I get it. Donald Trump is “qualified” to be President:
Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1
- No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
And yet, viewing the daily promenade of lunacy, racism, incompetence, revenge and ignorance, I keep asking myself:
Why is he allowed to remain President? And worse, Why is he allowed to run again?
Step outside of our context for a moment. This week, the President of the United States proudly endorsed and said he was taking a drug for Covid that (a) has been discredited for that purpose by all studies; (b) has fatal side effects for many; and (c) is desperately needed by others for its proper uses.
Still out of our context: Why is this happening? How is he still in that job? Why isn’t he out on the street today?
Every minute he stays endangers us all.
As I wrote on April 1 in The Emperor's nakedness has turned deadly. Where are the mass calls for resignation?
The Trump administration has been a three year repeated telling of The Emperor’s New Clothes. Day after day our “Emperor” parades stark naked down our media boulevard, baring his abject incompetence, ignorance, racism, malice and sociopathy
The President’s actions and inaction have already cost thousands of lives — from rejecting available tests, to denying the threat, to ignoring isolation. His continued presence in office will cost additional lives.
But this week I realized, the question is not “Why” but “Who.”
Who is allowing this country to be ruled by this clownish figure of malice and stupidity?
It’s a team effort:
- Republicans. This is obvious. The Republican party has been stripped down to an essence of racism and fundamentalism in the service of greed. But not just them.
- Billionaires. The R Donors on this list — the Uhleins ($27,114,604), the Mellons ($20,072,355), the Schwartmanns ($18,215,300). They have a far right option in Pence (horrible, but still not Trump), but they stick with the drug pusher with a depraved indifference to human life.
- Newspapers. Back in 1998, at least 115 newspapers called for Bill Clinton’s resignation over sex. Not one today calling for Trump’s resignation over death.
- Right Wing Media: Fox, Limbaugh. OANN, et al.
- Both-Sides Media: See this McSweeney’s NY Times Style Guide substitutions for “The President Lied.”: “The president dabbled anew in the shallow pond of misrepresentation, filling his beak with succulent morsels hidden among the reeds.”
- The Constitution: The Electoral College, the Senate’s Malapportionment, lack of voting as a fundamental right.
Anyone else?
Vote.