Overturning Roe v Wade is a death sentence for many women

Overturning Roe v Wade is a death sentence for many women

by Ranting Panda, 26 June 2022

Conservatives are at it again: forcing their religious beliefs and vacuous 'moral' codes on the rest of society. This time, they have managed to overturn the1973 US Supreme Court case Roe v Wade, which had legalised women's rights to access abortion. 

Conservatives think that they are saving lives by banning abortion, although the opposite is true. When former President George W. Bush defunded family planning clinics that either undertook abortion or even gave advice about abortion (the so-called 'Gag' Order), abortions rose by 40% compared to when his predecessor, President Clinton, had continued funding these clinics (Bendavid, Avila & Miller, 2011). Research from the University of Colorado Boulder, indicates that banning abortion will result in a 21% increase in the deaths of women from unsafe abortions (Stevenson 2021). This is replicated globally, in which access to sex education, contraception and medical abortions is essential to reducing the rate of abortion and the likelihood of women dying from the procedure (Amnesty International, n.d.).

All that conservatives have managed to achieve is to drive abortion underground. Perhaps they have forgotten the deaths of women and the horrible disfigurements of babies born after botched backyard abortions. Interestingly, there is a higher rate of abortion in countries that ban it, than in countries where it is legal (Guttmacher Institute, 2018). 

So-called 'pro-life' groups claim they are defending the rights of the unborn, however they are actually creating worse conditions for abortion than if it were legal. Firstly, the main reason that women seek out abortion is because of poverty (Oberman, 2018). Conservatives oppose every means of providing such support. Ever see a Conservative support welfare, community housing, public education, or socialised healthcare? Of course not. These 'pro-lifers' are too selfish to share their income through tax redistribution, not to mention, they are terrified that community programs equate to socialism. They protest against raising the minimum wage, let alone providing welfare to address poverty. Welcome to Capitalism 101: selfishness, avarice and complete disregard for women or the lives of babies born into poverty. Conservatives think that socialism is anything to the left of hunting the homeless for sport.

The religious right has been pushing their agenda of Christian Nationalism for years. The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade is a major step in progressing Christian Nationalism, which regresses modern society to the days of patriarchal rule, where women were nothing but chattels for men to control and rape. The Supreme Court decision is a highly sexist, retrograde one that makes women nothing but breeding incubators to fulfil the sexual desires of men. Those same men are not held to account for their women they impregnate.  

'Pro-lifers' claim that they are concerned for the lives of children, yet they refuse to part with their precious firearms, even though school shootings are a regular occurrence. The deaths of hundreds of children from gun violence isn't enough to concern the pro-lifers who treat their access access to guns as a basic human right. As at the end of May 2022, the United States has seen more than 250 mass shooting events in 2022. On 24 May 2022, 19 children were gunned down in Uvalde, Texas. Since then, there have been another 38 mass shootings (Ladir & Rabinowitz 2022).  

Access to guns is not a human right. Access to abortion is a healthcare requirement and a basic human right enshrined by the United Nations. Forced pregnancy, including the denial to safe abortion, is a crime against humanity under international law (Amnesty International, 2020, p 10).

Pro-life conservatives bemoan a 'leftist agenda' being thrust upon them. You know, the sort of things that actually don't impact them at all, such as the right for same-sex marriage. Yet, it is conservatives who are constantly thrusting their beliefs onto everyone else in order for control and to appease their sensitive, snowflake feelings of entitlement and supremacy. They are the first ones to whinge about their liberties being infringed if someone so much as wishes them 'happy holidays' instead of 'merry Christmas', or dares to suggest that Black Lives Matter, or that Critical Race Theory shows there's more to history than the white supremacist colonialist fairy-tale. 

The control that these conservative extremists are trying to exercise is nothing short of totalitarianism. They want to dominate others with their nationalist agenda. They claim their religion or morality is superior to everyone else's. They claim they are doing the 'work of the Lord'. They claim they care for others, when they only care about themselves. There's a big difference between caring for others and controlling others. Ironic then, that US conservatives spent decades demonising Islam as depriving women of freedom, only to do the same thing in the name of their perverted 'christian' values and warped sense of 'democracy'. 

Conservatives will not stop at abortion. These extremists will now target same-sex marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas said as much in the decision to overturn Roe v Wade. For conservative Christians there have only been two big issues they are concerned with: abortion & homosexuality. Neither of these issues were even mentioned by Jesus; not that these bible-bashing hypocrites have ever followed Christ's teachings. 

There is also concern that other rights which were enshrined prior to Roe v Wade could be at risk, including the right to contraception and the right to inter-racial marriage (Papenfuss 2022).

It is a dangerous place to be in when conservatives are dominating with their fascist politics. 

References

Amnesty International, 2020, Forced pregnancy - a commentary on the crime in international law', 30 June, viewed 26 June 2022, https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IOR5327112020ENGLISH.pdf

Amnesty International, n.d., Key facts on Abortion, viewed 26 June 2022, https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/sexual-and-reproductive-rights/abortion-facts/

Bendavid, E, Avila, P, Miller, G, 2011, United States aid policy and induced abortion in sub-Saharan Africa, World Health Organization Bulletin, 27 September, viewed 26 June 2022, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3260902/

Guttmacher Institute, 2018, Highly restrictive laws do not eliminate abortion, 25 September, viewed 26 June 2022, https://www.guttmacher.org/infographic/2018/highly-restrictive-laws-do-not-eliminate-abortion

Ladir, J, & Rabinowitz, K, 2022, There have been over 250 mass shootings so far in 2022, The Washington Post, 8 June, viewed 26 June 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/02/mass-shootings-in-2022/

Oberman, M, 2018, Motherhood, abortion and the medicalization of poverty, The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 18 October, viewed 26 June 2022, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1073110518804221.

Papenfuss, M, 2022, Decision Destroying Roe Threatens Legal Right To Interracial Marriage, Experts Warn, Huffpost, 24 June, viewed 26 June 2022, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roe-v-wade-same-sex-interracial-marriage-clarence-thomas_n_62b64cd3e4b0cf43c864baaf#

Stevenson, A, 2021, A research note on the mortality consequence of denying all wanted induced abortions, SocArXiv, 1 September, viewed 26 June 2022, doi:10.31235/osf.io/sb5f2

Conservative logic: Nazis are better than abortion

Conservative logic: Nazis are better than abortion ... to wit 6 January 2021

By Ranting Panda, 31 January 2021

Evidenced by their blind support for Trump & defending his incitement of an insurrection by neo-Nazis & white supremacists.

Donald J. Trump, the most divisive, corrupt and treacherous president the US has seen, was embraced by many conservatives as if he was the Messiah. Why? Because he promised to protect them from the 'socialist' agenda of the woke left ... and he banned abortion. He also supported, empowered, praised and incited white supremacy, domestic terrorism, Nazis, and used fear-mongering to stir up hate against Muslims, Mexicans and migrants ... but conservatives said that he represented their values. This says a lot about conservative values. 

