As the year begins, Washington is so gripped with concern and uncertainty over a potential war with Iran that even impeachment seems to have been momentarily pushed to one side. At such a time it may seem a distraction to focus on Trump New Lows that are not directly related to the immediate situation. Yet it is in that kind of situation that the moral authority, judgment and credibility of a president, and the public’s confidence in such qualities, are at a premium. And a seemingly endless succession of new lows can only erode those presidential assets. That erosion may be kept in mind in considering the latest New Lows and the year-end summary.
When the Trump New Low Tracker began in August, I promised that a New Low of the Year would be selected. As it turned out, there were several New Lows related to Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, the ensuing investigation and his impeachment. They include No. 10, Soliciting the Aid of Foreign Countries for Trump’s Re-election Bid; No. 11, Witness Intimidation; No. 12, Stonewalling Congress, and No. 15, Trump’s Unhinged Letter to Speaker Pelosi. Combining those elements into a composite New Low, clearly yields the New Low of the Year. Still, the other New Lows should not be forgotten, and in order to appreciate the full flavor of the last six months, an index of previous Bulletins will appear below.
First, however, there are new entries to be listed. It has been just over a month since the posting of Bulletin No. 4, but in that brief period Donald Trump has produced several notable New Lows.
No. 15. Trump’s Unhinged Letter to Speaker Pelosi. On December 17, 2019, the eve of his impeachment, Trump sent a rambling and angry letter of protest to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Even Trump recognized that his rant would have no effect on the forthcoming vote, but said that he was writing it for historical purposes:
It is time for you and the highly partisan Democrats in Congress to immediately cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American People. While I have no expectation that you will do so, I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record. One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.
Historians may make varying assessments of Trump’s impeachment, but few are likely to be impressed by the case he tried to make in his letter to Pelosi. The letter began with a splenetic personal attack on Pelosi:
By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American Democracy. You dare to invoke the Founding Fathers in pursuit of this election-nullification scheme — yet your spiteful actions display unfettered contempt for America’s founding and your egregious conduct threatens to destroy that which our Founders pledged their very lives to build. Even worse than offending the Founding Fathers, you are offending Americans of faith by continually saying “I pray for the President,” when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense. It is a terrible thing you are doing, but you will have to live with it, not I!
Trump continued with personal attacks on Joe Biden, James Comey and Adam Schiff as well as a potpourri of claims and assertions documented by a New York Times analysis as misleading, exaggerated or simply false. Among them, Trump repeated a familiar mantra that the whistleblower “started this entire hoax with a false report of the phone call that bears no relationship to the actual phone call that was made.” Yet, anyone who actually read the whistleblower’s complaint and the quasi-transcript of the phone call produced by the White House recognized that the two documents are stunningly consistent.
In short, Trump’s crude and vitriolic letter bore no resemblance to any communication from any prior president, much less to the Speaker of the House.
No. 16. Trump’s Mocking of the Late John Dingell. The day Trump was impeached, he attended a rally in Battle Creek, Michigan where he attacked Democrats who had voted for impeachment. Nothing surprising there, but he chose to attack Representative Debbie Dingell in his own uniquely offensive way. He recalled that Debbie Dingell’s late husband, Rep. John Dingell, had died a few months before, and he then gave a mocking account of how he had marked the occasion with an “A+” ceremony for Dingell and received “profuse thanks” from Debbie Dingell. Trump obviously felt that because of his courtesy on that occasion, Rep Dingell had somehow betrayed him by her impeachment vote. Trump even noted that in her thanks, Debbie Dingell had referred to her husband as “looking down” and suggested that in fact the late Congressman might be “looking up” from a lower region of the afterlife. The most depressing aspect of Trump’s performance here, as in the case of his rally attack on Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, may be the glee with which Trump’s crude behavior was relished by his supporters positioned behind him. The scene revealed a lack of common decency that can aptly be described as deplorable.
No. 17. Trump’s Tweet Mocking Greta Thunberg. Greta Thunberg is the 16 year-old Swedish activist on climate change who has captured the imagination and the admiration of the world. As summarized in Time magazine’s cover story naming her Person of the Year:
Thunberg began a global movement by skipping school: starting in August 2018, she spent her days camped out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read Skolstrejk för klimatet: “School Strike for Climate.” In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the U.N., met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history. Her image has been celebrated in murals and Halloween costumes, and her name has been attached to everything from bike shares to beetles. Margaret Atwood compared her to Joan of Arc. After noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage, lexicographers at Collins Dictionary named Thunberg’s pioneering idea, climate strike, the word of the year.
Thunberg’s recognition by Time clearly upset Trump, who has stubbornly and conspicuously refused to take climate change seriously. Thus, he had previously bestowed a condescending tweet on Thunberg after her impassioned and widely acclaimed address to the United Nations in September. Now, her selection as Time’s Person of the Year was especially galling as Trump has relished his past appearances on Time’s cover and clearly believes that he should be the magazine’s Person of the Year every year. In response to Thunberg’s honor from Time, Trump tweeted a snide comment:
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!
For many observers, the nastiness of Trump’s tweet was heightened by his description of Thunberg, who has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, as having an “Anger Management problem.” Ironically, of course, it was characteristic of Trump to project his own problem onto another.
The Year-End Summary
No. 1. Trump Tweet Implicates Bill Clinton in Death of Jeffrey Epstein
No. 2. Causing Israel to Ban Congresswomen
No. 3. Offering to Purchase Greenland and Picking a Fight with Denmark
No. 4. Trump Questions Loyalty of Jews
No. 5. The Autocrat and the Debacle of the China Trade Deal
No. 6. Trump’s Courtship of Putin
No. 7. Peddler-in-Chief for the Trump Organization
Np. 8. Hurricane Dorian Governing by Sharpie and the Corruption of NOAA
No. 9. Pillaging the Pentagon to Build the Wall
No. 10. Soliciting the Aid of Foreign Countries for Trump’s Re-election Bid
No. 11. Witness Intimidation
No. 12. Stonewalling Congress
No. 13. Interfering with Military Discipline (Edward Gallagher)
No. 14. Vulgar Savaging of Lisa Page
Note: Trump’s greenlight to Turkey’s President Erdogan to invade Kurdish territory in Syria was a New Low but was discussed in a separate blog. No. 237, Betrayal: Turkey, the Kurds and The Weakness of Donald Trump
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Taken collectively, the New Lows portray a president of erratic behavior–impulsive to act, indifferent to the law and naïve in matters of foreign policy and national security. Moreover, they reveal that he is often consumed by a fragile ego, considerations of personal gain, and petty vindictiveness. Such characteristics are particularly troubling when a president is called upon to deal with the complex and potentially explosive dynamics of the Middle East.
While there may have been plausible reasons for ordering the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, it is not at all clear that those were in fact Trump’s reasons. The New York Times reported that his decision came as a surprise to military leaders and that it was largely a product of Trump’s anger at viewing the siege of the American embassy in Baghdad. While such anger is understandable, it was far from a sound basis for undertaking a venture that may have grave consequences.
Doug, your “New Low Tracker” is a great service. Isn’t it amazing how the man can keep setting new highs in New Lows?
This is one of the few politically oriented posting I read anymore. Nothing of value on TV and not to much on radio. I keep trying to tell myself I’m an Independent, but probably should really say RINO. Socially liberal (and that is not a bad word) Fiscally on the Barry Goldwater side of the spectrum.
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