A prose poem from Henry Rollins…

 

Someday, I Would Like To Go Home

“Someday, I would like to go home. The exact location of this place, I don’t know, but someday I would like to go. There would be a pleasing feeling of familiarity and a sense of welcome in everything I saw. People would greet me warmly. They would remind me of the length of my absence and the thousands of miles I had travelled in those restless years, but mostly, they would tell me that I had been missed, and that things were better now I had returned. Autumn would come to this place of welcome, this place I would know to be home. Autumn would come and the air would grow cool, dry and magic, as it does that time of the year.

“At night, I would walk the streets but not feel lonely, for these are the streets of my home town. These are the streets that I had thought about while far away, and now I was back, and all was as it should be. The trees and the falling leaves would welcome me. I would look up at the moon, and remember seeing it in countries all over the world as I had restlessly journeyed for decades, never remembering it looking the same as when viewed from my hometown.”

–Henry Rollins

“It’s gonna be so much fun. It’ll be nasty… at the beginning in particular… You’re gonna see things that you’re not gonna believe” –Donald Trump, on the first days of his second term

I have gotten into the habit of not eating breakfast. Even so, this morning, I’ll be having a big helping of humble pie. Why? Because I was wrong about the 2024 Presidential Election. In fact, I was loud wrong. To my horror, Donald Trump won the election.

Several days ago, I wrote this:

“I expect Harris will win the traditionally blue states, as well as Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. North Carolina and Georgia are in play for Harris, and although I think she’ll lose Florida and Texas, I believe it will be closer than expected.”

As I write this, Trump has won Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he won Georgia and North Carolina, and he is leading in Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. To add insult to injury, Florida and Texas were not nearly as close as I expected. In other words, I was wrong about everything.

To be honest, I’m stunned. In my mind, there was no way Trump could win the election because I couldn’t conceive of a world where the United States would elect a candidate who was openly authoritarian. I couldn’t conceive of a world where the United States would elect a man convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, impeached twice, and who spoke in a crude, unhinged way about his political opponents, journalists, people of color, and women. I lacked the imagination it required to accept the very real possibility that the United States would elect a man like Donald Trump for a second time. It just didn’t seem possible.

So, what’s next. If Trump does what he has said he will do, the United States is in for some dark days. Trump’s plan to use tariffs liberally, to slash the national budget, and to round up millions of illegals (which includes those in the country legally) will drive up prices and destroy the economy. His plans to lower taxes even further for corporations and the wealthy will skyrocket the national debt. His plans for a nationwide abortion ban will increase maternal deaths (we’ve already seen this play out in Texas) and will embolden Republicans to go after contraception, same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. And his plans to withdraw from NATO and end support for Ukraine will damage our alliances and empower our enemies, including and especially Russia.

In fact, conservative commentator David Frum had this to say about what the future holds:

“Trump and his vice president–elect, J. D. Vance, will now try to transform the federal government into a loyalty machine that serves the interests of himself and his cronies. This was the essence of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, and its architects, all Trump fans, will now endeavor to make it become reality. Trump will surely try again to dismantle America’s civil service, replacing qualified scientists and regulators with partisan operatives. His allies will help him build a Department of Justice that does not serve the Constitution, but instead focuses on harassing and punishing Trump’s enemies. Trump has spoken, in the past, of using the Federal Communications Commission and the Internal Revenue Service to punish media organizations and anyone else who crosses him, and now he will have the chance to try again.

“Perhaps the greater and more insidious danger is not political repression or harassment, but corruption. Autocratic populists around the world—in Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela—have assaulted institutions designed to provide accountability and transparency in order to shift money and influence to their friends and families, and this may happen in America too. This is not just a theoretical threat. As loyalists take over regulatory agencies, filling not only political but also former civil-service jobs, American skies will become more polluted, American food more dangerous. As a result of this massive shift in the country’s bureaucratic culture, Trump-connected companies will prosper, even as America becomes less safe for consumers, for workers, for children, for all of us.”

Understand, none of this is wild speculation. These are things Trump has said. They are things that are part of his platform. They are things included in Project 2025, which he tried to distance himself from, but I suspect will embrace now that the election is over. He’s been very upfront about his plans.

To my Trump supporting friends, it is now time to reap what you have sowed. Your guy won, but I don’t think it has dawned on you yet what that will mean to you and your families. I understand that, despite his considerable baggage, you liked the fact that he went after people you consider your enemies, but I don’t think you understand that eventually, those programs and policies you championed that will hurt your enemies, will also come around to hurt you. The United States and the world are about to undergo a profound, horrible change. And just because you supported Trump, that doesn’t mean you get to avoid the changes that are coming.

As for me, I’m going to take a break from politics for a while. As I wrote a month or so ago, I do not have the capacity to understand anyone that would support Trump. I don’t understand how anyone with Trump’s record of corruption and abuse could appeal to anyone who truly cares about the country and the future. For a while, I’m going to stop trying to understand. Instead, I’m going to concentrate on writing about other things that interest me.

In Trump’s first term, the guardrails held, and Trump wasn’t able to do many of the things he wanted to do, whether that meant killing peaceful protesters or overturning a free and fair election. Now, in a second term, after he has learned how to dismantle the guardrails, and with a compliant Republican Party behind him, I fear what the next four (or more) years will bring. If he just does what he promised, we are in for a world of hurt.

Dear Shelby & Lou–

I know it’s unusual for me to write a letter to you, but we are living in strange times. In fact, the upcoming presidential election is the most consequential in our lifetimes, maybe the most consequential in the history of the nation. Because of that, I think it is important for me to share some thoughts with you.

I will not tell you how to vote. You know my opinion, but you are both adults and you can make up your own minds. What I do want to talk to you about is the idea of ancestors and legacy in relation to the election. Under normal circumstances, you may not even consider your ancestors or your legacy, but in this election, I think you should.

Your great-grandfather (and Louis’ namesake) came to this country when he was just sixteen years old. (That’s right, we are fruit from the immigration tree.) He was poor and didn’t speak English, but he desperately wanted a better life for himself and his future family. He met your great-grandmother on the ship from Romania to the United States, and they went on to have eight children.

Together they faced hardships, but they also realized their dreams in the United States. They moved first to New York, then Grand Rapids, and finally settled for good in Aurora. There was a big Romanian community in Aurora, and there were jobs. Your great-grandfather got a job, first in a factory, and then for the City of Aurora. He was a hard worker and was respected by his fellow employees for his energy and work ethic.

During World War II, my father (your grandfather) and his brothers all served overseas; two in the Pacific and two in Europe. On your grandmother’s side of the family, she had three brothers (all raised by a single mother), who served during the war, two in the Army and one in the Navy. Thankfully, they all  survived, and they helped save the world from fascism. They risked their lives to make sure that the United States remained safe and free. They have been called the Greatest Generation. Considering what they accomplished, it’s hard to argue with that description.

The hard work of those that came before us set us up to live safe, comfortable lives in a wonderful, prosperous, and free country. We stand on their shoulders and owe them a huge debt of gratitude. We also owe them our diligence and best efforts to pass on to our children, their children, and their children a country that is every bit as safe and free as they passed on to us.

Today, we take our democracy for granted. But when our country was created, the idea that citizens could decide for themselves who would lead them was revolutionary. And the idea that those leaders could be replaced and they would give up their positions peacefully was unheard of. And for the next 244 years, that’s exactly how our country operated. That is, until 2020 when Donald Trump refused to accept the results of the election he had lost. He encouraged an insurrection of the Capitol and interfered with the peaceful transfer of power that had been a hallmark of our democracy.

