Ashok Dhillon
Aug 28, 20207 min
The 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC) is over, and it was a fear-mongering, lies and falsehoods-infested Trump family-fest, with token representations of like-minded sycophants that reinforced the delusion that the America they warned about under the Democrats, was in fact President Donald J. Trump’s America, aided and abetted by the now zombiefied Republican Party.
The RNC was reduced to a recycling of Trump family members stumping for ‘daddy and hubby’, and an odd assortment of random people wilfully blind to Trump’s colossal failings as President, husband and father, but willing to parrot fact-less, mindless and inane Right-wing call to arms for the possible future destruction of America under the still-to-be elected President Joe Biden, and his choice of Vice President, Kamala Harris, while ignoring the present shattered Trump America.
The America that is now seething with hate and division, open racism, with Black Americans being murdered almost daily by police, peaceful American protesters being attacked by American paramilitary forces as an occupying force, and being threatened and shot on the streets by white supremacist vigilantes, with sickness and death haunting the country, and its economy in tatters, is Trump’s America, the one that neither the Trump team nor the supporters will take responsibility for.
While they rule (Trump, Pence and the Republicans), it is always the Democrats that are at fault for everything. This refusal to take responsibility for their own actions, and the constant state of denial of Trump’s horrific failures of character and policies infused the entire RNC, as it has done during Trump’s entire Presidency. Today, America is a lawless mess because of Trump, with endless criminal convictions of his inner circle, with him and his administration flagrantly breaking all the rules, laws and protocols, constantly encouraging race and ideological wars, and in full denial of the ‘Great Trump Catastrophe’, the Pandemic of 2020, with its horrendous human and economic toll, all while he is still President. That one simple fact was studiously avoided by everyone.
The motley crew of sons, daughters, daughter-in-laws, wives, family friends, and amateurs, with the sprinkling of political allies, some still holding public office (and therefore offside with the rules), and a mixed bag of white gun-toting and hostile racists, incongruously interspersed with the obligatory black apologists out-of-step with their own racial majority, came on stage to endorse another four years for the incumbent which they promised will again take a crack at making ‘America Great Again’, as obviously he had failed miserably in the first term.
None of the Trump team deigned to take on the burning question as to why Trump failed so miserably in his first term, and why the ‘American carnage’ he spoke of at his inauguration, when most everything was stable and improving steadily domestically and in foreign relations, has manifested itself like a fiery vortex destroying all semblance of law-and-order, stability, health and well being, prosperity, economic growth, and jobs stability.
Not addressing why under Trump, America lies in smoldering ruins with its cities wracked by turmoil, and shootings, its people infected by the Corona Virus in the millions, and hundreds of thousands dead, and thousands dying on a daily basis, did not make the issue go away, but it did make it all the more startling by the avoidance.
The RNC, his family affair, all raved at the possibility of Trump becoming effective, responsible, competent and caring in the second-term, all the while wilfully ignoring the fact that he was anything but any of those things in the first term. They all tellingly ignored the ruins and devastation staring them and the world in the face from Trump’s devastatingly damaging first term. However, there is no hiding from the truth, which is plain enough for all to see, internationally.
Almost none of them mentioned America’s leading pole-position in the pandemic since its very early spread, because of Trump-daddy’s and Trump-hubby’s irresponsible stupid denials, and subsequent active obstruction of medical and scientific advice, which is carried on even today.
None who stepped on the RNC stage quoted the figures of almost 6 Million infected Americans from COVID19, and the almost 180,000 dead – and that figure is climbing by approximately 1000 dying Americans every single day! None of them acknowledged ‘their Hero’s role’ in that criminally negligent disaster, as America under Trump’s gross incompetence beat every other country in the world, including the most underdeveloped, in becoming the leading country by far, to be ravaged by the virus, by his ‘hugely’ mismanagement of the pandemic. None of them acknowledged the devastating effect Trump’s and his administrations mismanagement of the pandemic had on America’s economy, as it lies in ruins today, unable to get up because of the nationally uncontrolled pandemic, which is still spreading.
None of the raving ‘Conservatives’ so worried about ‘Democrat Socialism’ talked about the record government debt Trump racked-up before the pandemic, and the eye watering debt that is being added on now, by the Trillions (over 4 Trillion added since the early part of the pandemic), during his mishandled pandemic, in just his first-term.
The Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, who Trump loved to hate, and serially abused, has removed all stops and is willing to ‘do whatever it takes’, and boost the Fed Balance Sheet to 12 Trillion or more, just to keep the economy and the stock markets from going through the absolute floor. Powell has saved Trump’s bacon by his ultra aggressive actions, otherwise the ‘Great Trump Catastrophe’ would have totally destroyed the economy, and the high flying stock markets that Trump likes to take credit for, even though he has had nothing to do with them at this time, except be an impediment. The recovery of the stock markets is all the Fed doing, and Trump owes Powell a ‘bigly’ thank you!
