Trump’s real legacy
A couple of days ago an internet troll mocked me for supporting a President who “can’t speak in complete sentences.” I thought that was particularly funny because President Biden can usually speak in complete sentences and Trump frequently can’t. Neither man is anyone’s idea of an eloquent speaker.
In any case, as a maker of complete sentences myself, I find the talent for eloquent speech low on my list of priorities for talents I would expect a president to have. High on my list would be an ability to find elegant and fair solutions to vexing problems.
For example, President Biden’s immensely successful coronavirus vaccine rollout in his first hundred days in office comes immediately to mind. I can’t think of anything Trump has done that was ever elegant or fair. As near as I can tell he did nothing at all and no effective ideas that came out of his administration ever originated with him. Trump’s principle output was bile delivered by tweet. His presidency was scabrous, uncouth, vulgarian and stupid. He achieved nothing, and he didn’t even do that very well.
That’s nothing less than a condemnation, but it’s not enough. That Trump did no good is not the same thing as saying he did no harm. He did plenty of harm, chief among this was that he taught millions of people that it was once again safe to make their private bigotries public. I can add little to the common complaint that Trump’s legacy is that he helped “Make America Hate Again,” or the common observation that “red hat” is an anagram for “hatred.”
So it comes as no surprise that Trump’s friends are just like he is. One of the most awful human beings to come crawling out of the political landscape is Trump’s sexual predator friend Corey Lewandowski. He was recently ousted as head of the Trump super PAC “Make America Great Again Action,” after being credibly accused of sexually harassing a female GOP donor.
The Daily Beast now reports that Lewandowski has been banned from Trump properties and parties, and that Lewandowski didn’t even know about the ban. It must have been the Beast’s distinct pleasure to deliver the news. According to sources close to the situation the ban came directly from Donald Trump himself.
But that’s another thing that separates Biden and Trump. Trump’s list of friends is filled to overbrimming with a parade of criminals, sexual deviants, rapists and thieves, and when they get caught behaving like Trump they get unceremoniously ejected from his inner circle. Biden’s friends are good guys who get praise when they behave like Biden. The divide between the men couldn’t be more obvious.
Trump’s awful legacy is still yielding dividends in unnecessary illnesses and deaths from coronavirus. Trump put muddled ideas in the muddled heads of his followers, muddled and confused and poorly enunciated ideas about the efficacy of wearing a mask and the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine itself. Trump at once wants to discredit Biden’s rollout of the vaccine and falsely claim to have invented it.
Corey Lewandowski serves as a symbol for what Trump truly is. Trump surrounds himself with criminals who are just like he is and he hasn’t even got the guts to defend them when they get caught behaving like Trump himself. Trump is the complete loser without morals, loyalty or courage, and that is and always shall remain his real legacy. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.