Donald Trump is
dangerous for many reasons, but this one stands out to me the most right now -
Donald Trump attacks and punishes anyone who says anything against him, even the press which is supposed to be protected by the first amendment. Just
one example is that he attacked and demeaned a woman reporter, Megyn Kelly who
asked him a tough question during the first debate. And now he personally
attacks Kareem Abdul Jabar who wrote and article in the Washington Post pointing out that Trump attacks the press who
displease him and thus attacks the first amendment itself.
That makes him more than a
distasteful huckster, it makes him a threat to the country, should the country
have a fit of insanity and make him president.
However, the story that most reveals Trump’s nature, in my mind, is when he sued a former beauty
contestant who claimed the Miss USA contest was corrupt. He sent his vicious attack dog lawyer,
Michael Cohen, to destroy her
financially for the rest of her life.
What chance did she have against that level of viciousness and financial
power?
Some key quotes from
this article:
"The Trump confidant also bragged to The Daily
Beast about how he “destroy[ed]” the life of a young beauty queen—a woman Cohen
called an “idiot.”
…hit with a $5 million defamation penalty in
arbitration for questioning the integrity of the pageant’s results.
When asked by host Harvey Levin about the size
of the intended lawsuit (“How much money are you gonna get from somebody who
works at the Sunglass Hut?”) Cohen said, “It’s not about the money. You
understand that. You understand Mr. Trump.”
In her request to have the $5 million award
vacated, Monnin asked the court “Please do not enter a judgment that will
financially devastate me for the rest of my life based on this record.”
Oops, I think the worst word you can use when
talking with an authoritarian, cruel, bully is “please”, shows weakness you
see.
"Indeed, Cohen himself explained the meaning behind his nickname,
Trump’s “pit bull,” in a 2011 interview with ABC News.
“It means that if somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like,
I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit,” Cohen said.
“If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck and
I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.”
That attitude was on display when Cohen spoke with The Daily
Beast. “I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse.
And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after
your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen told The
Daily Beast reporter who reached out to the campaign for comment over ex-wife
Ivana Trump’s 1993deposed
assertion that she had been “raped” by her then-husband, allegations she
later softened in a statement in which she asked her comments not to be
interpreted “in a literal or criminal sense.”
“So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m
going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?” Cohen
said."
Disgusting is the absolute best word to describe Mr Cohen,
and his boss, Mr Trump. Yuck.
This is an
authoritarian and cruel man who should never be given power of any kind, let
alone the presidency. When authoritarians gain power,
supported by authoritarian followers and voters, the result can be
tyranny.
I expect Trump to flame out as soon as people start asking
real questions about real issues that reveal that he knows very little about anything
that a president needs to be intimately aware of. That is what happened to Sarah Palin, and it
is what will happen to Trump. There are
many conservatives who see how shallow his resume and knowledge are, and if
Democrats are lucky enough to have him as a Republican presidential candidate,
either Clinton or Biden will be able to make him look ridiculously ignorant,
which of course he is. The only tool in
his kit box is bluster, threats, and punishment. He can hurt anyone, and he wants to. Not good. But he can't win the presidency.
