There may not be another person in the United States who is less qualified to issue a proclamation on the importance of the rule of law than Donald Trump.
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Whenever we criticize Donald Trump, or anybody in politics for that matter, we try to tell it like it is without letting our personal feelings impact our judgment. We certainly don’t mince words, but, no matter how obvious something is, we always strive to explain how we have reached a certain conclusion or what we think the significance of a newsworthy event is (usually with a bit of humor thrown in because these are dark times and we can all use a laugh).
For example, when pointing out that the president of the United States of America is mentally ill, we link to a list of symptoms used to diagnose malignant narcissism. Or when we note that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf, we also point our readers to this bipartisan Senate report that reached the same conclusion.
This allows our readers to make up their own minds.
We do this because we strongly believe that traditional news outlets are failing in their responsibility to speak the truth simply because, to them, being blunt is unseemly and unprofessional, which is odd since accurately and fairly portraying something is literally the job of journalists.
While we are not in the business of telling people what to think, we believe that being blunt is necessary… especially because Trump (initially) and Republicans (subsequently) have been so effective in exploiting this weakness of the news media.
The fear on the part of journalists to be viewed as biased is the bias because it makes them afraid to honestly describe what is happening.
Take Trump’s excessive lying. When he does that, he is not “misstating facts,” he is lying. Everybody knows that he is lying, so why not say it?
We do… because we believe that this is our responsibility, and that stating things as they are does not make us partisan in any way other than in that we are favoring truth over “alternative facts,” reality over whatever it is that Fox News is selling its viewers, and democracy over fascism.
And, while we are certainly much more outspoken than many others in the news media, believe it or not, we always exercise restraint because we want to explain what is going on in the world without clouding that assessment with our own emotions.
We are telling you all of this because, today, we are not doing that.
Today, Donald Trump managed to trigger us, so we are going to tell you what we really think.
Most Americans may not be aware of this, but Thursday was “Law Day,” which is celebrated (although usually ignored) on May 1. Law Day was instituted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 to remember the importance of the rule of law.
That is why we found in our inbox a presidential proclamation to commemorate the occasion.
Here is how it starts (and what set us off):
The rule of law is the capstone of our constitutional order and the crown jewel of the American way of life. Beginning with the ratification of the Constitution, people and nations near and far have looked to the United States as a guiding light of liberty and justice. As our Nation commemorates Law Day, USA, and Loyalty Day, we reaffirm our loyalty to the Constitution, and we renew our pledge to preserve and protect our glorious inheritance of fairness, equality, and freedom against all threats, foreign and domestic.
This is followed by Trump’s usual drivel about how he is the victim of a weaponized government and that he is now fixing it all, but you get the drift.
So, here is how we feel about this:
First of all, he is not wrong about the importance of the rule of law, what it has meant historically, and how it has made the United States an example for other nations.
But how dare this felon, this self-admitted serial molester of women, this fraudster and conman, this coup-attempting fascist, this trampler of rights, this nonstop violator of the Constitution, and this most un-American of presidents lecture anybody about the importance of the rule of law when he is working to undermine it at every turn?
This one really struck a nerve. It’s one thing for him to be shoveling taxpayer money into his own pockets or violating every anti-corruption law and norm on the books, but it is another for him to pontificate about the foundational principle that has made the United States a special place… until Trump came along.
How dare he!
By the way, because Trump is not just morally and ethically bankrupt but also a world-class ignoramus who surrounds himself with incompetent dolts, the White House also got the date of the first Law Day wrong.
Figures!
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