Since he was forced to vacate the presidency, Trump has been indicted in four different jurisdictions, has been convicted of 34 felonies, has been found liable for sexual assault and civil fraud, and he has promised to rule the country as a dictator if he is re-elected. He has said he’ll prosecute his enemies, carry out mass deportations, use the military against American citizens, abandon our NATO allies, and play politics with disaster relief funds. Through his rhetoric and actions he has vilified non-Christians, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women. These are not Christian values. They are not democratic values. They are not American values.

Some day—maybe in five years or in fifty—historians will write about the state of our nation at this moment and the presidential election we are about to experience. They will write about what American citizens did at a time when our democracy and our most sacred freedoms were under attack. They will look at us in the same way we look at German citizens from the 1930s when Adolf Hitler came to power, and they’ll wonder what we did and why we did it. Did we give into the urge to have a strongman run our country and believe his claim that only he could fix our problems, or did we stand on our values and history, and vote to keep and strengthen our democracy? I want you to be aware of what the future holds—the questions that your children and their children will ask—and I encourage you to act in a way that, somewhere down the road, you can look your children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren in the eye and be proud of what you tell them

When I speak of ancestors, I’m talking about the people that came before us and the things they did in their lives to help create the country and the world we live in today. And when I speak of legacy, I’m talking about the things you do that will impact those that come after you. Your decisions and actions are creating the country and the world that your children and grandchildren will inherit. You’re not being asked to emigrate to a new country or fight in a World War. Yet, what is being asked of you is every bit as important and will have as great an impact.

On Tuesday, you have the opportunity to cast your precious vote in a free election. It really is an amazing opportunity and a solemn responsibility. But unlike previous elections, this one is not about Democrat vs Republicans, left vs right, or liberal vs conservative. This election will decide whether we carry on the Great American Experiment in democracy or we give it up for a form of authoritarianism that, in other parts of the world, has kept the trains running on time, but has stripped citizens of their rights.

To steal a line from the musical Hamilton, history has its eyes on you. I am committed to being on the right side of history. I hope you are too.

I raised you both to be strong, kind, and compassionate. And I have always encouraged you to think for yourselves. I am proud of the adults you have become. Whatever you decide, I want you to know that I will always love and respect you. Whatever happens in this election, we are still family. Nothing will ever change that, no matter who you vote for or who wins this election.

Love you always,

Dad

Tuesday, November 5 is election day. Million of people will head to the polls to vote for Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, or one of the third-party candidates for President of the United States. It’s an extremely important day, made all the more important because of the vastly different visions the two main candidates have for our country.

Once the votes are all counted and the results are announced, what can we expect to take place in the days (and months) following the election?

I don’t have a crystal ball and I’m not clairvoyant, but I do have an expectation of how things will go. Here’s what I’m thinking:

I’m “nauseously optimistic” that Harris will win the election by a significant margin, more than most people have predicted. Why? Because I think the polls are way undercounting the votes of suburban women who I predict will vote in higher numbers than expected for Harris. I also think that more men than expected will vote for Harris primarily on the issue of abortion. After all, abortion doesn’t only impact women. It is a human issue, not just a women’s issue.

I expect Harris will win the traditionally blue states, as well as Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. North Carolina and Georgia are in play for Harris,  and although I think she’ll lose Florida and Texas, I believe it will be closer than expected.

As many have predicted, I don’t think Trump will accept the election results or concede. He’s already setting up an expectation that the election is going to be rigged, and I won’t be at all surprised when he claims voter fraud. I also won’t be surprised when he is unable to prove any voter fraud widespread enough to affect the outcome of the race. He’ll likely file lawsuits and hold “Stop the Steal” rallies, but he’ll be unable to point to any credible evidence of voter fraud.

Trump claims to have a secret with House Speaker Mike Johnson that will be revealed after the election. I obviously don’t know what it is (they don’t share their secrets with me) but I have to imagine it has something to do with certification of the electors. Each state certifies their own electors, and in many states, even if the legislature refuses to certify the winning slate of electors, the governor can do it. In other states, a court can force a certifier to certify the election results once a writ of mandamus is filed. Finally, there are states where a certifier who refuses to certify the election results can simply be removed. In other words, it seems impossible for a state not to certify its election results.

It’s also been suggested that the House of Representatives could decide not to accept the certified electors on a party line vote (Republicans for, Democrats against) and would send the election vote back to the state legislatures to decide. This is the fringe theory known as the Independent State Legislature (ISL) theory that was being pushed in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. However, in the case of Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court already weighed in and found that the ISL theory was a misreading of the Constitution, so I’m not sure how Trump and the Republicans would make it work for them this time around.

Honestly, Congress does not have a lot of discretion when it comes to accepting the certification of electors. So, I’m at a loss to explain what this secret is that Trump and Johnson plan on rolling out after the election. It very well could be something that my imagination can’t conger up, but it seems to me the more radical the idea, the less likely it is to work.

So, there are guardrails in place to stop Trump from overturning a free and fair election, but what happens if/when Trump’s efforts fail in Congress? What is the next potential step?

Unfortunately, if Trump and his supporters don’t get their way in the courts or in Congress, the only way to try to overturn the results of the election is through brute force. Will Trump supporters take to the streets to protest? Will those protests turn ugly and violent? Many on the right have been preparing for a civil war for years and have threatened one if Trump is cheated out of the presidency. The problem with these people is that they don’t require a particularly high level of proof to believe that Trump was cheated. In fact, many of them are claiming that voter fraud is taking place already, although they’ve been unable to provide any evidence to back up their claims.

What little prognosticating ability I have falls apart at this point. I want to believe in the goodness of my fellow Americans. I want to believe that they will accept the results of the election and will not think there was any fraud unless there is, in fact, credible proof of fraud. I want to believe those things, but the aftermath of the 2020 election and the rhetoric during the lead up to the 2024 election does not inspire much confidence in that wish.

We are entering uncharted territory with this election. Never before have we faced the possibility of the end of our Constitutional democracy if one candidate wins, or a potential civil war if he loses. My hope is that he will lose and we will keep our democracy, but also that his supporters will see that the election was free and fair, and they will accept the results without protests or violence. As we approach the 2024 presidential election, perhaps the most consequential in our history, this is my sincerest hope for the nation.

Matthew Sheffield is a conservative Christian journalist who became disillusioned with the Republican Party and right-wing journalism. I read an essay he wrote a couple of years ago comparing mainstream media, which he had once believed was liberal, with the conservative media ecosystem.

According to Sheffield, mainstream media was about process. They may have had a left-leaning bias, but in almost all cases, they went where the facts led them, they followed widely accepted journalistic standards, and they reported what they found, regardless of who it hurt or benefited.

By contrast, conservative media outlets were outcome oriented. More often than not, they decided what story they wanted to report, and then they only paid attention to facts that bolstered that story. In the end, the resulting story they reported was what mattered to them, not the process they used to get there. Their conservative readers and viewers didn’t want their chosen media platform to challenge their beliefs. They would only accept stories that confirmed what they already believed.

This outcome over process methodology is at the heart of many of the differences we see between conservatives and liberals, and by extension, Republicans and Democrats. It’s the difference that makes all of the difference in our politics.

A good example of this concept at work can be seen in Donald Trump’s many civil and criminal trials. For Trump, as with any civil or criminal defendant, due process is essential to having a fair and just outcome of their trial. And like all civil and criminal defendants, Trump was afforded due process.