Christian nationalists were chanting 'Christ is King' and flying Christian flags as they joined Nazis and white supremacists to storm the Capitol building on 6 January 2021. Even up until Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States, many conservative Christians believed that Jesus would somehow intervene and reinstate Trump. As an aside, these terrorists were no different to Islamist extremists who chant 'Allah Akbar' (God is great) before murdering innocent people; they are cut from the same cloth: traitors to their religions and countries. 

Trump supporters still believe his lies that the election was stolen, even though dozens of court challenges failed to produce evidence or prove these claims. 

One of the first things that Trump did when he became president, was to ban the funding of women's health centres if they dared to mention abortion. It was a gag rule that cost countless lives as women sought abortion from less ethical means. The removal of the funding didn't just affect abortion procedures, but also meant that contraceptives and pregnancy advice were not carried out. Not providing contraceptives tends to increase the rate of unwanted pregnancies. Trump's policies had the opposite affect that many conservatives wanted: it increased the numbers of abortions, plus risked the lives of more women through backyard abortions. 

This policy isn't new. It was originally introduced by President Reagan in 1985 as the Mexico City Policy, or the 'Gag Rule' and has been the policy of every Republican president since then. This has presented researchers with decades of data to conduct longitudinal studies. Refer to my article of 4 February 2017, which covered this in detail: Trump's Gag Order banning abortion will increase abortion & kill more women. 

A 2011 study by Stanford researchers found that abortion rates in 20 sub-Saharan African nations increased by 40% when Republicans implemented the Mexico City policy.

Impact of Mexico City Policy (Bendavid 2011)

The United Nations has stated that the Gag Rule is 'flawed on evidentiary and public health grounds' (United Nations General Assembly 2018). The report went on to state, 'There is conclusive evidence that efforts to cut back on or deter the provision of quality contraceptive and antenatal services, HIV/AIDS treatment and safe abortion care contribute to increased rates of otherwise preventable death, including maternal and infant mortality and death and injury from unsafe abortion'. It identifies that sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit by the Gag Rule.

The evidence demonstrates that the outcome of anti-abortion policy that Trump implemented, is 'significantly increased rates of induced abortion' (United Nations General Assembly 2018).

One would think that this evidence would be enough to convince pro-lifers to consider alternative ways to reduce abortions. The Guttmacher Institute found that ' ... poor women have the least access to family planning services and the fewest resources to pay for safe abortion procedures; they are also the most likely to experience complications related to unsafe abortion' (Guttmacher Institute 2012). One of the primary drivers of abortion is poverty, yet conservatives tend to oppose measures that would more equitably share wealth or raise minimum wages. 

Conservatives take a very black and white view of abortion. That is, ban it and it will go away! However, the opposite is true: it increases! And the conservative response? They don't care. Clearly their reasoning for banning abortion is not to save the life of the foetus, but to control women, even if it means more women die. 

Conservatives, particularly conservative Christians, are driven by two main things: abortion and homosexuality. 

Interestingly, the United Nations also reported that laws banning the provision of life-saving services to LGBTIQ+ people has resulted in increased morbidity and mortality (United Nations General Assembly 2018).

Is it any wonder then, that conservatives ignored everything else that Trump did, simply because he banned abortion and attacked LGBTIQ+ issues? They ignored his blatant lies ... more than 30,000 lies! They ignored his incompetence, which was on a genocidal scale, in dealing with Covid-19 that killed more than 420,000 while he was president. They cheered on the Nazis, white supremacists, and Christian nationalists who stormed Congress on 6 January 2021.

Conservatives were more upset with Biden for reversing Trump's Mexico Policy, than they were with Trump genocidal incompetence killing more than 420,000 people, or him inciting Nazis to attempt a coup that would unlawfully keep him in power, and ended up killing five people, including two police officers. The rest of the world was like, 'what the actual fuck, America???'. Meanwhile, conservatives were like, 'What? It's just a coup for a stolen election. In the name of unity, let's not charge anyone with a crime'. The rest of the world is like, 'It's fucking treason! Charge Trump & the insurrectionists'. 

Imagine if the world did not hold the Nuremberg trials 'in the name of unity'. Trump has the deaths of more than 420,000 people on his hands, plus the untold damage to democracy. He must be jailed for treason and crimes against humanity.

The problem with Trump's lies is that they pandered to the victimhood mentality of conservatives. Their pearl-clutching fear fed by Trump's lies, culminated in Trump inciting them to stage an insurrection and storm Congress, with the intention of assassinating certain senators. This is serious. This is treason. Yet conservatives are so blind, so myopic, that they refuse to see they have been duped by traitor Trump occupying the highest office in the land. 

But yeah, hey abortion, socialism and gays are all bad, but Nazis are good ... according to conservative logic. 

References

Bendavid, E, Avila, P, & Miller, G 2011, 'United States aid policy and induced abortion in sub-Saharan Africa', Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 27 September, https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/12/11-091660/en/, viewed 31 January 2021

Guttmacher Institute 2012, 'Facts on induced abortions worldwide', January 2012, https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/unsafe_abortion/induced_abortion_2012.pdf, published by World Health Organization and Guttmacher Institute, viewed 31 January 2021

SBS News 2021, 'Joe Biden reverses Donald Trump's anti-abortion ‘global gag rule’, citing 'damage' from his predecessor'. SBS News, 29 January, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/joe-biden-reverses-donald-trump-s-anti-abortion-global-gag-rule-citing-damage-from-his-predecessor, viewed 31 January 2021

United Nations General Assembly 2018, 'Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms', 73rd Session, Item 74 (b) of the provisional agenda, 7 August, https://undocs.org/A/73/314, viewed 31 January 2021

The 9 circles of hell in Trump's 'Murica

The 9 circles of hell in Trump's 'Murica

by Ranting Panda, 3 January 2021

Medieval writer and philosopher, Dante Alighieri wrote of the nine circles of hell. 700 years later, feckless fraud of a President, Donald Trump, has taken the United States to hell in a handbasket. The once great American empire has now descended into all nine levels of Dante's Hell under the incompetent and genocidal leadership of Trump. 

1st circle: Limbo

Traditionally this level was the home of the unbaptised and the pagans. In today's USA, Limbo is the domain of the witless Trump supporters who eschew science and intellect, while feeding their feeble minds on a diet of faux news that panders to their twisted ideas of a dystopian world created by Trump's lies and fear-mongering. 

2nd circle: Lust

This level is reserved for the carnal and the adulterers. Trump would certainly feel at home here so that he can grab women by their pussies as much as his lecherous heart would want. 

3rd circle: Gluttony

This level is reserved for those who don't know when to stop filling their inflated bellies. Trump's America gorges on the fat of the land, while the less fortunate are left to starve. They couldn't possibly share their larders with the impoverished because that would be 'socialism'! And we all know that socialism is the bugaboo of the Trumper snowflake.

