When the President of the United States is notorious for being willfully ignorant and dismissive of factual data, even when it is provided by the experts in his own administration, he ought not to be calling other people names and disparaging their intellect. But that is a behavioral flaw that is all too common with Donald Trump, whose preference for his own counsel (whatever that means) prevails over that of professionals with decades of experience.
Trump recently told an interviewer from CBS that he “doesn’t have to agree” with Intelligence team. That’s technically true, but it is not generally considered a good idea for someone who knows nothing about national security to ignore the advice of those who have spent a lifetime studying it. Trump also stated that he has “no confidence” in those same Intelligence experts – who he appointed to their posts – apparently preferring the guidance of his shadow cabinet on Fox News and mentors like Vladimir Putin.
Despite this cognitive breakdown, Trump still manages to cast insults at anyone who isn’t sufficiently deferential to his point of view and ego. And his targets include the American people who he is supposed to be serving as their representative. This betrayal of the people’s will is best exemplified by Trump’s position on building a useless wall along the southern border. Most people knowledgeable about immigration agree that a wall is an ineffective solution to the problems cited by Trump and other Republicans. What’s more, a new poll by Gallup shows that most Americans (60%) “oppose significant new construction on border walls.”
This opposition to what has become Trump’s signature fetish is not new. The Gallup poll confirms the results of nearly every other poll done on this subject. The desires of the American people are well known and firmly held. But that hasn’t stopped Trump and his cohorts in the GOP and on Fox News from trying to force their unwise and unpopular plan on a nation that unambiguously rejects it. And what do the citizens of the country get for expressing themselves?
Only fools, or people with a political agenda, don’t want a Wall or Steel Barrier to protect our Country from Crime, Drugs and Human Trafficking. It will happen – it always does!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2019
So Trump regards at least sixty percent of the American people as “fools.” Never mind that they agree with the experts while Trump is basing his opinion on partisans associated with flagrantly racist interest groups. This disrespect for the citizens of this country is emblematic of a malignant narcissist who wishes he could be a dictator. Trump forced the nation into its longest ever government shutdown over a policy that the majority of voters oppose. And he is threatening to do it again, or to violate the Constitution with a phony national emergency declaration. And all to advance a proposal for a wall that has been nothing but a scam from the start.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