In the criminal trial where he was convicted of 34 felonies, an investigation was conducted, evidence was presented to a grand jury, an indictment was issued, a trial date was set taking into account his schedule, a jury was selected with input from his attorneys, witnesses were called by both sides and both sides were allowed to question the witnesses, the jury that Trump’s attorneys helped select deliberated over the evidence and unanimously found him guilty on all charges. The legally dictated process was followed. The outcome was a result of that process.

But talk to a Trump supporter and they will ignore the due process Trump was afforded and instead talk about who financially supported the campaign of the prosecuting attorney. They will bring up the political affiliation of the judge’s daughter. They’ll claim that the jury was rigged and the witnesses against Trump lied (although the witnesses for Trump were beyond reproach). They’ll make the unfounded accusation that Biden weaponized the Department of Justice to go after Trump, despite the fact that the charges against Trump were state charges, the trial was held in a state court prosecuted by attorneys for the state, and the Department of Justice had nothing to do with the case.

Those who support Trump are not concerned with the process that was followed and legally mandated to insure the fairest trial possible. The only thing they care about is the outcome. And when the outcome wasn’t what they wanted, they went on the attack, defending Trump and making excuses for his conviction.

This attitude of outcome over process can be seen in the calls to “lock her up” at Trump rallies. It can be seen in the call to deport immigrants, including those who are in the country legally. It can be seen in Trump’s pledge to prosecute his political opponents. No process is required, such as the breaking of an applicable law, a trial, a vigorous defense, etc. If Trump says it, then it should be done, regardless of process.

Of course, this attitude extends to the election as well. In 2020, Trump’s own administration acknowledged that the presidential election was the freest and fairest in our country’s history. Despite that fact, Trump and his supporters refused to accept the results of the election. The process didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the outcome.

Trump is already setting the stage to claim voter fraud in the 2024 election, and he has all but said that, unless he wins, he will not accept the outcome. He routinely tells anyone who will listen that the only way he can lose the election is if Kamala Harris and the Democrats cheat. He provides no proof for this claim, yet his supporters parrot it.

The electoral process (there’s that word again) is set up to provide the fairest results possible while still making voting convenient for American citizens. History has proven that there is no outcome-determinative fraud in early voting, mail-in voting, or in-person voting. We have seen the proof of this in election after election. Yet Trump and his supporters attack the process, claiming widespread fraud without providing any evidence, and claiming that, unless he wins, the election is rigged.

Process is provided for in nearly every aspect of democracy. But Trump and his followers have abandoned process (except when it favors them) in favor of outcome. They don’t want to follow the process before achieving a result. They simply want to dictate the outcome, with no regard for process. This, in a nutshell, is the difference between democracy and fascism. And if Trump is elected, process will take a backseat to his desired outcome, regardless or the rule of law or our established traditions.

 

I came of political age in the early 1980’s. Despite how much I grew to admire and respect Jimmy Carter in later years, his presidency was dogged by an overarching feeling of negativity. The Vietnam War tainted the way a lot of people viewed the United States. Watergate soured them on the American government. Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon just cemented those negative feelings. And then Jimmy Carter swept into office and things seemed to get worse.

When Ronald Reagan ran for President in 1980, he brought a positive vision for the country with him. He saw the United States as a force for good, a shining city on a hill. That vision spoke to me. While Carter and the Democrats offered a dim view of the future and tried to sell sacrifice as a way forward, Reagan and the Republicans offered a brighter path to the future. Republicans were the party of ideas at a time when Democrats seemed to lack a coherent plan. Becoming a Republican at that time was an easy decision.

My, how times have changed. Today, Democrats are the party with the positive message and creative ideas for the future. I no longer recognize the Republican Party. They talk about an apocalyptic America where crime runs rampant, cities are like bombed-out war zones, and the economy is collapsing. They see the United States as a “garage can” (Trump literally called it that). This, despite the fact that crime is at a 50-year low, once down-and-out cities have rebounded, and our economy is the strongest in the world.

The Republican Party that attracted me to it prioritized freedom, limited government, strong national defense, quality public education, limited taxes, balanced budgets, conservation of the environment, free market capitalism, and a foreign policy that included not only American leadership, but a strong and supportive relationship with our allies.

Today’s Republican Party operates more like a cult of personality, with Donald Trump calling the shots and his fellow Republicans nothing more than loyal yes men. They often utter the word “freedom,” but they seemingly have no idea what it means. They have orchestrated the taking of rights we previously enjoyed, done everything possible to restrict voting, supported the banning of books, elevated the rights of Christians over non-Christians, attacked a free press, and have passed laws making it more difficult to peacefully protest. In fact, Trump has voiced his desire to use the military to tamp down any dissent from his political opponents. By any reasonable definition, that is not freedom.

They want to limit government by largely doing away with it. Trump wants to gut essential departments and appoint Elon Musk as Chief Efficiency Officer. Musk says he will chop $2 trillion out of the federal budget, more than the entirety of discretionary spending. He admits it will destroy the U.S. economy, but it will give us the chance to start over and will work out in the long run.

Republicans at both the state and national level are working to destroy public education. Trump wants to do away with the Department of Education at the national level. In the states, Republican governors are working to send taxpayer money to private schools, depriving public schools of much needed funds. Even at the college level, Gov. DeSantis in Florida is in the process of reimagining (i.e. destroying) public universities in that state. He has fired college presidents, installed his friends in those positions, and instructed them to turn the colleges and universities into right-wing training institutions. The results have thus far been a disaster.

Trump wants lower taxes, but not for you and me. He wants lower taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, people and institutions who can send him political contributions. He literally told oil executives he would do their bidding if they made political donations to his campaign.

Republicans also talk a good game when it comes to a balanced budget, yet they have increased our national debt every time they’ve been in office. In fact, no president in modern history has run a higher budget deficit than Donald Trump.

The Republican Party has also become the party opposed to conservation. In addition to claiming that climate change is a hoax and not wanting to do anything about it, Trump and the Republicans are generally resistant to any kind of renewable or sustainable energy. Trump has floated the idea of selling off federally owned land to developers, and has proposed increased oil drilling, including on pristine federal land like Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Donald Trump and today’s Republican Party no longer believe in free market capitalism. Trump has said over and over that he wants to implement tariff’s on foreign-made products (including those made by US-based companies), which would drive up prices and damage the economy. In other ways, Trump wants a completely unfettered market, with no regulations or consumer protections. This type of Darwinian “survival of the fittest” economy would benefit the wealthy, who could make any rules that suit their purposes on a given day, but would quickly bankrupt most lower and middle class consumers.

Trump does not believe in the alliances we have built since World War II through NATO. He has voiced his desire to pull the United States out of NATO, and has shown an interest in aligning the US with Russia, China, and other authoritarian countries.

The point of all of this is that, although Donald Trump calls himself a conservative, he is not. He is a right-wing extremist who doesn’t believe in democracy, preferring a more authoritarian form of government. He believes in an expansive unitary executive, which to his mind means he can do whatever he wants to do, with no limits or obstructions. He views the presidency more as a monarchy than an elected official in office to serve the people.

Likewise, his fellow Republicans have followed Trump off the cliff, jumping from democracy to authoritarianism. As long as they continue to support Trump and refuse to stand up for our democracy, I will never again vote for a Republican. The party must be cleansed or eliminated before I ever again cast a ballot for one of them.

You may have noticed that the title of this post is “Why I’m Voting for Kamala Harris,” but until now, I haven’t even mentioned her name. I think Harris is a capable person who will do a fine job as president. I agree with many of her policy ideas, and even those I don’t agree with, I can live with if it means we maintain our democratic form of government and we can vote in a meaningful election for president again in 2028. Because those are the things I fear most with Trump. A vote for him is a vote to end democracy and government of, by, and for the people.