4th circle: Greed

Trump promised to 'Make America Great Again', with untold wealth trickling down to his gullible supporters as he lavishes tax cuts on the already-rich. Instead of his followers seeing through this scam, Trump manipulated them through lies and fear-mongering about Democrats stealing their wealth through socialism ... when it was corporate greed that stole their wealth. Trump turned his supporters into greedy, self-absorbed individuals who have no concern for the welfare of anyone else.

5th circle: Anger

Well, well, well ... Trump has been an angry man for many years, but since losing the 2020 presidential election, Trump has been chucking a massive temper tantrum. His behaviour is anything but presidential. In fact, his petulant hysterics are comparable to a cry-baby toddler who's pacifier has been taken away. No parent would want their child behaving like the spoilt-brat that Trump is, yet the worse this buffoon behaves, the more his feeble-minded fans idolise him.

6th circle: Heresy

Many of Trump's supporters claim to be Christian, even though Trump epitomises all that the Bible warns against. For instance, Trump embodies all seven of the deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Trump claims to love God, yet inspires hatred of our neighbours and empowers white-supremacists, neo-Nazis, racists, and bigots. Trump's son, Eric, remarkably claimed that Trump 'literally saved Christianity' from the atheist leftists waging a war on the faith (Castronuovo 2020). Trump's behaviour is anything but Christian. For that matter, the behaviour of Trump-loving christians is anything but Christian, as they support his racist, sexist, violent, dishonest, and corrupt leadership and administration.

Trump supporters who claim to be Christian  are heretics who have recreated Christ in the image of Trump: a greedy, violent, sexist, racist buffoon. They have shown just how shallow their depraved version of Christianity is. 

7th circle: Violence

Trump's followers are exceptionally angry violent people. They have called for violence and war should Trump be kicked out of the White House. Much of this violence has been stoked by Trump himself (BBC 2020).

They violently attack activists who oppose the values that Trump and his followers hold dear, such as fascism, racism, capitalism and greed.

When a 17 year old murdered two protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally, Trump defended him, claiming he was 'just trying to get away' (Solender 2020), even though it was clear the killer had deliberately travelled to the rally armed and with intention to kill. Trump encourages murderous violence.

8th circle: Fraud

Could this be any clearer. Trump has whinged incessantly about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, yet after dozens of failed court challenges and vote recounts, it has become clear that there was no wide-spread fraud. Instead, it's Trump who is making fraudulent, debunked claims to subvert legitimate election results. Disturbingly, his followers lack the critical thinking skills necessary to challenge the lies and fraudulent claims that Trump continues to propagate.

9th circle: Treachery

Wow! This is the big one. Trump threatened to declare martial law because he lost the election. Republican leaders threatened to call in the military. Trump's son, Don Jr, called for all out war because of the election result. That Trump and his brainless zealots would not see this as a military coup or the implications of it is concerning. So concerning, that all 10 former Secretaries of Defence have warned against involving the military in Trump's fraudulent claims about the election, stating it would plunge the USA into 'dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory', and that 'Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic'. (Burns 2021). They went on to state that, 'Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party' (Carter, Cheney, Cohen, Esper, Gates, Hagel, Mattis, Panetta, Perry & Rumsfeld 2021). They went on to warn that Trump's refusal to provide a smooth transition of power, including not sharing intelligence, with President-elect Biden, is putting the USA at risk during this vulnerable time as adversaries could 'seek to take advantage of the situation'. 

Former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon called for the beheading of Dr Fauci over his attempts to address Covid-19. Trump vacillated between calling Covid-19 a hoax and downplaying its severity. In the meantime, more than 350,000 Americans have died because of Trump's lies and incompetence, which was on a genocidal scale. Trump is usurping the democratic process by trying to cast doubt over the election result and refusing to concede. His moronic followers are preparing for a coup to keep him in power. Trump failed to challenge Russia over bounties it took out on US troops in Afghanistan. He failed to challenge Russia over its interference in US elections. 

In an extraordinary recorded phone call on 3 January 2021, Trump is heard pleading, cajolling, threatening the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to find him 11,780 votes, in other words to change the vote tally (Rubin 2021). He threatened Raffesnperger with criminal liability. This is extortion. It is likely this behaviour is impeachable. Trump is attempting a coup. 

There have been at least three occasions in which Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct; (1) the obstruction of justice by firing special prosecutor Robert S. Mueller III during the investigation into the 2016 election, (2) tried to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to find dirt against now President-elect Joe Biden, and (3), threatening the Georgia Secretary of State to 'find' 11,780 votes to change the election result (Rubin 2021). 

These are the actions of an authoritarian who has no respect for the law, for democracy or for the constitution.

Trump is a criminal. 

Trump is a traitor hell-bent on destroying the USA.

Trump and his followers think they are patriots, but they are traitors to the US constitution, democracy and their fellow citizens.

Welcome to the hell that is Trump's America.

References

BBC 2020, 'Trump inciting violence, warns Georgia election official', 2 December, https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55153918, viewed 3 January 2021

Burns, R 2021, 'Extraordinary warning to Trump against use of military over election by former Pentagon chiefs', Brisbane Times, 4 January, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/north-america/extraordinary-warning-to-trump-against-use-of-military-over-election-by-former-pentagon-chiefs-20210104-p56rnj.html, viewed 4 January 2021

Carter, A, Cheney, D, Cohen, W, Esper, M, Gates, R, Hagel, C, Mattis, J, Panetta, L, Perry, W & Rumsfeld, D 2021, 'All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory', The Washington Post, 4 January, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html, viewed 4 January 2021

Castronuovo, C 2020, 'Eric Trump claims his father 'literally saved Christianity', The Hill, 10 July, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/520090-eric-trump-claims-his-father-literally-saved-christianity, viewed 3 January 2021

Rubin, J 2021, 'It’s impeachable. It’s likely illegal. It’s a coup', The Washington Post, 4 January 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/03/its-impeachable-its-likely-illegal-its-coup/, viewed 4 January 2021

Solender, A 2020, 'Trump Defends Rittenhouse, Caravan After Biden Condemns Protest Violence', Forbes, 31 August, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/31/trump-defends-rittenhouse-caravan-after-biden-condemns-protest-violence, viewed 3 January 2021 

Updated 4 January 2021

Trump - a modern day Nero: fiddling as America burns

Trump - a modern day Nero: fiddling as America burns

By Ranting Panda, 2 January 2021

Soon-to-be ex-President Donald Trump will go down in history as America's worst ever president. That should gel well with his fragile infantile ego. 

Way back in the day ... in ancient Rome to be precise, there was another incompetent and corrupt leader; the Emperor Nero. This particular emperor is best remembered in an axiom, 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'. In 64AD, Rome was ravaged by a fire that burned for six days, destroying 70% of the city, rendering half its population homeless. Nero allegedly spent his time playing the fiddle (or similar instrument) while Rome burned, and did nothing afterwards to help the citizens of Rome as they suffered and starved. Nero was not trusted and many believed he started the fire. Nero scapegoated Christians, then an obscure minority sect, claiming they started it. While there maybe dubious elements of the story, Nero was renowned for debauchery and corruption, hence they way he is remembered thousands of years later. 