So where is the Conservative-Republican outrage over the astronomical debt under Trump’s first-term? By the way, Trump’s extreme spendthrift ways make Obama look like the most Conservative of the conservatives as he only spent a couple of Trillion to save America and the global financial system from the last Republican economic disaster, the ‘George W. Bush 2008 Great Financial Crisis’. The Republicans turned themselves inside out in endlessly excoriating Obama’s spending, which is downright anemic compared to what Trump is going to leave behind. Remember Obama saved the financial system and the global economy from the day he stepped into the White House. Joe Biden will have to do the same!
There is a strange consistent truth – Democrat administrations have managed the US economy far better than Republican administrations, going back decades. There are no ‘alternate facts’ here. The numbers speak for themselves.
(Source: zFacts National Debt Graph)
As his family members and his sycophants stepped up to endorse him, none addressed the glaring anomalies between what they were saying and the realities of his first-term, as above. They also dared not address:
The 30 plus criminal convictions stemming from the various criminal investigations into Trump 2016 Campaign, and his inner circle of aides and advisers. Nobody addressed the recent ‘Bipartisan’ Senate Intelligence Committee’s Report, confirming Trump Campaign’s collusion with the Russians.
Nobody explained Trump’s affinity and praise for all the worst Dictators of the world, and his dislike of all the Democratic leaders of all the historic allies, even as they gave full-throated assurances that Trump will defend America’s democracy and its values, while they ignored the reality of his past and present actions that assures the destruction of them, such as free and fair elections and the peaceful transition of power.
Nobody explained why the ‘Wall’ was still not built, and why Mexico did not pay for it. In fact, why was a fund-raiser put together by Trump’s former Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, raising funds from Americans to pay for it.
Nobody explained the multiple FAILED efforts of Trump and the Republican Party to destroy ‘Obamacare’, and replace it with Trump’s ‘Healthcare for all’, which would be ‘cheaper’ and ‘cover every American’. Nobody addressed why in the 4 years of his first-term, Trump and the Republicans in power, never even came up with a Healthcare Plan?
Among the other glaring ‘FAILS’ of Trump’s first term:
Why couldn’t Trump revive the ‘coal industry’ as he said he would? Remember his line ‘We love coal’? In fact, why did American industry as a whole not revive? Capital investments were anemic while corporate share buybacks became the rage. His big tax-cuts in the first-term benefited the wealthy and big corporations, leaving him and the Republicans promising the next one for the middle-class.
How come the off-shore jobs did not come flooding back, nor did most of the US Trillions of dollars, sitting in offshore tax havens?
How come with all the ‘tariff wars’ on friends and foes alike, nobody buckled and gave America a lopsided ‘Win’ deal.
How come in spite of embracing the murderous Kim Jongun as his BFF, North Korea did not give up even a single nuclear weapon nor did it destroy its capability?
How come China didn’t buckle and sign anything meaningful, except the meaningless and largely symbolic Phase 1 of a trade deal. In fact, China pays the trade deal mostly lip service, and does not enact it seriously, leaving Trump to beg them to buy some agricultural products, just to keep the American farmer ‘voting bloc’ happy?
Why after illegally breaking the ‘Nuclear Deal’ between five nations, and the UN, and Iran, Trump and Pompeo are being rejected and ignored by almost all, as they desperately try re-enter and reclaim some participation in it? Why have 13 out of 15 countries rejected America’s proposal to re-impose the draconian economic sanctions on Iran, twice.
Why did all of the Middle Eastern countries reject Jared Kushner’s laughable ‘Middle East Plan’ as a joke? Why is there still no comprehensive ‘Middle East Plan’ involving the major players of the Middle East, Israel and the Palestinians?
Why does no other country in the world trust America now?
Why is the world laughing at Trump as the President?
Why does his administration have the fastest revolving doors, as he hires his very ‘best people’, who he later calls ‘losers’ as they all head out the door? Republican stalwarts like Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, Reince Priebus, Anthony Scaramucci, John Bolton, James Comey, etc. too many more to list. All Republicans!
Why have the American Generals turned on him, and consider him as a threat to National Security?
Why are so many top former Republican government security officials considering Trump a National Security threat - and now will vote for Joe Biden?
And, perhaps more critically, why does Trump keep failing in almost all his policies, domestic and foreign. They can spin this fact all they want but there is no hiding from it.
One could go on, as there is no limit to Trump’s failures as America’s President. Regardless of what his mob family says, or his zombie sycophants say, or the stream of lies that continue to spew from him and his, the last thing America and the world needs is a second term of a potential nuclear wasteland from an incompetent, immoral, pathologically lying Trump.