So, why am I voting for Kamala Harris? Because she’s not Donald Trump.

There are plenty of reasons not to vote for Donald Trump. I could come up with a dozen or more right now off the top of my head. In fact, Donald Trump has done so many despicable, irresponsible, undemocratic, authoritarian things since he first came down the golden escalator in 2015 that I’ve lost track of them, my memory unable to keep up with the sheer number of horrible, unpresidential things he’s said and done.

Thankfully, Mark Jacobs, former editor of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, has compiled a comprehensive list of reasons not to vote for Donald Trump so none of us has to rely on our ability to remember everything he has done that makes him truly and completely unfit for office.

Just one or two of the things listed below would derail most campaigns, disqualifying the candidate. But somehow, Donald Trump has managed to build a campaign out of hateful rhetoric, racism, misogyny, and anti-American values. Rather than being repelled by his words and actions, Trump’s supporters excuse, defend, and at times, embrace them as their own.

If you’re still undecided, consider the entries on this list. Is this really the person you want to give your vote to?

Here’s Mark’s list:

1. Trump incited a deadly assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
2. His extremist justices took away women’s right to control their own bodies.
3. He wants huge tariffs, which are essentially a tax on American consumers.
4. He stole top secrets and left them in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom.
5. He bragged about grabbing the private parts of women he’d just met.
6. He called for a “day of violence” in which police could do whatever they wanted with no accountability.
7. He says his mass deportation of undocumented immigrants will be “a bloody story.”
8. He pushed the fake-electors scheme to overturn a fair election.
9. He called his opponents “vermin,” echoing hate speech from the Holocaust and the 1994 Rwanda massacre.
10. He invited the Taliban to Camp David.
11. He claimed you need an ID to buy cereal.
12. He pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
13. He said a 2nd Trump administration would give a major health policy role to anti-vaxxer RFK Jr., a disturbed person who dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park and cut off the head of a dead whale with a chainsaw and strapped it to the roof of his minivan. (Really.)
14. He was friends with Jeffrey Epstein.
15. He helped the Saudis cover up the murder and dismemberment of a U.S.-based journalist.
16. He wants to use the military to put down “the enemy from within” – Democrats.
17. He thinks windmills cause cancer.
18. He used a Sharpie to doctor an official weather map rather than admit he was wrong about a hurricane hitting Alabama.
19. He lied that “Dems want to shut your churches down, permanently.”
20. He said falsely that Mexico would pay for the wall.
21. His administration separated migrant children from their parents and then lost track of the parents.
22. He said he’d be a dictator, but only on “Day 1” (which is not how dictators operate).
23. He denounced Denmark’s leader because she wouldn’t sell him Greenland.
24. He increased the national debt by 39% in just 4 years while giving the rich a big tax cut.
25. He said of his daughter Ivanka: “She does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
26. He lied publicly that Covid-19 was “like a regular flu that we have flu shots for” while he privately said it was “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
27. He suggested that putting light in people’s bodies and injecting them with disinfectant could kill Covid.
28. He had to pay $2 million in a lawsuit over the Trump Foundation’s misuse of charity funds.
29. He called Mexican immigrants “rapists.”
30. On 9/11, he bragged that the fall of the Twin Towers meant his building was NYC’s tallest. That boast was tasteless — and false.
31. He touted his business acumen but couldn’t make a profit from casinos and filed for bankruptcy six times.
32. He said a judge in one of his legal cases should be removed because he was of Mexican descent.
33. He called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries.”
34. He threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NATO, a key alliance for global stability.
35. He urged supporters to “knock the crap out of” protesters at a 2016 rally.
36. He made false statements more than 30,000 times as president.
37. He lied that an “extremely credible source” told him Obama’s birth certificate was fake. After years of pushing the birtherism hoax, Trump admitted it was bunk — and he blamed it on Hillary Clinton.
38. He took Putin’s word over the word of U.S. intel agencies.
39. He insulted Gold Star parents whose son, a U.S. soldier, had been killed in Iraq. It was no coincidence that the family was Muslim.
40. A NY judge found Trump and his adult sons liable for business fraud and canceled the Trump Organization’s business certification.
41. He exploited the assault on a NYC jogger by taking out newspaper ads calling for the death penalty. The young Central Park 5 suspects were exonerated, but Trump never apologized.
42. He paid actors to pose as supporters at his June 2015 campaign launch event.
43. In a bizarre speech to a Boy Scout Jamboree, Trump described a cocktail party for “the hottest people in New York.” He later claimed the group’s leader called to say it was “the greatest speech that was ever made to them.” The Scout leader denied any call happened.
44. He cheats at everything, including golf. There’s a book: “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump.”
45. Trump claimed he “helped a little bit” to clear 9/11 rubble, but there’s no evidence it happened.
46. He lied about being named Michigan’s Man of the Year.
47. After a MAGA supporter massacred Latinos in El Paso, Trump and his wife went to the city and used a newly orphaned baby as a prop for a photo op.
48. He lied that “we’re the highest taxed nation in the world.” Nope.
49. He bragged about his penis size on national TV, and Stormy Daniels later fact-checked that as false.
50. He tweeted in 2019: “Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas.” In fact, the plant had opened nearly 6 years earlier.
51. He makes the absurd claim that people weren’t allowed to say “Merry Christmas” until he came along.
52. He accused Ted Cruz’s father of a role in the JFK assassination and said Cruz’s wife was ugly. But Cruz is so low that he sucked up to Trump anyway.
53. He claimed he coined the phrase “priming the pump,” which has been around since 1932. He said he gave Defense Secretary James Mattis the nickname “Mad Dog”; he didn’t.
54. He lied that there were “205,000 more ballots than you had voters” in PA.
55. He made the U.S. a laughingstock when he gave a speech at the United Nations.
56. He denounced 4 women in Congress who are members of minority groups, telling them to go back where they came from, even though 3 were born here and the 4th immigrated as a child.
57. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump wanted to shoot social justice protesters. “We reached that point in the conversation where he looked frankly at Gen. Milley and said, ‘Can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?'”
58. He lied that the strategic oil reserve was “mostly empty” and he filled it. In fact, the reserve was lower at the end of his term than at the start.
59. He lied that “the entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED!”
60. He overruled experts to give a security clearance to Jared Kushner, who later leveraged his access to get $2B from the Saudis.
61. He bathes in his cult of personality: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
62. After the right demonized Anthony Fauci, Trump claimed not to know who gave Fauci a presidential commendation. It was Trump.
63. He said he got to know Putin “very well” when they were on the same episode of “60 Minutes.” But Trump was in NY, Putin in Russia.
64. Discussing the breakup of his marriage to Ivana in 1990, he said: “When a man leaves a woman, especially when it was perceived that he has left for a piece of ass—a good one!— there are 50 percent of the population who will love the woman who was left.”
65. He said in 1991: “I have black guys counting my money. … I hate it. The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.”
66. He said in 2015 he favored the creation of a database to track all Muslims in the U.S.
67. Asked in 2016 if women should be charged with a crime for having an abortion despite a ban, he said: “The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.”
68. He defended Putin in 2015: “Nobody’s proven that he’s killed anybody.”
69. In 2016, he called for not only killing terrorists but killing their family members, too.
70. He invited Russians into the Oval Office and shared classified information.
71. He tried to revoke CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s credentials because Acosta did his job.
72. His company, the Trump Organization, was convicted of 17 tax crimes, including conspiracy and falsifying business records.
73. He called for government crackdowns on MSNBC and CBS because he didn’t like their coverage of him.
74. His pardon got Steve Bannon out of federal fraud charges in a “build the wall” scam. Right-wing disinformation is Bannon’s game: “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
75. He falsely accused 2 Georgia election workers of election fraud – the same allegations that led to a $148M judgment vs. Rudy Giuliani.
76. His bid to monetize the presidency by hosting the G-7 summit at his Doral golf club sparked outrage, and he backed off.
77. As Notre Dame Cathedral burned, Trump embarrassed the U.S. by tweeting: “Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
78. He declared publicly in 1999 that he was “pro-choice in every respect.” But he tossed that aside for politics.
79. He’s always been a sore loser. After Ted Cruz beat him in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, he tweeted: “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.” Sound familiar?
80. He praised Hungarian despot Viktor Orban as “one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world.”
81. A Trump golf club put up a marker about a “River of Blood” at a Civil War battle that supposedly took place there. But no such battle occurred. It’s a lie.
82. Several Trump golf clubs displayed a Time magazine cover featuring him. You guessed it: It’s fake.
83. He pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had been convicted of ignoring a court order to stop profiling Latinos.
84. He tweeted about MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski “badly bleeding from a face-lift.”
85. He lied about Brzezinski’s husband/co-host: “When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so.”
86. He hired Kellyanne Conway as a professional liar, and she fulfilled that role, saying early in the pandemic that Covid was “contained,” calling lies “alternative facts” and referring to a terrorist attack that never happened: the “Bowling Green Massacre.”
87. He uses phrases like “brilliant” and “strong like granite” to describe China’s dictator Xi Jinping.
88. He quit the Iran nuclear deal, raising the chances of nuclear war.
89. He told his Cabinet that the Soviet Union was justified in invading Afghanistan in 1979.
90. After former Klan leader David Duke endorsed him for president, Trump said: “I don’t know David Duke. … I just don’t know anything about him.” But researchers found video clips showing Trump talking about Duke on national TV multiple times.
91. He refused to attend his successor’s inauguration, becoming the first president to boycott the transition since Andrew Johnson in 1869.
92. He tore up official documents, forcing aides to tape them together to preserve them as required by federal law.
93. He encouraged a “lock her up” chant about Hillary Clinton and her private email server, but Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner improperly used personal messaging services such as email and WhatsApp for hundreds of government communications.
94. He endorsed NC gov hopeful Mark Robinson, a Holocaust denier who called Obama a “top-ranking demon” and said “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote.”
95. Trump’s social-media Christmas wish for his opponents: “May they rot in hell.”
96. He used the South Lawn of the White House for a partisan event, ignoring precedent and propriety, when he gave his 2020 Republican National Convention speech there.
97. In late 2020, sore loser Trump delayed transition talks with the Biden team even though the stonewalling hurt public health efforts during a pandemic.