Just like the House of Caesar, Trump speaks the 'language of the republic, but the reality of the dictator' (Ashbrook 2016). Interestingly, historian Tom Holland identified that the Roman empire destroyed every republic throughout the Mediterranean, until all they had left was to destroy their own republic (Cohen 2015). The US is at the point, where it is destroying itself ... and that self-destruction is being led by Trump, who speaks of democracy but is subverting the democratic process. Like Nero, Trump rules through fear, excess and corruption.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/03/09/nero-trump-rome-burned-coronavrius-twitter/

Similar to Nero, Trump's presidency has been rife with nepotism, corruption and self-serving greed ... along with the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands of people because of his incompetence and lies. Imagine how Trump will be remembered!

Trump fiddled while America burned. In Trump's case, his fiddle was golf. America burned from the racial division and the domestic terrorism that Trump inspired in his radical, racist followers. When California was ravaged by bushfires, Trump went golfing and said they should 'clean the floors' of the forest. But the most tragic of all, was that Trump played golf while America was ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. During 2020, more than 347,000 Americans died while Trump alternated between calling it a Democratic Party hoax and downplaying the severity of the virus. He blamed it on China and lied about vaccinations for it. On 3 January 2021, Trump tried another tactic: deny the numbers. This from a pathological liar who now claims the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent (CDC) can't count. 

During the presidential election campaign of 2016, Trump stated, 'I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf'. Since becoming president, he has played golf around 300 times, costing American tax-payers around $144 million, according to the website, www.trumpgolfcount.com. On average, he visits a golf club ever 4.9 days of his presidency. 

There are other things that distract Trump from actually doing presidential business. He is a prolific tweeter and according to many of this tweets, he also spends a lot of time watching TV. Between January 2017, when he became president, and November 2020, Trump sent 23,858 tweets (Madaminov 2020). 

In the weeks following the 2020 election, around three-quarters of Trump's tweets made debunked claims of election fraud (Yourish & Buchanan 2020). While Trump was throwing a temper tantrum on a apocalyptic scale, record numbers of people were dying from Covid-19. 

In his New Year's Eve address to the nation, Trump raved on about his efforts to defeat the 'China virus'. It should be clear, Trump hampered all efforts to address the virus, from downplaying it to calling it a hoax, to challenging the science and criticising the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to the withholding of vital equipment for states that were not 'loyal' to the Trump throne. While health professionals worked hard with their limited resources and scientists worked around the clock to find a vaccine, Trump golfed and tweeted, while indulging in racist scapegoating, propagating false conspiracy theories, ignoring experts, and boasting of his non-existent achievements in hyperbole reminiscent of childhood playground arguments about who has the biggest and best toys. In his NYE speech, Trump took credit for the vaccine, which was not developed because of him, but in spite of him. He even claimed that he brought peace to the Middle East which he claims is easy 'if you know what you're doing'. 

Since the presidential election on 3 November 2020, Trump has incessantly tweeted false claims about the election results. Meanwhile, Trump has failed to do anything to save lives or to control the virus even though reported cases and deaths from Covid-19 have skyrocketed during that period, as the following graphs show (Washington Post 2021). 

Nero was an amateur compared to how much time Trump spent fiddling while the country was going to hell in a handbasket.

Since he became president, Trump averaged more than 50 false or misleading claims every day of his presidency, for a total that exceeds 22,000 claims - his lying has gotten so out of hand, that fact checkers can't keep up (Kessler, Rizzo & Kelly 2020). 

Trump claims that he brought the greatest job creation program in United States history. So yeah, about that. It was Obama who created the longest streak of job growth, while Trump merely stepped into his shoes and was unable to fill them. Yet one more lie of the Trump presidency.  

Trump continues maintaining the lies about the 2020 election being stolen from him (Robertson, Kiely, McDonald & Gore 2020a). He lodged dozens of court challenges and demanded recounts. The court challenges were thrown out and the recounts legitimised the election results. But Trump, like a petulant spoilt brat, has been unable to accept losing. He would rather destroy the country, than admit he lost.

Now he keeps pointing to 6 January 2021, when Congress formally counts the Electoral Colleges votes. Trump continues saying that Congress will overturn the election results. More than 80 million people voted for Joe Biden, while around 74 million voted for Donald Trump. The Electoral College ratified the election results with a resounding vote in Biden's favour of 306 - 232. Trump's fragile ego doesn't like the maths. The vote on 6 January could be hampered if there are objections by Republicans, which is likely. 

With more than 347,000 people dead from Covid-19, Trump recklessly announces a protest rally on 6 January 2021, for the gullible fools who still believe his debunked claims of election fraud. This will breach social distancing rules and likely add to the Covid-19 infection tally and possibly more deaths from Covid.

Meanwhile, Trump continues fleecing his supporters for cash to support his fraudulent attempts to steal the election. Once Trump is finally removed from office, he should be charged with fraud as he is obtaining money by dishonest claims about the election. With around 60 court cases that have declared the election valid (Tillman 2020), as well as multiple recounts, Trump is deliberately lying to his victims about supporting his fraudulent attempt to hijack the democratic process. It's hard to feel sorry for his victims because there is ample evidence that Trump is lying (Robertson, Kiely, McDonald & Gore 2020b). As the old saying goes, 'A fool and their money are soon parted'. 

Trump's fraudulent attempt to hijack democracy & fleece his gullible victims

Trump's undemocratic attempts to overturn the clear will of the majority of voters, is a disturbing development which demonstrates that Trump does not care for the people, for democracy, or for the United States. He is not a patriot. He is only in politics for himself and all that he can milk from the economy for his own benefit.

Trump is essentially attempting a coup. He threatened martial law (Inman 2020, Goodwin 2020), some Republicans talked of using the military to prevent Trump's removal from the Oval Office (Nguyen 2020), and Trump's idiot child, Don Jr called for all out war (da Silva 2020). Republican Louie Gohmert dog-whistled to deluded Trumpists that there needs to be a violent uprising if the election result isn't overturned in favour of Trump (Colarossi 2021).

Had Trump put as much effort into working as President, there may still be 347,000 people alive, there may have been greater racial unity. Instead, Trump demonstrated how completely and utterly incompetent he is as the President of the United States. He failed as a businessman, with many of his businesses going bankrupt. He clearly failed as President.

Trump's legacy includes the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, the empowerment of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and racists, and the normalisation of laziness, incompetency, blatant dishonesty, corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the highest office in the United States. 

Some people are immortalised in words and phrases because of their actions. Benedict Arnold is synonymous with treason. Nero is synonymous with incompetence, corruption and apathy. Trump is a combination of Benedict Arnold and Nero, he is an incompetent, corrupt, apathetic, self-serving, lazy traitor. History will not be kind to Trump and his family.

