Thursday, April 23, 2020

David Frum on Trump

I don't respect very many conservative writers and pundits, but David Frum is an exception. He is conservative, but he has the smarts, the knowledge, and personal experience to back up his ideas. And he's been dead on right about Trump and his administration since 2016.

So his article, It's All Trump's Fault, in the Atlantic is worth the time to read, if you have the stomach for it.
He has never tried to be president of the whole United States, but at most 46 percent of it, to the extent that serving even the 46 percent has been consistent with his supreme concerns: stealing, loafing, and whining. Now he is not even serving the 46 percent. The people most victimized by his lies and fantasies are the people who trusted him, the more conservative Americans who harmed themselves to prove their loyalty to Trump. An Arkansas pastor told The Washington Post of congregants “ready to lick the floor” to support the president’s claim that there is nothing to worry about. On March 15, the Trump-loyal governor of Oklahoma tweeted a since-deleted photo of himself and his children at a crowded restaurant buffet. “Eating with my kids and all my fellow Oklahomans at the @CollectiveOKC. It’s packed tonight!” Those who took their cues from Trump and the media who propagandized for him, and all Americans, will suffer for it.
Governments often fail. From Pearl Harbor to the financial crisis of 2008, you can itemize a long list of missed warnings and overlooked dangers that cost lives and inflicted hardship. But in the past, Americans could at least expect public spirit and civic concern from their presidents.
Trump has mouthed the slogan “America first,” but he has never acted on it. It has always been “Trump first.” His business first. His excuses first. His pathetic vanity first.
Just for comparison: Canada has a population about 38 million people; the US a population of about 330 million.
  • Canada: 1,011 cases and 48 deaths per million people
  • United States: 2,522 cases and 137 deaths per million people
Draw your own conclusions.


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