98. Trump’s administration asked Japan to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Japan did so to curry favor.
99. Asked about QAnon, the conspiracy cult that claims JFK Jr. is still alive and Democrats kidnap children to harvest their blood, Trump said: “I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand that they like me very much, which I appreciate.”
100. He lied that U.S. Steel was building 6, 7, 8, or 9 new plants (the number varied). But the company built no new plants.
101. He was asked about charges vs. Ghislaine Maxwell for conspiring with sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. Trump said: “I wish her well, frankly.”
102. He bragged that he received “the highly honored Bay of Pigs award” from Cuban Americans in Florida. There’s no such award.
103. He retweeted a GOP pol’s post suggesting duct-taping Nancy Pelosi’s mouth so “she won’t be able to drink booze on the job as much.”
104. After a 75-year-old social justice protester in Buffalo, NY, was shoved to the ground by police and suffered a fractured skull, Trump suggested it was a “set-up” by “an antifa provocateur.” Trump tweeted that the activist “fell harder than [he] was pushed.”
105. A 1973 New York Times story said Trump “graduated first in his class” from Penn’s Wharton School. Nope. It was an early case of media swallowing Trump lies.
106. He said about Covid in June 2020, “If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.”
107. He encouraged police to be more violent. After describing how police put their hand over a suspect’s head to prevent injury as they’re loaded into a police car, Trump said, “You can take the hand away, OK?”
108. He lied that Obama spied on his campaign.
109. He said: “We will be ending the AIDS epidemic shortly in America and curing childhood cancer very shortly.”
110. Trump’s Agriculture Dept. ordered staff to stop referring to “climate change” and call it “weather extremes” instead.
111. He is selling watches, crypto, and sneakers.
112. He secretly shipped Covid test equipment to Putin when it was needed in the U.S.
113. There is credible evidence that Egypt gave Trump’s campaign a $10M bribe.
114. He says he’d withhold aid and let California burn if the governor opposed him politically.
115. He opened most of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and other development, removing protections for a temperate rainforest. Biden reversed the move.
116. Trump’s coup attempt projected such instability that Gen. Mark Milley assured his Chinese counterpart that the U.S. planned no attack. This infuriated Trump, who suggested Milley deserved execution: “In times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”
117. As he plotted to keep power despite losing in 2020, Trump considered naming conspiracy crackpot Sidney Powell as a special counsel to “investigate” the nonexistent voter fraud he claimed. Powell later pleaded guilty to conspiring to interfere with an election.
118. Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bibles were printed in China.
119. Trump wants to pardon the rioters who beat up police officers at the Capitol.
120. Trump did nothing but watch for 187 minutes as his followers stormed the Capitol. Why? Because he liked it.
121. Trump said he’d “withhold aid and let California burn” if the governor didn’t support him politically.
122. He claimed to have built hundreds of miles of new border wall, but most of it was just repairs to existing sections.
123. He spread false claims that mail-in voting would lead to massive fraud, even though it’s been used safely for decades.
124. Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. would lose its energy independence under Biden, even though the U.S. was energy independent before and after his presidency.
125. He downplayed the importance of wearing masks during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to unnecessary deaths.
126. Trump hosted super-spreader events during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to multiple outbreaks.
127. He tried to block the publication of a book by his niece, Mary Trump, which described his unfit mental state and corrupt behavior.
128. Trump pressured the FDA to speed up the approval of a Covid vaccine for political gain ahead of the 2020 election.
129. He repeatedly lied about voter fraud to undermine confidence in the 2020 election.
130. He encouraged his followers to storm state capitals and “fight like hell” to overturn the election results.
131. Trump attempted to overturn the election results by pressuring Georgia officials to “find” votes in his favor.
132. He used his presidency to enrich himself by directing government business to his hotels and resorts.
133. Trump’s administration cut taxes for the wealthy while leaving middle-class and lower-income Americans with a growing national debt.
134. He separated migrant children from their parents as part of a cruel immigration policy and failed to reunite many families.
135. Trump praised dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, while alienating democratic allies.
136. He pardoned political allies and criminals, including those convicted of corruption and war crimes.
137. He repeatedly attacked the media, calling them the “enemy of the people” and undermining free speech.
138. Trump continued to profit from his businesses during his presidency, violating the emoluments clause.
139. He refused to condemn white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, telling them instead to “stand back and stand by.”
140. He tried to use the Department of Justice as his personal legal defense team, undermining the rule of law.
141. Trump undermined pandemic relief efforts by refusing to sign stimulus bills until they included unrelated demands.
142. He attacked democratic institutions, including the FBI and CIA, when they didn’t support his narrative.
143. Trump criticized peaceful protests against police brutality while encouraging violence by his supporters.
144. He refused to release his tax returns, breaking decades of tradition and transparency.
145. Trump suggested delaying the 2020 election, which would have been unconstitutional.
146. He pressured foreign governments, including Ukraine, to investigate his political rivals, leading to his impeachment.
147. Trump downplayed the threat of Covid-19 despite knowing how dangerous it was, as revealed by journalist Bob Woodward.
148. He mocked a reporter with a disability during a campaign rally, showing a lack of basic decency.
149. Trump’s administration failed to address the growing opioid crisis, leading to more preventable deaths.
150. He repeatedly insulted veterans and military leaders, calling them “losers” and “suckers.”
151. Trump attempted to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the 2020 election to disrupt mail-in voting.
152. He refused to support measures to protect against Russian interference in U.S. elections.
153. Trump tried to pressure governors to reopen their states during the Covid-19 pandemic against public health advice.
154. He failed to address the rising threat of domestic terrorism, including from right-wing extremists.
155. Trump repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by using government resources for political purposes.
156. He ignored intelligence reports about Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
157. Trump’s administration rolled back environmental protections, contributing to climate change and pollution.
158. He falsely claimed that U.S. troops voted overwhelmingly for him, when military ballots showed otherwise.
159. Trump pushed baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, including claims of rigged voting machines.
160. He endorsed violence against protesters, saying “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
161. Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization during a global pandemic, weakening international cooperation.
162. He promoted unproven Covid-19 treatments like hydroxychloroquine, which endangered public health.
163. Trump repeatedly lied about his administration’s accomplishments, including jobs created and trade deals made.
164. He defunded essential public services like the CDC during a public health crisis.
165. Trump ordered the violent removal of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so he could stage a photo-op with a Bible.
166. He claimed without evidence that wind turbines cause cancer, undermining clean energy efforts.
167. Trump’s administration ignored early warnings about the Covid-19 pandemic, delaying critical responses.
168. He sought to criminalize peaceful protests while defending violent actions by his supporters.
169. Trump tried to politicize the U.S. military by using them to suppress protests against racial injustice.
170. He insulted John McCain, a decorated war hero, saying he prefers “people who weren’t captured.”
171. Trump’s handling of natural disasters like Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was widely criticized for incompetence.
172. He downplayed the severity of climate change, reversing policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
173. Trump repeatedly undermined the credibility of U.S. elections, a cornerstone of democracy.
174. He called for imprisoning political rivals, a hallmark of authoritarian regimes.
175. Trump’s administration failed to protect whistleblowers and actively retaliated against them.
176. He used his platform to promote dangerous conspiracy theories like QAnon, endangering public safety.
177. Trump’s trade wars, particularly with China, hurt American farmers and manufacturers.
178. He falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him, inciting violence and division.
179. Trump refused to fully divest from his business interests, leading to conflicts of interest throughout his presidency.
180. His administration’s family separation policy left lasting trauma on thousands of children.
181. Trump’s reckless foreign policy decisions alienated key allies and damaged the U.S.’s reputation globally.
182. He attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, threatening the future of American democracy.
183. He bragged that he received “the highly honored Bay of Pigs award” from Cuban Americans in Florida. There’s no such award.
184. He retweeted a GOP politician’s post suggesting duct-taping Nancy Pelosi’s mouth so “she won’t be able to drink booze on the job as much.”
185. After a 75-year-old social justice protester in Buffalo, NY, was shoved to the ground by police and suffered a fractured skull, Trump suggested it was a “set-up” by “an antifa provocateur.” Trump tweeted that the activist “fell harder than [he] was pushed.”
186. A 1973 New York Times story said Trump “graduated first in his class” from Penn’s Wharton School. This was false and an early example of media swallowing Trump lies.
187. He said about Covid in June 2020, “If we stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.”
188. He encouraged police to be more violent, saying: “You can take the hand away, OK?” when discussing how suspects are loaded into police cars.
189. He lied that Obama spied on his campaign.
190. He said: “We will be ending the AIDS epidemic shortly in America and curing childhood cancer very shortly.”
191. Trump’s Agriculture Department ordered staff to stop referring to “climate change” and call it “weather extremes” instead.
192. In unprecedented behavior for a presidential hopeful, he is selling watches, crypto, and sneakers.
193. He secretly shipped Covid test equipment to Putin when it was needed in the U.S.
194. There is credible evidence that Egypt gave Trump’s campaign a $10 million bribe.
195. He opened most of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and other development, removing protections for a temperate rainforest. Biden reversed the move.
196. Trump’s coup attempt projected such instability that Gen. Mark Milley assured his Chinese counterpart that the U.S. planned no attack. This infuriated Trump, who suggested Milley deserved execution, saying, “In times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”
197. As he plotted to keep power despite losing in 2020, Trump considered naming conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell as a special counsel to “investigate” the nonexistent voter fraud he claimed. Powell later pleaded guilty to conspiring to interfere with an election.
198. Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bibles were printed in China.
199. Trump wants to pardon the rioters who beat up police officers at the Capitol.
200. Trump did nothing but watch for 187 minutes as his followers stormed the Capitol. Why? Because he liked it.

