, since it is acknowledged that homemade cloth masks work. There would never have been a shortage had the specialized masks been reserved for health care workers, and the public encouraged to make their own masks or wear bandannas. Suspicions are that when Trump is no longer in office the truth will come out.
Donald Trump has always claimed that he is a brilliant businessman, but brilliant businessmen do not have their companies go bankrupt, as have various of Trump’s. Trump’s self aggrandizement is typical of con men. As he said of Hillary Clinton hiding her emails, “What does she have to hide?’, one should ask him what does he have to hide, refusing to release his tax returns, his bank records, and even his college transcript!
Donald Trump publicly marveled during the 2016 campaign that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue with no consequences for himself. What type of person would even have such a thought privately? How come that statement did not immediately disqualify him as a candidate? What’s wrong with the nation? How could that “pass”? How could he get away with publicly encouraging violence, even rough treatment by the police? How could he get away with boorishly insulting so many people? How could he get away with not releasing his tax returns and bank records? How could he get away with refusing to release his college transcript? How could he get away with being an obvious con man? How could there be so many mindless Americans to elect him president?
Donald Trump has on various occasions stated that he could pardon anyone, even himself. What honest president would ever bring up the topic of pardoning himself? By stating that he would pardon himself, Trump seems to have unwittingly revealed that he knows he is guilty of crimes. That explains why he refuses to release his tax returns and bank statements. If he loses the November presidential election, he will no doubt pardon himself before leaving office in late January. For extra protection in case a self-pardon doesn’t stand up in court, Trump may resign after losing the election with the assurance that Vice President Pence would immediately pardon him upon becoming temporary president. But presidential pardons are not valid when infected by conflict of interest. There is no way the Constitution, a highly moral document, intended for presidential pardons to be used by presidents to protect themselves, their family members, friends, and associates. Any interpretation to the contrary is absurd. Pardons must have a highly moral justification, along with the absence of conflict of interest. Strangely, the legal profession has not addressed the matter. Maybe for a good reason. In any case, President Ford’s pardon of Nixon should have been found invalid, both for conflict of interest (Ford was appointed by Nixon), and for the lack of a highly moral justification.
The crucial question, which must be asked and answered properly, is how did Donald Trump ever get to be president. The obvious partial answer is that his Republican Party primary contestants were incredibly mediocre (to be generous), and that Hillary Clinton was a terrible Democratic candidate. In fact, she was despised (along with her husband) by half the country deeming her a shifty hypocrite and egregiously incompetent in foreign policy (v. sending an American ambassador to jihadi-run Benghazi with just three bodyguards, and naively expecting to “reset” relations with Russia). Worst of all, she was incapable of destroying a con man in the presidential debates, which any run-of-the-mill Democrat should have been capable of.
The non-obvious partial answer is, unfortunately, that half of Americans don’t have a proper educational foundation which would prevent them from falling for an obvious con man. The reason is the totally inadequate public high school curriculum, which is also responsible for our economic, social, and foreign policy failings. Imagine the immense difference if the public high school curriculum included the following courses: 1) a four-year course on psychology accompanied by “group therapy” and “good parenting” workshops; 2) a course on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the history of human rights violations; 3) a course on logic and critical thinking; 4) a course on ethics and empathy; 5) a course on detailed 20th Century history; 6) a course on history of art, architecture, and design; 7) a course on history of music; 8) a course on economics and investing (also explaining why QE-financed tax rebates should be the standard stimulus tool, not ultra-low interest rates); 9) a course on comparative religion; 10) an introductory course on law including Constitutional law; 11) a course explaining all the major mistakes in economic, social, and foreign policy over the past 100 years, and which would have been the correct policies.
If we had such courses taught in every public high school, we would never end up with a Trump; there would be no Trumpists; there would be no presidential candidates who are threats to our democracy and human rights and who could be suspected of being foreign agents; we would no longer have poverty, violence of all sorts, abuse, addiction, widespread mental problems, racism and other unlawful discriminations, widespread dishonesty, unwanted pregnancies, extremely incompetent politicians and misguided economic, social, and foreign policies. Most probably, not one of our politicians would pass these basic courses with their current knowledge. The same goes for much of the population. That’s why we have fallen so far as a nation. We have been extremely complacent about the low average level of education. We have not understood that the way to prevent students having academic difficulty or psychological problems from falling behind and dropping out is to give them individual assistance. We have not understood that lots of homework and strict school discipline is essential. We have been lax. In the highly competitive, complex, and rapidly changing global economy, we cannot afford to have a low average level of education. If we don’t soon adopt an enlightened public high school curriculum backed by a prestigious, demanding national high school graduation exam, our national difficulties will only get worse.
© Edward Sonnino 2020
June 29, 2020
