First, I think America was blessed to have Biden in the White House. And Welcome Kamala. I think she’ll be terrific.
I’m not a name caller. People use names to substitute for serious discussion and avoid confronting issues, let alone reality. I despise that. But Trump’s rhetoric has consisted of calling people names, little soundbites that catch on. He’s called Biden “sleepy Joe” for years while Trump was meeting people at his golf resort and Biden was traveling the world meeting with foreign leaders. But repetition works; people begin to believe what they’ve heard often enough. And no doubt he is actively working out what to call Kamala. So, let’s examine what name Donald deserves.
How about fakin Donald? Everything about him is fake, from his appearance to his claim of wealth that mysteriously doesn’t show up when he has to post a bond. Fraud – almost everything he says is nonsense, directly contradicts the facts, or all evidence about what his policies would do.
Trump wants you to believe he’s an inflation fighter but his tariffs on foreign goods raised prices in America and choked off the production of goods here because manufacturers couldn’t get foreign parts.
2020, while Trump was still president, and 2021, before Biden had a chance to do anything, were horrible years, compounded by Trump’s undermining the battle against the pandemic by telling people not to take the vaccines and take various quack medicines instead. He reminds me of the French King who said “after me the deluge,” and it came – his grandchildren were guillotined. Trump’s deluge squeezed our jobs and pocketbooks. The man he likes to call “sleepy Joe” in fact energetically fought for jobs and against the Trump-created bottlenecks, against the inflation Trump left us with, while Biden managed to stop prices from continuing to rise without creating a depression. Those were the threats Trump left us and reasons we owe a great deal to Joe Biden. Trump fraudulently threw nice words at policies designed to hurt us here in the U.S. – it’s not clear whether Trump knew or cared about the effects of his behavior. That’s what he learned on TV – that he could put lipstick on a pig and get away with it.
More. He says he wants to make America great again by retreating from foreign alliances and treaties. Just how does that make America great or strong? By leaving us without friends? That doesn’t leave us stronger. It leaves us vulnerable. Europe, consolidated in NATO, is as powerful as we are. But they lost faith in us under Donald. That’s a huge risk.
Trump shows zero understanding of foreign policy. He just tells us it’s good, with neither logic nor experience behind it. He cites all the things that happened in the Middle East AFTER he canceled the nuclear deal with Iran as if they would have happened anyway. That’s pure foolish nonsense from someone who thinks he can stiff people or countries and just make new deals whenever he wants to snap his fingers. But, of course, he can’t, because he’s taught the world that he, and America while he was president, couldn’t be trusted.
Of course, like most names, Fakin Donald only hints at the story. The election is now also shaping up as the prosecutor vs. the felon.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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