I’ve recently been taken to task for comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and George Wallace. The people who take exception to these comparisons view Trump in a substantially different light than I do. They also don’t seem to realize that before Hitler gassed the Jews and other “undesirables,” and before Wallace supported turning fire hoses on black protesters while peacefully protesting, their words foreshadowed the actions they would eventually take. Likewise, Trump’s words are foreshadowing a dark, authoritarian future if he wins next month’s election and is allowed to re-occupy the White House.

In my opinion, comparing Trump to history’s worst tyrants and racists is appropriate, even necessary. In fact, now is the time to call out the similarities, before he actually carries out the insidious plans he has for immigrants, women, and others. But today, rather than comparing Trump to tyrants, I’d like to compare him to one of our founding fathers, and one of our greatest Presidents, George Washington.

Living 225 years after Washington died, it’s easy to take his greatness for granted. In fact, for many of us, he has become more of a caricature than a real blood and flesh person. We hear the stories of how he chopped down a cherry tree and couldn’t lie about it (an apocryphal story, to be sure), but we often overlook the actual great things he did.

If you’ve seen the Broadway musical Hamilton, (If you haven’t, you should), you know that Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda made a point of stressing just what a paradigm shifting thing it was to have Washington give up the power of the presidency.

In the show, the George Washington character, as he is preparing to relinquish his position as the most powerful man in the country, sings a song called “One Last Time.” The song’s lyrics talk about how important it is for Washington to give up his position so the country can learn to move on. He goes on to sing about how people will come to view the peaceful transfer of power as strength, not weakness.

The song sung by the Washington character builds to a crescendo and becomes quite emotional. Then, as it ends, the King George character comes onto the stage and sings the song “I Know Him.” The first lines of that song are:

“They say George Washington’s yielding his power and stepping away
Is that true?
I wasn’t aware that was something a person could do
I’m perplexed, are they going to keep on replacing whoever’s in charge?
If so, who’s next?
There’s nobody else in their country who looms quite as large.”

The idea that anyone in power would voluntarily step down was revolutionary at the time. Even more revolutionary was the idea that the United States government would continue to replace the person in charge, not through force or coup, but through elections. It was a radical new concept, and it changed the world.

In his 2020 book, First and Always, A New Portrait of George Washington, historian Peter Henriques writes: “(Washington) proved that his truest allegiance was to the republic by voluntarily surrendering power. It was the first of many peaceful transfers of power in the unprecedented American experiment.”

But as Tom Nichols, conservative pundit and former professor at the Naval War College recently wrote in The Atlantic, “Less than a year after the (Henrique’s) book’s publication, however, Trump would subvert this centuries-long tradition by summoning a mob against the elected representatives of the United States, after refusing to accept the result of the vote.”

