Embarrassed American

Consider this an open apology to the world. Donald J. Trump makes me embarrassed to be an American. Even though I am proud to be a Democrat and a critic of Trump, I still feel the need to apologize to our friends and allies for the fact that so many of my countrymen still support Trump and the Republicans who are covering his ass like a soiled diaper. To the British people who are apologizing to us for some of their countrymen flying over London a blimp that is an effigy of a diaper clad infant Donald Trump let me say that I find this effigy and the fact that it is a blimp quite appropriate. The Google Dictionary's definition of blimp is in part, “a pompous, reactionary type of person', and as an example of its usage it says,"no Colonel Blimp could have been more nationalistic." But in Trump's case the nationalism is not real. It is rather the sort of demagoguery that exploits xenophobia and paranoia while trying to transform flag waving and other ritualistic patriotic observances into a quasi religion with Trump as its head priest or its patron saint or even its god. To put it bluntly, Trump's brand of nationalism is nothing more than snake oil with very nasty side effects.

Far from defending or promoting our interests abroad Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to them. His phony nationalism manifests itself in destructive protective tariffs that are precipitating a trade war with our friends and most loyal allies, including the EU and Canada! As Delphine Strauss quite correctly stated in her July 8, 2018 Financial Times article:

“Donald Trump raged against his G7 allies this week, accusing them of charging the US “massive” tariffs and erecting barriers to keep American farmers out.

Economists, however, have heaped scorn on many of the US president’s claims, saying they were a distortion of reality that betrayed a lack of understanding of the issues or of what mattered for the US economy.”

Furthermore Trump is conflating trade policies with defense policies. At the NATO breakfast meeting, the he accused Germany of being “totally controlled” by Russia because of the gas Germany buys from Russia, but as Bess Levin stated in Vanity Fair:

“By pointing a diminutive orange finger at Germany, Trump is trying to spread the blame, deflecting attention from his own administration’s all-too-cozy ties to Putin, whom he’ll visit later this week. It’s the same move he pulled in October 2016, when he so eloquently told Hillary Clinton, “No puppet, no puppet. You’re the puppet.” For their part, the Europeans were not impressed; Merkel, who grew up in a Germany that was literally partially controlled by Russia, remarked that the country had been “free of Russian control since the fall of the Berlin Wall”

A long term goal of Vladimir Putin has always been the destruction of NATO, and Trump is greatly aiding Putin's efforts to undermine NATO by falsely

claiming that the US is paying 90% of the costs of the alliance. The real percentage the US pays is 22%.

Just in case you are wondering, the answer is no. I am not going to apologize for any of the vitriol in this post. Miss Levin was justified in using it, and the Brits are correct in showing their displeasure with Trump by flying the effigy of him! Even many Republican lawmaker are beginning to understand that Trump is a disaster for their party, their country, and the world. It is a pity none of them have the courage to do what is necessary to remedy that. So far their response to Trump's dangerous actions has been far too timid. Still the resolution in House of Representatives supporting NATO in contradiction of Trump's unwarranted and false criticisms of the alliance is progress, as is the rebuke the Senate handed Trump in the form “...a non binding measure calling for a greater role in overseeing Trump’s trade decisions, [knowing that the measure will be seen as] an implicit criticism of new tariffs the president has levied on some of the country’s closest allies and largest trading partners."