Trump is a modern-day Nero, fiddling while the US burns and dies ... and he should be held criminally responsible.

References

Ashbrook, T 2016, 'Five Dictators Of Rome', WBUR, 20 January, https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/01/20/rome-dictators-nero-history, viewed 3 January 2021

Cohen, N 2015, 'Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar review – deft and skilful', The Guardian, 6 September, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/06/dynasty-house-of-caesar-tom-holland-book-review-nick-cohen, viewed 3 January 2021

Colarossi, S 2021, 'Louie Gohmert Flat Out Calls For A Violent Uprising If The Election Isn’t Overturned For Trump', PoliticusUsa, 2 January, https://www.politicususa.com/2021/01/02/louie-gohmert-flat-out-calls-for-a-violent-uprising-if-the-election-isnt-overturned-for-trump.html, viewed 3 January 2021

da Silva, C 2020, '‘Reckless’ and ‘stupid’: Trump Jr calls for ‘total war’ over election results', The Independent, 6 November, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-jr-election-results-war-b1634841.html, viewed 26 December 2020. 

Goodwin, J 2020, 'Trump's talk of martial law sends White House staffers rushing to the press', CNN Business Insider, 21 December, https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/20/media/stelter-trump-martial-law/index.html, viewed 26 December 2020.

Inman, D 2020, 'Military on alert over Trump’s martial law threat: ‘The craziness is unprecedented’', Yahoo! News, 25 December, https://news.yahoo.com/military-alert-over-trump-martial-230200241.html, viewed 26 December 2020. 

Kessler, G, Rizzo, S, & Kelly, M 2020, 'Trump is averaging more than 50 false or misleading claims a day', The Washington Post, 22 October, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/22/president-trump-is-averaging-more-than-50-false-or-misleading-claims-day/, viewed 2 January 2021

Madaminov, A 2020, 'All the President's Tweets', Medium, 25 November, https://medium.com/swlh/all-the-presidents-tweets-e7d31fd1dbc6, viewed 1 January 2021.

Robertson, L, Kiely, E, McDonald, J, & Gore, D 2020a, 'Trump Repeats Baseless, False Claims About the Election', FactCheck.Org, 30 November, https://www.factcheck.org/2020/11/trump-repeats-baseless-false-claims-about-the-election/, viewed 2 January 2021

Robertson, L, Kiely, E, McDonald, J, & Gore, D 2020b, 'Trump’s ‘Most Important’ Speech Was Mostly False', FactCheck.Org, 3 December, https://www.factcheck.org/2020/12/trumps-most-important-speech-was-mostly-false/, viewed 2 January 2021

Tillman, Z 2020, 'Trump And His Allies Have Lost Nearly 60 Election Fights In Court (And Counting)', Buzzfeed News, 14 December, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/trump-election-court-losses-electoral-college, viewed 2 January 2021

Washington Post 2021, 'More than 347,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.', data as of 2 January, 11.05pm, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/?itid=hp_pandemic-guide-box-1208, viewed 2 January 2021.

Yourish, K & Buchanan, L 2020, 'Since election day, a lot of tweeting and not much else for Trump', The New York Times, 24 November, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/24/us/politics/trump-twitter-tweets-election-results.html, viewed 1 January 2021

Updated: 4 January 2021

What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his soul - Trump: lechery, treachery, cheating and hate.

What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his soul - Trump: lechery, treachery, cheating and hate. 

by Ranting Panda, 29 December 2020

Since losing the 2020 election, Trump's infantile temper tantrums have demonstrated exactly why he deserves to have lost, why he is clearly not presidential material and never has been. President-elect Biden has stated that he wants to unite the United States, by reaching out to all Americans, regardless of their political preferences. Trump has sought to divide. He praises white supremacists, even encouraging them to 'stand back and stand by' ... standy by for what? Another Kristallnacht? A new dictatorship based on corruption, fear, narcissism, greed, and racism ... a republic forged in Trump's own image of bigotry, xenophobia, graft and exploitation? 

Trump claimed he was going to drain the swamp, but became the swamp. Nepotism and cronyism ruled supreme, with jobs for the all the boys and girls in Trump's favour. It was the Art of the Shady Deal writ large. And when he was exposed, he projected his innate moral delinquency onto American voters by claiming the election was corrupted because he lost, because he didn't get his way. Trump is a grifter so enamoured by his own ego that he couldn't accept losing like an adult.

Instead of accepting the results of a legitimate election, the cornerstone of any democracy, Trump lied about the results (Lipstadt & Eisen 2020), threatened to declare martial law (Inman 2020, Goodwin 2020), while some Republican leaders demanded the military stage a coup to keep Trump in power (Nguyen 2020), and Trump's idiot child (oh, which one? Don Jr) called for total war because of the election result (da Silva 2020). 

Of course, Donald Junior isn't Trump's only idiot child. Each one of them has been busted sharing lies, fake videos and 'unhinged and unfounded' claims about voter fraud (Moran 2020). Ivanka was called out for her hypocrisy in accepting results in Alaska showing her daddy won, but for not accepting nation-wide results showing he got his ass kicked (Longobardo 2020).

Trump's supporters continue portraying him as a great American patriot and a Christian. Trump is neither. Trump is a traitor who has betrayed American democracy through his lies about the election and his 50+ failed lawsuits that sought to subvert the democratic principles America is so proud of. He betrayed the American constitution by using his power to create wealth for himself, his family and his friends. He betrayed basic principles of human decency by issuing pardons to war criminals and child murderers in the dying days of his morally bankrupt presidency (Weber 2020). Meanwhile, the US continues pursuing charges against Julian Assange, the Wikileaks whistle-blower who revealed US war crimes. In Trump's America, war criminals are good, whistle-blowers are bad.

If he is a Christian, then lets look at some Christian stuff. Waaaayyy back in the day, like back in the Gospel of Mark 8:36, Jesus stated, 'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'. This from the bible which Trump claims is his favourite book. It's also allegedly the book which many of Trump's followers proudly claim that they believe every word. Yet, they've lost their souls in pursuit of Trump's vision of the US. A vision in which the US exists purely for him to economically exploit for his own advantage. Cicero stated, 'no wise man every trusted a traitor'. Clearly, Trump's fans are not wise ... and to support a traitor shows that they have no love for their country. But then again, Gandhi identified this situation when he stated, 'If there is an idiot in power, it is because those who elected him are well represented'. 

Lies, fear, hate!

This is all that Trump has. This has been his whole presidency. Is it any wonder that neither he nor his followers have any legitimacy in the eyes of most people in the world.  

Lies, fear, hate. The values of 'conservative' Christianity. 