Nichols’ article is instructive in the clear-eyed way it compares our first president to our forty-fifth. He begins his article by talking about John Kelly, the former Marine Corp general who served as Trump’s first Chief of Staff. In speaking about Washington at a symposium at the first President’s home in Mount Vernon, Kelly told the story of perhaps Washington’s greatest and longest lasting act. When his time in the White House had ended, Kelly said, “He went home.”

Kelly described Trump as a “person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about.” As Nichols writes, “(Kelly) was making a clear point: People who are mad for power are a mortal threat to democracy. They may hold different titles—even President—but at heart they are tyrants, and all tyrants share the same trait: They never voluntarily cede power.”

Nichols goes on to write:

“Forty-four men have succeeded Washington so far. Some became titans; others finished their terms without distinction; a few ended their service to the nation in ignominy. But each of them knew that the day would come when it would be their duty and honor to return the presidency to the people.

“All but one, that is.

“Donald Trump and his authoritarian political movement represent an existential threat to every ideal that Washington cherished and encouraged in his new nation. They are the incarnation of Washington’s misgivings about populism, partisanship, and the ‘spirit of revenge’ that Washington lamented as the animating force of party politics. Washington feared that, amid constant political warfare, some citizens would come to ‘seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual,’ and that eventually a demagogue would exploit that sentiment.

“Today, America stands at such a moment. A vengeful and emotionally unstable former president—a convicted felon, an insurrectionist, an admirer of foreign dictators, a racist and a misogynist—desires to return to office as an autocrat. Trump has left no doubt about his intentions; he practically shouts them every chance he gets. His deepest motives are to salve his ego, punish his enemies, and place himself above the law. Should he regain the Oval Office, he may well bring with him the experience and the means to complete the authoritarian project that he began in his first term.”

Washington was a legitimate war hero. In fact, many Presidents served in the military. And even those that did not still understood the importance of military obedience to the rule of law and civilian authority. That is, all but Donald Trump.

Trump, who declined to serve in the military during the Vietnam War due to alleged bone spurs, expected the military to be loyal to him, not to the country. Nichols writes: “(Trump) did not understand (or care) that members of the military swear an oath to the Constitution, and that they are servants of the nation, not of one man in one office. Trump viewed the military like a small child surveying a shelf of toy soldiers, referring to ‘my generals’ and ordering up parades for his own enjoyment and to emphasize his personal control.”

Washington was an uncommonly humble man who held himself to a high standard. In fact, he set the standard that future presidents would seek to emulate by taking responsibility for events–particularly failures–that happened on their watch. Presidents Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt are well known for the responsibility they each took for decisions made during the Civil War and World War II respectively. But they are not alone.

When American troops attempted to rescue hostages in Iran during his presidency, Jimmy Carter took responsibility for the failure of the operation. Likewise, it would have been easy for John F. Kennedy to blame Dwight Eisenhower for the Bay of Pigs failure in Cuba. After all, the plan for that operation was formulated during Eisenhower’s time in the White House. But Kennedy demurred, humbly taking personal responsibility for the unfortunate outcome.

There are many other examples as well. However, Donald Trump is not one of them. He has a long history of blaming others when things go wrong and denying responsibility for any failures. Perhaps the greatest example of this occurred during the COVID pandemic, as millions of Americans fell ill and the White House failed to adequately address the mounting deaths. When Trump was asked about this failure, he replied, “I don’t take responsibility at all.”

As Nichols points out, “Washington’s character and record ensured that almost any of his successors would seem smaller by comparison. But the difference between Washington and Trump is so immense as to be unmeasurable. No president in history, not even the worst moral weaklings among them, is further from Washington than Trump.”

He then goes on to list some of the more obvious differences:

• “Washington prized patience and had, as Adams put it, “the gift of silence”; Trump is ruled by his impulses and afflicted with verbal incontinence.
• Washington was uncomplaining; Trump whines incessantly.
• Washington was financially and morally incorruptible; Trump is a grifter and a crude libertine who still owes money to a woman he was found liable for sexually assaulting.
• Washington was a general of preternatural bravery who grieved the sacrifices of his men; Trump thinks that fallen soldiers are “losers” and “suckers.”
• Washington personally took up arms to stop a rebellion against the United States; Trump encouraged one.”

“Trump is the man the Founders feared might arise from a mire of populism and ignorance, a selfish demagogue who would stop at nothing to gain and keep power. Washington foresaw the threat to American democracy from someone like Trump: In his farewell address, he worried that ‘sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction’ would manipulate the public’s emotions and their partisan loyalties ‘to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”

Comparisons of Trump to both Adolf Hitler and George Wallace are fair and appropriate. History bears out the similarities between Trump and the worst tyrants and extreme racists through the ages. But as you can see from the foregoing, there is almost no similarity between George Washington, one of our greatest presidents, and Donald Trump, one of our absolute worst.

Addendum: Here are videos of the two songs I referenced above. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a live performance video of “One Last Time.” Instead, I included a reaction video from a vocal coach who is listening and watching Chris Jackson’s performance of the song as George Washington (How about that voice on Chris Jackson?). Somehow, the vocal coach reacting to Jackson’s performance found a live version of the song, but I couldn’t. The other video is a live performance of “I Know Him” sung by Jonathan Groff as King George III.

I have long been a fan of Teddy Roosevelt’s politics (he was a progressive Republican when that was still possible) and his amazing life. I ran across an X (formerly Twitter) thread that did a great job of capturing exactly what an extraordinary character Roosevelt really was.

The thread was written by Time Capsule Tales, which bills itself as an “internet history museum.” I like that idea, and I’m thankful that someone thought to use X in this way.

The following was written by Time Capsule Tales:

Teddy Roosevelt was the 26th U.S. President from 1901 to 1909 While his presidency is perhaps best known for his conservation legacy, Roosevelt was one of the most face-smashing, rough-riding, badass dudes to grace the Oval Office. These are his “greatest hits”

 

 

1. Teddy Roosevelt suffered from severe asthma & nearsightedness but didn’t let that hold him back. He spoke French & German fluently, studied in Europe, wrote numerous literary works & attended Harvard & Columbia Law School.

 

 

2. President McKinley appointed Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897. When the USS Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor, tensions with Spain hit a boiling point. Roosevelt didn’t waste time – he sent Commodore George Dewey to the Philippines, giving him the green light to take down the Spanish fleet.

After Congress officially declared war on Spain, Dewey obliterated the Spanish Navy at Manila Bay in just a few hours, solidifying Roosevelt’s reputation as a military mastermind.

3. Roosevelt formed a volunteer cavalry regiment known as the Rough Riders. He pulled together a wild mix of cowboys, miners, Ivy League athletes, & anyone ready to fight, regardless of background. They shipped off to Cuba, and at the Battle of San Juan Hill, Roosevelt led the charge on horseback, earning fame for his bravery.

While he didn’t receive the Medal of Honor until 2001 (long after his death), his leadership in the battle was critical to the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War. He was later promoted to Colonel.

4. When Roosevelt returned from Cuba as a war hero, he ran for Governor of New York in 1898 and won. His reformist agenda made political bosses nervous, so in 1900, they pushed for him to run as Vice President under McKinley, thinking he’d be sidelined in the largely ceremonial role. It wasn’t George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman, but Republican Party leaders like Senator Thomas Platt who wanted him out of New York politics.

The McKinley-Roosevelt ticket won, but soon after, McKinley was assassinated on September 6, 1901, and Roosevelt became president on September 14, 1901, making him the youngest president in U.S. history at age 42.

