I don’t know why I’m still surprised, after 3+ years and countless lies, that Trump’s followers have done more than swallow the poisonous stew he spews. They have become the stew. And nothing could be a better example of this than the recent article in the Heritage, “Time For Trump To Be Trump,” written by columnist Caroline Glick.

Here’s a few of the falsehoods and exaggerations Glick stated so vehemently in her article:

“America had become the laughingstock of its enemies and the worst nightmare of its friends, as Obama and his merry band of foreign policy “experts” abandoned and denigrated allies…”

“According to FBI data, after rising sharply in the last years of the Obama presidency, violent crime in America went down in every year of Trump’s presidency.”

“Americans are now expected to kneel when the Star Spangled Banner plays … while swallowing whole a false, malicious new history that claims America has been a force for evil at home and worldwide.”

“The Chinese are betting that their virus, which capsized the Trump economy, will spell the demise of their nemesis.”

“The strength of America’s alliance with Israel is a reflection of the strength of American power.” 

What’s interesting to me is the clever way in which Glick weaves together the Trumpian themes of Obama-bashing, attacks on white America, and righteous America vs. the world, all while lacking any acknowledgement of either history or the complexity of the issues she cites. A few points to make this clear:

First of all, HAHAHAHA! Was it Obama who made the U.S. a laughingstock to its allies? Did Obama denounce NATO? Did Obama say he admired Putin, and believed him more than U.S. intelligence experts? Did Obama say he’d never been briefed on Russian bounties being placed on the heads of American soldiers? It has become an all-too-common and all-too-easy ploy to bash former President Obama, who Trump supporters seem to hate almost as viscerally as they do Hilary Clinton. With the exception of Obama’s relationship with Netanyahu (they both really dislike one another), and his mixed (at best) support of Israel, Obama was widely admired worldwide. And Trump? Our allies don’t trust or believe him. He embarrasses himself with the ease in which he is manipulated by praise and pomp. John Bolton says Putin believes he can “play Trump like a fiddle.” HAHAHAHAHA.

Now let’s look at some real statistics. In 2007, the year before Obama took office, there were 1,422,970 cases of violent crime committed in the United States, as reported by the FBI. In 2016, the year he left office, there were 1,250,162. Yes, an uptick occurred in the last two years of his presidency, and violent crime decreased by 0.2 percent in Trump’s first year, a difference of less than 3,000 crimes nationwide. But the overall trend during Obama’s presidency was a decrease of 12 percent in violent crime.

Are Americans now expected to kneel when the Star Spangled Banner plays? No. But there should be an understanding that the right to protest and the right to free speech are inherently American.

Only the most radical elements of the left believe the U.S. is evil. But is there any truth that the United States has implemented racial injustices throughout our history? As reported by the Stanford Open Policing Project, a black man is more than twice as likely to be pulled over while driving by the police than a white driver, and more than four times as likely to be searched. African American men are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites, and African American women at more than 2 times the rate of white women. Does that sound like equitable justice, and if it doesn’t, can we admit that there is a problem that needs to be rectified?

Glick coyly says the coronavirus belongs to the Chinese, implying both that they created and control it. Besides the fact that there is no evidence that it was created in a laboratory, and even though the Chinese were undoubtedly duplicitous in their reporting on the nature and spread of the virus, I guarantee they neither want to own it nor lay claim to it. And Trump has touted his friendship and admiration of President Xi Jinping repeatedly, until such time as it was detrimental for him to do so.

Finally, is U.S. power tied in any way to support of Israel? While that sounds nice, there is no inherent connection between US power and US support of Israel, though one could make the case that no country stands alone, that alliances are important, and if that is the case, Trump has undermined the U.S. relationship with nearly every ally we have with the exception of Israel. For all you passionate Israel supporters out there, I would only ask, is this reason enough to support him?

Trump has decimated environmental protections. He trashed the Iran nuclear agreement with nothing to replace it, and the end result has been Iran’s re-starting its nuclear program. He gave a huge tax deduction to the rich, which temporarily boosted the economy and left us with trillions of dollars in debt that was supposed to be paid for by 6 percent growth, which never occurred. In fact, Trump’s economy has been barely, marginally better than Obama’s, even with the tax cuts.

So where does that leave us? Only with the obvious acknowledgement that Glick’s article, like so much information reported by the White House is little more than lies and propaganda. Sad.

And that’s the bad word on Trump. Feel free to contact me through the Heritage, or at dsb328@gmail.com. I’m David Bornstein. True that.