Trump is a fraud … and is duping his own supporters into thinking there is hope, while shaking them down for money to cover his personal losses from his own financial mismanagement. The people Trump has most disdain for, are his own supporters … and why not? They’ve shown time & again that they are willing to swallow Trump’s lies over and over. We are seeing gullibility on an apocalyptic scale. Trump requires weak people to give him the benefit of the doubt. Trump does not believe in free speech, democracy, respect or truth. Fear, lies & hate are the hallmarks and legacy of Trump’s presidency.

It is of grave concern then that more than 70 million people voted for Trump. Many will say they are not racist or fascist, even though Trump has empowered fascist, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. If someone is willing to vote for Trump, then clearly there are concerns in American society that are not being addressed. These are likely moral, economic and social concerns. Unfortunately, conservatives are often not looking at the real causes or what's required to rectify these issues, so they are susceptible to the populist, simplistic message of Trump which seeks to blame and demonise others, when it is people such as Trump who have caused these issues. They have undermined the moral fabric of society, they have economically raped the country through exploiting its working class, and destroyed the social fabric of the country by intensifying division between racial and religious groups, while defunding infrastructure, education and health because these things are 'Marxist' if funded by the government. 

Oh yeah, that 'Marxist' agenda that Trump and his followers bang on about was exposed by Vice President Mike Pence when he stated that Democrats '... want to make rich people poorer, and poor people more comfortable' (Marcus 2020). How? Pence revealed that the Democrats nefarious socialist agenda included higher taxes, socialised medicine and a Green New Deal. This revelation was met with wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst Trump's terrified supporters who fear anything vaguely Marxist.

The basic premise of Marxism is fairness, not exploitation, so no wonder Trump and his supporters are opposed to it. They are driven by greed and selfishness. Why would they want to help others less fortunate than them. It is clear that they pay lip service to the bible, because that is where the tenets of socialism are based. Marx stated, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need', which is actually biblical. Acts 4:34-35, 'Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need'. Exodus 16:16-28 says, 'This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need'. So yeah, let's hear again how Christian Trump and his supporters are as they worship capitalism and the accumulation of wealth at the expense of others, while opposing the biblical value of sharing wealth to help others. 

Trump's politics resonate with nationalists; those people who claim they put country before anyone or anything else. Nationalism isn't just a patriotic love of country. It is an extremist ideology based on the supremacy of one's race and nationality. It is mired in xenophobia, racism and bigotry. Christian nationalists bang on about God and country to the exclusion of all others. Christian nationalists have long since supported conservatives in a perverse marriage of politics and religion, which enables them to be easily manipulated into committing the most heinous acts. It was Christian Nationalists for instance who delivered the holocaust and persecution that killed more than 17 million people, including Jews, communists, socialists, Roma, LGBTIQ+, the sick and infirm, Jehovah's Witnesses and anyone deemed 'undesirable' (Holocaust Encyclopedia 2020).

White supremacists were so scared that Trump might be trumped by democracy, these traitors planned to attack the US power grid were their feckless hero to lose the election (Forliti 2020). On Christmas Day, a terrorist named Anthony Quinn Warner went full suicide bomber by detonating a car bomb in downtown Nashville, injuring three people and killing himself. The bomb was situated outside the AT&T offices, which damaged the building's façade, elevators and beams, while causing an outage of emergency communication systems and residential services (Timms, Alund & Bacon 2020). Trump has yet to condemn the bombing, most likely because it was caused by one of his fanatic supporters. This illustrates the danger of Trump's baseless fear-mongering. His attack on the democratic system borders on treason, while empowering neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and nationalists who hate America's freedom and diversity.

Trump's incompetence and greed was on a genocidal scale all in the name of nationalism and under the pretence of 'making America great again'. So far, more than 320,000 people have died from Covid-19 as a result of Trump's delinquent leadership and failure to act or even recognise the severity of it. Initially, he called it a Democratic Party hoax that we would never hear of again after the election. Even as his lame-duck presidency limps into oblivion, Trump is downplaying the severity of the virus, while portraying it as a racist and partisan issue as shown in this tweet he posted on 27 December 2020. Trump is a genocidally incompetent loser who should be jailed for every single one of the 320,000+ deaths from Coronavirus. 

Trump's followers? Too stupid to realise they are being conned, believed Trump when he downplayed even the existence of the virus; instead believing it to be a hoax aimed at ushering in socialism. Ironically, the solution to beating the virus lay in socialised medicine and the sharing of wealth and resources, to effectively combat it. So terrified of socialism are Trump's supporters, that they would rather see hundreds of thousands die of Covid-19, than actually share wealth, resources and skills to save lives. 

The only difference between Trump supporters and Hitler supporters is the scale of death and destruction ... but it's still early days if these sectarian half-wits are allowed to continue their hatred and intolerance unabated and unchallenged. These Trumpoid half-wits are not funny. They are dangerous and deluded. One of their heroes, Steve Bannon, the perennial bullshit artist who founded fake news site Breitbart News, called for the beheading of Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Christopher Wray, FBI Director (Harvey 2020). Fauci is the top infectious disease expert in the US and a member of the coronavirus task force. However, he has dared to contradict Trump's insane claims about Covid-19. Wray testified to congress about Russia meddling in the 2020 election, which upset Traitor Trump who has defended Russia's meddling in US democracy throughout his entire presidency ... not to mention failing to act when it was revealed that Russia had taken hits out on US soldiers in Afghanistan (BBC 2020). Yet, the Trump zealots continue defending this traitor while claiming they are patriots. 

Trump and his followers don't just attack and persecute non-Whites, non-Christians, or the left-wing. They also persecute the poor. Conservatives still believe the great lie of trickle-down economics; that the richer the rich become, the more they will share their wealth with the poor. Meanwhile, there are more poor people in the US than ever before, while the rich continue getting richer as they accumulate the wealth that is created for them by the poor people they exploit. A study of data collected over 50 years and from 18 countries showed that tax cuts for the wealthy did not trickle down to the poor, nor did it generate productivity, increase GDP growth or create jobs (Hope & Limburg 2020, pp. 5, 16-18). Most concerning, the study found that providing bigger tax cuts for the rich significantly increases income inequality (Hope & Limberg 2020, pp. 6, 9-16). Yet, the fallacy of trickle-down economics continues as gullible workers are manipulated by the rich into believing this myth.

Conservatives bemoan raising the minimum wage, while the workers, who are the real wealth creators, are forced to work multiple jobs just to live. Slavery didn't die out with the American Civil War; it is alive and stronger than ever, and strengthened by conservatives who oppose socialising medicine, education or allowing workers to have a greater share in the wealth that the workers themselves create.

2020 is the deadliest year in US history, primarily because of Trump's failure to address the coronavirus (Bump 2020). More than 320,000 dead this year alone and it shows no sign of abating. Trump refers to it as the China Virus, in an effort to exploit racist fears among his easily manipulated supporters. However, the death toll in the US is his responsibility. It would be more appropriate to call it the Trump Virus, with many of America's deadliest days from a single event occurring in 2020 because of the virus (Lee 2020).