5. As President, Roosevelt tackled labor disputes head-on, famously mediating the 1902 Coal Strike to prevent a national energy crisis. He earned the nickname “Trust Buster” by breaking up monopolies like Standard Oil. He also spearheaded the construction of the Panama Canal, revolutionizing global trade.

Roosevelt was a staunch advocate for conservation, believing in the need to protect the American landscape for future generations. During his presidency, he established five national parks, including Crater Lake & Yosemite, as well as 18 national monuments, such as the Grand Canyon and Devil’s Tower.

He created the United States Forest Service and signed into law the Antiquities Act, which allowed him to designate national monuments to safeguard significant natural and historical sites. Through these efforts, Roosevelt set aside over 230 million acres of public land, more than any other president before him.

In 1901, he made history by inviting Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House – the first time an African American dined as a guest of the president.

6. In 1912, while campaigning for a third presidential term, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin in Milwaukee. Undeterred, he insisted on delivering his speech, famously declaring, “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose!”

With a bullet lodged in his body, he spoke for over an hour to a packed crowd, showcasing his incredible resilience and determination. Only after finishing did he finally allow himself to seek medical attention, proving that nothing – not even a gunshot – could silence his fervor for politics and reform.

7. In 1906, Roosevelt made history by becoming the first sitting president to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War. He worked tirelessly to broker a peace agreement between Russia & Japan, securing a treaty that ended years of conflict.

He was a firm believer in the power of a strong navy, famously showcasing American military might with the construction of the Great White Fleet, a group of 16 battleships painted white that sailed around the world from 1907 to 1909. This impressive display of naval strength was intended to demonstrate the United States’ emerging status as a global power and to foster goodwill with other nations.

8. Roosevelt studied boxing after being bullied as a child and continued with the sport through college at Harvard. And he didn’t let a little thing like becoming president stop him from boxing – he would often box during his time in the Oval Office. That is, until he was blinded in one eye. He wrote in his autobiography:

“I had to abandon boxing as well as wrestling, for in one bout a young captain of artillery cross-countered me on the eye, and the blow smashed the little blood vessels. Fortunately it was my left eye, but the sight has been dim ever since, and if it had been the right eye I should have been entirely unable to shoot… Accordingly I thought it better to acknowledge that I had become an elderly man and would have to stop boxing. I then took up jiujitsu…”

9. Devastated after losing his final presidential election, Roosevelt dealt with his grief by going on an adventure. Accompanied by his son Kermit and famed explorer Colonel Candido Rondon, they set off on a journey down an uncharted, anaconda- and piranha-infested river in South America known as the River of Doubt.

Though the former president was warned of the risk, he insisted on the trip, writing, “If it is necessary for me to leave my bones in South America, I am quite ready to do so.”

Things did not go well. They lost several canoes. They were in close vicinity to cannibalistic tribes. One sailor died in the rapids. Another was murdered by a crew member gone mad.

Roosevelt then badly cut his leg trying to cross the river to free two jammed canoes. His injury led to an infection, which led to a fever. Near death, he pleaded with his son to leave him behind, but Kermit refused. In the end, Roosevelt finished the journey – albeit nearly 60 pounds lighter.

10. While living in North Dakota, Roosevelt became a deputy sheriff. During this time, he once pursued three boat thieves through a frozen river. After capturing them, he personally took them to Dickinson for trial, rather than allow them to be hanged by vigilantes. On the journey, he watched them for over 36 hours straight without sleep – reading Tolstoy to keep himself occupied. Roosevelt wrote:

“I kept guard over the three prisoners, who were huddled into a sullen group some 20 yards off, just the right distance for the buckshot in the double-barrel.”

11. After his wife and mother died – on the same day – Roosevelt grieved in his own unique way: by leaving the city behind for the wild of the American West to become a cowboy.

Roosevelt operated a cattle ranch on the Little Missouri River in the Dakotas for a few years, learning to ride, rope, and hunt. He worked alongside men who made him tougher, stating that they “took the snob out” of him. During his years in the West, he wrote several books on the subject, before returning home and running for office.

“I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota,” Roosevelt wrote.

12. When Teddy died in his sleep in 1919, sitting Vice President Thomas Marshall said, “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight.”

Imagine for a moment that you’re a single woman who has been asked out by a guy that your friends know. They’ve socialized with him, worked with him, even worked for him. In total, you know 44 different people that know him, and of those 44 people, only 4 give him a good recommendation. That’s right, 40 of the 44 people who know this guy say you shouldn’t go out with him. What would you do?

If you’re like most people, you wouldn’t go out with someone who 40 out of 44 people say you shouldn’t date because that person can’t be trusted, doesn’t have the best of intentions in dating you, and is otherwise wholly unfit as a potential date.

As voters in the United States, that is the situation we face with the upcoming Presidential election. During his Presidency, 44 different people served in Donald Trump’s cabinet. And of those 44 people, 40 say they cannot endorse him to be president again.  They say he can’t be trusted. They say he doesn’t put the interests of the country first. And they say he is unfit to be anywhere near the oval office.

Of course, those 40 people are not alone in their opposition to Trump becoming President again. There are many other Republicans who think that Donald Trump is unfit for office.

Two of the more well know Republicans opposing Trump are former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), both of whom served on the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6 coup attempt. They saw the evidence, they are intimately familiar with Trump’s wrongdoing, and they have come forward to endorse Kamala Harris.

In that same vein, Trump’s own Vice-President, Mike Pence, has gone on the record saying that what Trump did leading up to January 6 was illegal and has branded Trump as unfit to serve in the presidency. When a president’s own vice-president says that the former president isn’t fit for office, we should definitely listen.

But that’s not all. More than 200 Republicans who worked for Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and who worked on the presidential campaigns of Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney, have stepped forward to denounce Donald Trump. In a public letter obtained by USA Today, the Republicans who signed the letter predicted that a Trump victory in November would be a potential disaster for the nation, and they called on their fellow Republicans to vote for Kamala Harris.

“At home, another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions,. Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen.”

Over 100 Republican national security leaders who worked for Reagan, H.W. Bush, W. Bush, and Trump have also penned a letter condemning Donald Trump and endorsing Harris.

“Donald Trump cannot be trusted ‘to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic . . . and bear true faith and allegiance to the same.’ We believe that Kamala Harris can, and we urge other Americans to join us in supporting her.”

In addition, a bi-partisan group of more than 700 national security leaders recently endorsed Kamala Harris, saying:

“We do not agree on everything, but we all adhere to two fundamental principles. First, we believe America’s national security requires a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. Second, we believe American democracy is invaluable. Each generation has a responsibility to defend it. That is why we, the undersigned, proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States.”

You may also note that the only other living former Republican President, George W. Bush, has not endorsed Trump. It is very unusual for a former President not to endorse the candidate from his party. And although he hasn’t done it yet, rumor has it that Bush will eventually endorse Harris for President.

But wait, there’s more. At the Democratic National Convention, several Republicans spoke, condemning Trump and endorsing the Democratic nominee for President. In addition to Kinzinger, former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham; former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan; Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles;  and former advisor to President George W. Bush and Vice-President Mike Pence, Olivia Troye–all Republicans–spoke at the convention, condemning Trump and encouraging their fellow Republicans to vote for Harris.

It’s not all that unusual for a handful of members of one party to go against that party’s presidential nominee. What is unusual is the sheer number of Republicans condemning Trump, and the level that those people have reached within the party and the government. These are the people who know Trump best. They are the people that know the presidency best. And all of them believe that Donald Trump is unfit for office.

So, when you go into the voting booth, think about what the people who know Donald Trump best think of him. Don’t date that guy. You can do better. Much better.