The Bullshit Divider in Chief

In a time America needed consoling, trump gave racist DIVIDING.

On Thursday morning, watching the trump press briefing, I was completely STUNNED.

For the first two minutes of his press briefing, he seemed... normal.

trump was appearing in the press briefing room for the first time in his wretched already chaotic presidency, to address the nation after a tragic accident last night in which a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a commercial airliner, killing all 67 people.

Oh course, within a few hours of the accident, trump rushed to throw his two cents into the investigation, asininely opining when nobody asked for his fucking opinion about what happened. How about let the investigators investigate, you shameless buffoon.

But that was predictable. That's not what had me shocked.

No, what had me questioning whether I was awake or dreaming was the first 120 seconds of his press briefing this morning. His tone was subdued and appropriate. He was actually doing the consoling thing that ALL other Presidents have done in times like this.

He opened with a moment of silence and read remarks that literally could have been presented by a "normal" President: "a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions."

Now, normally, words like this wouldn't be a big deal at all -- they are EXPECTED of a President of the United States, regardless of party affiliation. But we're not talking about a normal President. We're talking about a twice-impeached, adjudicated rapist, and convicted felon.

Nothing is normal.

But for a few minutes, trump's Klan robe disappeared, and he appeared somewhat normal.

And, just as suddenly, he snapped right out of it. Not only did he snap out of it, he made up for lost time by erasing any cache from his accidental presidential appearance when he said the word "bullshit" from behind the podium, and all the garbage that preceded and followed it.

The word "bullshit" made its appearance during a derogatory rant against former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, when he accused him of having "a good line of bullshit."

And, of course, no trump speech would be complete without blaming both former Presidents Obama and Biden for the aviation disaster, despite the fact that this was the first one America had seen in 16 years.

In that moment, President Obama rose to the occasion to console the nation, with no words of criticism or derision for his predecessors, for any political opponents real or imagined, or for any other American. THAT is who Obama is, and that is how it should be done.

But trump took the nation from somber to fucking outrage in a heartbeat, and it was so unnecessary. I'm not saying I would have come away suddenly being a red hatted trump fan, but I might've been pleasantly surprised if he'd just left his speech at "consoler in chief."

He is incapable of that mode. He left the nation with the unmistakable impression that he did not believe America's flight passengers would be as safe in the air with a Black pilot, than they would be with a White pilot. His rant sprinkled the word "superior" throughout his speech like a Nazi condiment.

This is who he is. It's who he has ALWAYS been.

Going back to the 70s, when he was sued for refusing to rent properties to Black families, and had a coding system in place to prevent it -- that is the definition of systematic racism.

Going back to the 80s, when he railed against the Central Park 5 (now the Exonerated Five), young men of color who were wrongfully convicted of a crime someone else committed, he called for them to be executed. Later, he refused to recant, even as DNA evidence cleared them.

Going back to the 90s, when he was a witness in a House hearing when he voiced his opposition to Native American gaming, and he said "they don’t look like Indians to me."

Going back to the 2000s, his birtherism attack on President Obama revealed his seething hatred of the man who was his better in every way, but never had to say it. And then he parlayed his popularity with the racists into his presidential bid, as he declared Mexicans were rapists and murderers.

His fellow racists rallied to his side after the Charlottesville debacle, as they all insisted that he didn't say what he said when he said "very fine people, on both sides." They realized that now, in this age of "alternative facts," he could both say something AND deny ever having said it, claiming context was missing.

He dusted off his racist gameplan in his fight against Kamala Harris, refusing to pronounce her name correctly, and launching an attack against Haitian immigrants by accusing them of "eating the dogs" and cats and pets of people in Springfield, OH -- an attack that was quickly debunked.

In 2008, America surprised me, almost in the same way trump initially surprised me in the first two minutes of his speech: America had elected Obama, the man of honor who inspired us to do better and be better. He made us feel as if we'd moved past a barrier of hate.

I think what hurt me the MOST about trump winning the election this time around is that I allowed myself to momentarily believe that the America of 2008 was back, that we'd elect the better candidate, and reject the hateful, convicted felon.

But no, the America of 2008 wasn't gone; it was a mirage. A whole new legion of hateful people were awakened with the election of Obama, and trump summoned them with his diatribes against "political correctness," which later became crusades against "woke," and now it's "DEI."

And "DEI" is just a cover phrase for what they've been wanting to say this whole time: the "n" word.

DEI is a small phrase, weaponized and wielded by a small man, who shrank from a big moment to reveal how petty he is. Ironically, it is meant to signify people who are not qualified for a job being given special treatment -- that describes 95% of trump's majority White cabinet.

Going forward, I will not allow myself to be lulled into a false sense of security or surprise at any momentary displays from trump of decency or discipline. He is who he is, and he will never be any better, just getting worse by the day.

And the sooner we all get on the same page and realize that he is not normal and means us harm, the better. We are long past the America of 2008, but we have a real chance at making 2028 2008 again if we wake up and smell the DEI.

QUESTION: What are your hopes and expectations for the next election? And what would you like to see Democrats do for the next two to four years?