Trump is a criminal.

Trump is anti-democratic.

Trump is corrupt.

The Oath of Office for the Vice President and some other executives includes the words, 'I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic ...'. 

Trump's behaviour is unconstitutional. 

Trump failed to address attacks by foreign states on American democracy and the military. He incited domestic terrorism. Trump is an enemy of the state who has empowered enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Trump must be prosecuted for his crimes, which include his criminal negligence in the deaths of 320,000+ people from Covid-19, his incitement of right-wing terrorist groups that harm the United States, and his failure to hold Russia to account for both interfering in US elections and taking bounties out on US military personnel.

Trump is a traitor. 

References

BBC, 2020, 'Afghanistan war: Trump got written briefing on 'Russia bounties', reports say', 30 June,  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53231840, viewed 27 December 2020.

Bump, P 2020, 'Trump’s legacy will be defined largely by his attempt to look away from the coronavirus pandemic', The Washington Post, 14 November, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/13/trumps-legacy-will-defined-largely-by-his-attempt-look-away-coronavirus-pandemic/, viewed 27 December 2020.

da Silva, C 2020, '‘Reckless’ and ‘stupid’: Trump Jr calls for ‘total war’ over election results', The Independent, 6 November, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-jr-election-results-war-b1634841.html, viewed 26 December 2020. 

Forliti, A 2020, 'FBI Says White Supremacists Plotted Attack on U.S. Power Grid', Bloomberg, 23 December, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-22/fbi-white-supremacists-plotted-attack-on-us-power-grid, viewed 26 December 2020.

Goodwin, J 2020, 'Trump's talk of martial law sends White House staffers rushing to the press', CNN Business Insider, 21 December, https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/20/media/stelter-trump-martial-law/index.html, viewed 26 December 2020.

Harvey, J 2020, 'Dr. Anthony Fauci Responds To Steve Bannon Calling For His Beheading', Huffpost, 12 November, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/anthony-fauci-responds-steve-bannon_n_5fac5479c5b6cae940424e6a, viewed 27 December 2020. 

Holocaust Encyclopedia 2020, 'Documenting numbers of victims of the Holocaust', updated 8 December, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution, viewed 27 December 2020.

Hope D, & Limberg, J 2020, The Economic Consequences of Major Tax Cuts for the Rich, London School of Economics and Political Science, Working Paper 55, December 2020. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/107919/1/Hope_economic_consequences_of_major_tax_cuts_published.pdf

Inman, D 2020, 'Military on alert over Trump’s martial law threat: ‘The craziness is unprecedented’', Yahoo! News, 25 December, https://news.yahoo.com/military-alert-over-trump-martial-230200241.html, viewed 26 December 2020. 

Lee, E 2020, 'Fact check: List of 'deadliest days in American history' is partly false', USA Today, 12 December, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/12/12/fact-check-list-deadliest-days-american-history-partly-false/3864369001/, viewed 27 December 2020. 

Lipstadt, DE & Eisen, N 2020, 'Denying the Holocaust threatens democracy. So does denying the election results', The Washington Post, 23 December, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/12/23/democracy-denial-holocaust-denial/, viewed 26 December 2020.

Longobardo, V 2020, 'Ivanka Trump slammed for accepting AP call of Alaska election but ignoring the nationwide results', Washington Press, 11 November, https://washingtonpress.com/2020/11/11/ivanka-trump-slammed-for-accepting-ap-call-of-alaska-election-but-ignoring-the-nationwide-results/, viewed 27 December 2020. 

Marcus, J 2020, 'Mike Pence mocked for saying liberals want to make ‘poor people more comfortable’', The Independent, 23 December, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mike-pence-democrats-more-comfortable-b1777898.html, viewed 26 December 2020.

Moran, L 2020, 'Don Lemon Spotlights Election Lies Spread By Donald Trump’s Adult Children', Huffpost, 12 November, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/don-lemon-don-jr-ivanka-eric-trump-twitter_n_5face3ccc5b6ed84597e3b93, viewed 27 December 2020.

Nguyen, T 2020, 'MAGA leaders call for the troops to keep Trump in office', Politico, 18 December, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/18/trump-insurrection-act-presidency-447986, viewed 26 December 2020.

Timms, M, Alund, NN, & Bacon, J 2020, 'Anthony Warner was Christmas Day bomber in Nashville and likely died in explosion, authorities say', USA Today, 27 December 2020, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/12/27/downtown-nashville-bombing-home-anthony-quinn-warner-searched/4052211001/, viewed 28 December 2020.

Weber, P 2020, 'The Blackwater guards Trump pardoned were jailed for a massacre of civilians, including 2 kids', Yahoo! News, 23 December, https://news.yahoo.com/blackwater-guards-trump-pardoned-were-131513384.html, viewed 26 December 2020.

Updated 4 January 2021

Sympathy for the Donald in the age of Trumpery

Sympathy for the Donald in the age of Trumpery

by Ranting Panda, 10 October 2020

When Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, his gullible and deluded supporters expected the world to have sympathy for him. They were surprised and upset that few people cared about the health of their feckless leader.

Perhaps there would have been more sympathy for Trump if he wasn't a fascist pig who corrupted American democracy, the rule of law and is directly responsible for the deaths of more than 210,000 Americans from COVID-19. The biggest damage of Trump's lack of leadership has been his failure to act on COVID-19, claiming it was a hoax, understating its severity, and promoting quack cures for it. A Cornell University study found Trump to be the single biggest driver of misinformation about the pandemic (Stolberg & Weiland 2020). More than 210,000 people are dead as a result. This pathetic excuse for a human, played partisan politics as people died by refusing to distribute personal protective equipment or increase testing in Democrat-led states, which enabled Trump to blame Democratic Governors for the virus (Sykes 2020). The Whitehouse blockaded PPE from states unless they swore allegiance to Trump. Trump even refused to increase testing for the virus because of his childish logic that 'When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people' (Sykes 2020).

He constantly calls Covid the 'China Virus', but for Americans, it is the Trump Virus'. 

Time Magazine cover - 19 October 2020 edition

The United States accounts for 4% of the world's population, but more than 20% of COVID-19 cases and 20% of deaths globally. 

In 2018 Trump scrapped the pandemic response team that Obama had established. Obama had previously stated that it was just a matter of time before America faced a pandemic, which would be its greatest threat. Trump, in his typical ignorant stupidity and hatred of Obama, axed the program. A program that could have greatly reduced the death toll from COVID-19. 210,000 people dead and we're supposed to feel sympathy because Trump has contracted the very virus that he claimed was a Democratic Party election hoax.

Trump ridiculed a reporter's disability and mocked Hilary Clinton when she suffered pneumonia in 2016, so it's a bit lame that Trump's supporters are demanding sympathy for this narcissistic buffoon (Fisher 2020). Just a few days before being diagnosed with COVID-19, Trump was mocking Joe Biden for wearing masks. Is it any wonder that people have little sympathy for Trump. He is a victim of his own stupidity ... he might recover, but sadly it's too late for the more than 210,000 Americans who died from COVID-19, even as Trump continued mocking the disease and its victims.

