The classic definition of sacred is something that is so special that it has to be treated with reverence, respect, is inviolable, highly valued, important, and most of all, holy and often worthy of religious veneration. One of the inviolable rules in our society is that when you have a major tragedy that causes widespread death and destruction, we should pray, and behave with deep empathy, restraint, caution, sorrow, and offer heart-felt help to survivors. But this is hardly the case with Presidential candidate Trump.
Hurricane Helene caused widespread devastation in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee in the United States of America. The death toll has risen to 227. The day after the storm, President Biden set the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) into action and said he would visit the area to survey the damage and so did Vice-President Harris. They expressed caution and restraint because they did not want their footprint during their short tours to get in the way of the very crucial, urgent and important work of first responders, rescue crews, the state, and local emergency officials. What did candidate Trump do?
He went to Georgia alright which he had the right to since he is a Presidential candidate. Then his conduct while he was there went sideways. I could see in the video online that he went to a brick building the hurricane had destroyed. He may have summoned what looked like 30 workers donned in emergency uniforms to collect bricks from the rubble to construct a makeshift press conference podium. His handlers had Trump read his speech which he read in a halting manner. All of this was alright and probably what any candidate would normally have done for the most part.
The press and other reporters these days tend to sane wash some of the things Trump says with a serving of both-sidism. They call them “untruths”, “disinformation”, and “misinformation” which are wrong terms. Trump simply tells lies.
After 9 years, lies are what we should say he tells. At that press conference he lied that President Biden and the Federal government were not doing anything to help the hurricane victims. He said Biden could not even contact the Republican Georgia Governor Kemp about providing help for the hurricane victims. Georgia Governor Kemp the following day had to correct the lies and said at a press conference that President Biden had contacted him and offered to help with anything the state needed. By that time, the damage from the lies had been done. This is characteristic of a narcissist sociopath; he has no regard for the the truth during this sacred moment nor the damage, the despair, and perhaps even death he might have caused to others because of his lies. During Trump’s January 6 insurrection, 5 police officers died and hundreds were wounded because of Trump’s big lie that he had won the 2020 election.
None of the terrible things I am saying about Trump bring me any joy. Like perhaps many millions of Americans, I am exhausted of Trump lies, numerous scandals, and vile things he unleashes, deepening the moral sewage on all of us every minute of each day as soon as his lips are moving or he posts something on his social media. But his lies not only harm many people like he did in Smithfield in Ohio about illegal immigrants eating cats and dogs, but we are now exactly 30 days to the Presidential elections on November 5. His lies could result in the tragedy of his being elected by accident like was the case in 2016.
For example, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell pushed back on Trump lies.
Trump had lied that FEMA was running out of money to aid its disaster relief efforts, because the White House had misused the funds “on illegal migrants coming into the country.” Some of the numerous terrible things Trump has done might sound minor and picky to his MAGA supporters and some Republicans. Congress sent Covid pandemic relief checks to millions of Americans. Trump at the time insisted that when these government checks were printed, his name should appear on the checks as President. This was very unusual as any other normal Presidents would perhaps not have insisted on doing this. But since Trump is a cunning narcissist, he had to do it.
I have seen online at least 5 random interviews of voters who argue that they will vote for Trump because he wrote them the pandemic checks. These voters had looks on their faces that wrongly said Trump wrote the checks personally from his account since he is a billionaire. Are you kidding me? These 5 voters might represent millions of low information misled voters who might not be well educated but will be voting next month.
If you are a Republican and MAGA supporter, you might be thinking I will vote for Trump which will “trigger the libs”. You will be destroying your own country if you vote for Trump. If you are a diehard Republican or MAGA supporter, hold your nose and vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz next month to save the country. We have to end this nightmare of hostile divisiveness that has been in our country since 2016.
By Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D.
Emeritus Professor of Sociology
But the continuation of wars and NATO expansionist agenda do not bold well for a Kamala presidency. And end to wars favors tRump!