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Trumped by Trump

By Everald Compton - posted Friday, 20 July 2018


Donald Trump is the worst American President in my 86 years on Planet Earth.

In all likelihood, he is the worst since George Washington kicked out the British.

But, let me stop beating around the bush and admit that I utterly and thoroughly despise him.

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Having said this, I must confess that there are times when I am tempted to cheer him, especially when he kicks the hell out of the political establishment. They absolutely need their guts hit out of the park because of their complacent insensitivity to the needs and aspirations of humanity.

But, the problem is that his skills end at the point of his boot. He has not got a clue what to do next, because his sole skill in life is as a gut kicker.

All this means is that we should pause for more than a moment and do some objective analysis of THE DONALD because we are stuck with him.

Firstly, we must acknowledge that he was democratically elected in a fair and reasonable election despite the Russians fiddling on the sidelines. He certainly got three million votes less than Hilary Clinton, but he won the majority of States, which is the way the Constitution says that Americans will elect their Presidents.

The tragedy was that the Republican Party could not find a candidate to beat him in their Primary Elections. He thrashed and humiliated high profile opponents like Jeb Bush and Mario Rubio.

And, he finally got to the White House because Clinton ran a dreadfully arrogant and inept campaign. She thought, stupidly, that she was in a royal procession to the Presidency and just had to turn up to win.

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Trump was smart enough politically to work that out and paint himself as the champion of all the little guys, while telling everyone that Hillary only represented the fat cats. He has not yet done a single thing for any little guy, and never will, but they still love him because he is 'draining the swamp in Washington'.

So, he is in The White House and no one can remove him unless he deliberately breaks the law.

This means that he is able to get around America and the world throwing big rocks at everyone and enjoy himself thoroughly.

Most days, his utterances make us feel that he is a dimwit, a total fool. But, make no mistake, he knows exactly what he is doing. If we need any convincing of this, just take a look at his visit to Europe this past week.

He told the NATO nations that they are bludging on America and must invest more on defence or he will pull the plug on them. They were outraged, but Trump was just trying to drum up business for the giant weapon manufacturing corporations of USA who are going through a lean period at the moment. After all, every one of them gave money to his election campaign.

Then, he all but destroyed Therese May by saying that he disagrees on her soft Brexit strategy and feels that her opponent, Boris Johnson, would make a fine Prime Minister. The background to that is that Trump wants to break up the European Union because he reckons they don't give a fair go to America in trade of goods, services and capital. With Britain out of Europe via a clean and total break, he can encourage Italy to do likewise. And on it will go.

Off then to Russia where he declared his eternal love for Putin. He wants him to be an ally in scaring the hell out of Europe, help him pull North Korea into line and join forces with him to threaten China's trade domination. Donald needs all the mates he can get.

Now, having done all that, he has no strategy for the next steps that are needed to fill the void created by the chaos he has caused. He is a destroyer, not a fixer.

Where does this leave us all?

Not actually in a good place.

But, the world will not end as there have been buffoons like him since the beginning of time. If we are smart, we will ignore him and strengthen our trading and military alliances with China, India, Indonesia and Japan. Between them, they have three and a half billion people who can be good trading partners for us. America has only 300 million. And we don't need America to defend us from them

Will Americans vote out Trump in 2020. I was once certain that they would toss him out with glee. But, I have changed my mind. There is not one single high profile opponent among either the Democrats or the Republicans who can lay a glove on him. The American political scene is filled with little guys (and gals).

So, enjoy a fine scotch whisky tonight, then sleep soundly.

They once taught me in Sunday School that 'God's in his heaven and all's right with the world'.

And I actually believed them at the time.

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This article was first published on Everald Compton.



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About the Author

Everald Compton is Chairman of The Longevity Forum, a not for profit entity which is implementing The Blueprint for an Ageing Australia. He was a Founding Director of National Seniors Australia and served as its Chairman for 25 years. Subsequently , he was Chairman for three years of the Federal Government's Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing.

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