Ceeboo wrote:Yeah, Trump's presser with Russian dictator Putin was terrible. In addition to looking like a buffoon (again), he undermined the credibility of American intelligence agencies. in my opinion, this was/is inexcusable for any sitting President and Americans, from all political parties, ought to be united in clear condemnation.
But..........
Ceeboo, it's my own opinion that the last word there can be problematic.
You go on to describe an arguably over-the-top comment and assert that this is contributing to the poisonous political climate in the country, but you want to do this by removing all of the context that precedes it.
It's not that the President "looked like a buffoon", which implies a sort of innocent and solitary transgression, but that his continual insistence in publicly undermining the people of the intelligence community is something that signals a greater threat to some than a simple moment of buffoonery.
The President uses his completely unique position of power and public commentary to insult and undermine whatever and whomever he takes issue with, even when the folks that are the target of his ire are lawfully committing to their own responsibilities. Specifically, here he does so against the people charged with keeping us secure from this country's enemies. He has been doing this since Day One as President. As example he has, as of late, resorted to fantasticly hyperbolic statements about how the Mueller investigation is the
most biased, possibly illegal and tainted "witch hunt" in the history of the Nation and how he is the
most persecuted President ever. At some point, it is assumed that random cable show commentators will make remarks that are about as hysterical as the President has, but you could see that coming when our own President is willing to toss anyone under the bus so violently in attempts to preserve his own position and image. This is the example he is setting. Every day.
To me, it's the political time that we are living in - very similar to members of the Trump administration and the tens of millions of American citizens who supported/voted for Trump being labeled as white supremacists, haters and even Nazis. Among other things, hysterically, wildly and irresponsibly attaching labels like Nazi to so many American citizens cheapens the Holocaust.
It's unreasonable, it's irrational and it's unbalanced hysteria.
Thoughts?
Back when we had the altercations in Charlottesville between white supremacists and their opponents, the President had an opportunity to unequivocally state his support for the idea that the Nazi idealism espoused by some would not, under any circumstances, be given the same respect as views on tolerance. Or that white supremacist voices did not represent American ideals, and that such demonstrations were worthy of defense. But Trump chose instead to equivocate on that issue out of a need to pander to his Base. He kneecapped respect for victims of the Holocaust long before your MSNBC reporter made the faulty comparison to Kristallnacht.