Time.com - 9 October 2020

When it came to immigrant families crossing the border into the US, Trump had children torn from the arms of their parents and held in cages. His pathetic, gold-digging wife, Melania, has repeatedly stated that she doesn't care about the children. This much is obvious from them both. In typical Trump fashion, he blamed Obama for the policy of family separations, however, it was yet one more Trumpian lie (Valverde 2019). The only time that children were separated from their families under Obama, was if the child was in danger. Obama's policy was to keep families together. 

Melania, a gold-digging migrant from Slovenia, was caught on tape mocking the very children her husband tore from their families because they dared to want a better life free from poverty and violence. One would think that Melania, being a migrant who wanted a better, would be more sympathetic. Her narcissism is on par with her husband's, so when reporters dared to ask her about the children rather than herself, she cracked with the retort: 'They said, "Oh, what about the children that were separated?" Give me a fucking break' (Pappenfuss 2020). 

Many of Trump's supporters claim that they are pro-life and pro-family, while Trump destroys families and is incompetent on a genocidal scale. (Did I mention more than 210,000 dead). Don the Con's incompetence & corruption are on a genocidal scale, so how about sympathy for his victims, and let's stop this narcissistic conman from killing any more. 

Then there's the little matter of the treatment that Trump received for COVID-19. The experimental drug had been tested using cells from an abortion (Regalado 2020). Abortions don't mean anything to Trump when it comes to his own health ... they're just collateral damage.

 

Trump destroys everything he touches. He inherited billions from his father and yet is more than $300 million in debt (Weber 2020). He refused to release his tax returns when elected, unlike every other president in the modern era. When the New York Times exposed his tax returns, we could see why. It revealed a history of business failure and tax avoidance. He payed no tax in 10 of the 15 years between 2000 and 2015, and just $750 in tax in 2016 (ABC News 2020). He is currently being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service over his tax, with an estimate that he could be responsible for a tax bill exceeding $100 million. This is a man who boasts that he doesn't draw a salary as president. Why would he? He has been fleecing the American tax system for years. Then there's the costs of his golf trips. These are estimated to have cost the American people over $130 million (Date 2020). So Trump not claiming the $400,000 per year presidential salary means nothing when his golf trips alone have cost more than 325 years of presidential salary. He criticised Obama's golf trips and swore he wouldn't spend a day on the golf course. At the same point in their presidency, Obama had spent 96 days golfing, whereas Trump had spent 266 (Dale & Lybrand 2020). Given the number of days he's absent from the job, Trump isn't the Commander in Chief, he is the Thief in Chief.

Trump has destroyed democracy in the US by subverting democratic processes, such as appointing Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement to the Supreme Court weeks before the election. He has falsely claimed that the mail voting process is corrupt and is already casting doubt on the validity of the election outcome. He has hinted that if he loses the election, he won't leave office.

Trump is responsible for empowering and emboldening violence from racists and bigots. Trump has consistently called on violence against Democrats and the left-wing. He retweeted that 'The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat' and 'When the looting starts the shooting starts' (Blake 2020). He denies being a white supremacist, but why is that all white supremacists gravitate to Trump's message. It says a lot about his supporters.

Trump is blatantly racist and many of his tweets and rambling speeches dog-whistle to his racist voter base. He has refused to condemn white supremacy. He has described Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis as 'good people'. He told the white supremacist incels, Proud Boys', to 'stand back and stand by', which the Proud Boys immediately adopted as their slogan, while they were encouraged by the President to commit violence against those they hate, such as leftists, black lives matter advocates, or other anti-fascist and anti-racist elements (Palmer 2020). 

In August violence erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police shot a black man, Jacob Blake, leaving him paralysed. A 17 year old boy named Kyle Rittenhouse, illegally armed himself and travelled from the neighbouring state of Illinois, to shoot the protesters. Rittenhouse shot three people, two of whom died. This gutless act of violence was not condemned by Trump, who went on to defend Rittenhouse's actions ... as did most Trump supporters. Department of Homeland Security officials were directed to defend Rittenhouse's heinous crimes (Brewster 2020).

These fascist are no different to the white supremacists who unleashed Kristallnacht in 1930s Germany, empowered and emboldened by Hitler. Trump is paving the way for another dictatorship, another Kristallnacht, another war between fascists and anti-fascists. 

When it was revealed that Russia had placed bounties on the lives of US soldiers in Afghanistan, the ever-tweeting Trump was strangely silent (Savage, Schmitt & Schwirtz 2020). He failed to raise the issue or to condemn Putin over it. He took no action. This is no great surprise. Trump has no respect for the military and has been caught stating that soldiers killed in battle defending the United States are 'suckers and losers' (Hirsh 2020). 

Former Trump aide, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster states that Trump is aiding and abetting Russian president, Vladimir Putin, by failing to acknowledge Russia's misinformation campaign being waged in the United States (Sanger 2020).

So why do his followers continue defending him? They state that they are patriots, yet grovel at the feet of Traitor Trump as he destroys the nation they claim to love. 

To quote Forest Gump, 'stupid is as stupid does'. Trump is clearly a traitor to his own people. As millions of people were contracting COVID-19 and hundreds of thousands dying from it, he treated it as a joke and mocked those who tried to control it. In mid-September 2020, Trump stated that there would be a COVID-19 vaccine within three to four weeks (Marsh 2020). Three weeks later there was no vaccine in sight ... and Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19. 

In 1977, Pink Floyd released an album called Animals. The lyrics from the song Pigs are extremely apt to Trump, so much so that Roger Waters used it in his 2017/18 world tour: 'Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are'. Trump is a pig, gorging himself at the trough while America degenerates. Trump is a charade. There was another song on that album, called Dogs, whose lyrics are very descriptive of Trump: 'You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to, So that when they turn their backs on you, You'll get the chance to put the knife in ... And when you lose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown'.

Trump is reaping what he has sown. He is the victim of his own stupidity, which tragically has killed more than 210,000 people and will likely kill many thousands more.

Trump is such a liar that many people doubted he had actually contracted COVID-19. He had been hospitalised and on oxygen according to his doctors, but within a few days of the diagnosis, he was back at work saying that COVID-19 was nothing to worry about. 210,000 dead people and their families would likely disagree with this cretin. It's easy for a simpleton such as Trump to tell people, 'Do not be afraid', when he has the best medical treatment that money can buy.

Trump by name, Trumpery by nature. 

Even with his pathological lying, hate-speech, snout-in-the-trough corruption, Don the Con's racist, sexist, misogynistic, white-supremacist snowflake supporters expect people to have sympathy for Trump and his racist wife, Melania, as they are treated for COVID-19.

That isn't going to happen. 

Sympathy for the Trumps?

How about sympathy for their victims.

References

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