Is the ‘great looking’ Trump exempt from Constitution?

To Ozaukee Press:

As we suffer through the third year of the Trump administration, Trump continues to issue a steady stream of lies, insults and ridiculous tweets. He recently tweeted that he is “so great looking and smart, a true stable genius.” This is the kind of stuff we would normally attribute to the guy at the bar who has been there too long and had a few too many. But no, it’s Donald Trump. After all this time, it is easy to write Trump off as a loud-mouthed buffoon who just doesn’t know how to behave like a gentleman. But there is a darker, more sinister side to Trump as well.

His continued forays into fascism should be alarming to all Americans. Although he has sworn to uphold the Constitution, he constantly rails against the First Amendment. Trump calls the free press “the enemy of the people.” Remember that Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong also used this term. 

In his tweet about his “great looks,” Trump also claimed he could be president for another 10 to 14 years. The Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution limits presidents to two terms. Trump has claimed that judges cannot be trusted, the Department of Justice cannot be trusted, and that the FBI, the CIA and the whole intelligence community cannot be trusted. He has said we have “bad laws,” he insults the House of Representatives and the Senate. Trump has tried to persuade his base of supporters that he is the only man in America who can be trusted.

How ironic that Trump has convinced many in a party that used to call itself the moral majority and the religious right to support a man who has had three wives, cheated on all three and had affairs with a porn star and a Playboy model; a man who made illegal hush money payments to keep the affairs quiet and openly bragged about sexually assaulting women. 

The Trump University was fined $25 million for defrauding students and the Trump foundation was forced to shut down for misappropriating funds. These are facts that Trump’s base refuse to believe or choose to ignore.

Trump has now lied over 10,000 times to the American people since his inauguration. He is a terrible liar because he can be so easily fact-checked, particularly with the internet.

The First Amendment guarantees us freedom of, and freedom from, religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of press and the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. We cannot let Trump or anyone else take away these rights. If we lose them we will have lost our democracy.

James Korthals

Cedarburg