Originally Posted by AVB-AMG

GOODBYE DONALD TRUMP

Donald Trump will be leaving office with one of the lowest job approval ratings of any President in our history. A PBS/NPR/Marist poll published today shows that Trump has a dismal 38% job approval rating, with 57% disapproving of him. I am not surprised….

Regardless of whatever you think that Donald Trump did over the past four years that was either good or beneficial to our country, including some of his foreign policy decisions, appointment of conservative judges to the federal bench, as well as 3 appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court, he will most likely be recalled for two things: Trump will be judged and remembered, and his historical legacy will be determined by how he mishandled the COVID-19 virus pandemic AND by his words and actions during his last three months in office, from Election Day 2020 to the last day of his term on Jan. 20, 2021.

Trump’s mishandling of the COVID-19 virus pandemic was epic. It started with his failure to anticipate and then respond to the pandemic. His lack of leadership that was epitomized by the following: ignoring the playbook for confronting pandemics developed during the Obama administration; shutting down flights from China, but allowing Americans to return home without being quarantined. His illogically advocating civil disobedience against stay-at-home rules, put in place by governors who were listening to public health experts, along with his foolish dismissal of wearing masks & social distancing. It continued with his attacking medical scientists and in his late response in procuring PPE where it was most needed. His stupid incessant pushing unproven virus cures like hydroxychloroquine, topped by his bizarre question/suggestion of ingesting/injecting disinfectants into one’s body. Then, after catching the virus himself and was treated with the latest experimental drugs and treatments, recovered quickly and then amazingly continued to downplay the dangerous severity of the virus, saying that Americans need not fear the disease. As Trump leaves office, over 400,000 Americans have died from this virus. I believe that if he had acted and reacted differently, this number would surely be less.

Then amazingly what followed on the evening of Election Day, Nov. 4th when he falsely declared himself the winner, then continued for weeks to claim, without any proof, that the election was rigged. He still perpetuated this unfounded lie even after 60 election/voter fraud lawsuits in multiple states were dismissed and the U.S. Supreme Court would not intervene. Each state counted their ballots, certified their Electoral College votes and sent them to Congress as the final procedural step. Then, on January 6, 2021, Trump’s shocking and inexcusable words and actions in his speech at the rally, all based on lies, incited an insurrection and unleashed his fanatical radicalized followers. He told his supporters to March on the U.S. Capitol building where they deteriorated into a criminal insurrectionist mob who shockingly rioted and attacked the building seeking to cause physical harm to both the building and our elected legislators, resulting in the deaths of five people. This action ultimately culminated by the House of Representatives impeaching Trump for a second time, a first in U.S. history, that will leave a searing and indelible impression in the minds and memories of Americans and as a stain on our constitutional republic!

To hear Trump in his farewell speech today, condemn political violence, after having suggesting it on Jan. 6th, as well as earlier tweeted implications, is the height of hypocrisy. We knew years ago that Trump had sociopathic tendencies, so at this point, based on his history of lying on a daily basis, nobody, other than his most delusional, naïve, fanatical supporters believe anything that he says and know that he is not sincere.

Donald Trump breached accepted traditional norms that no president has ever done before. His legacy will be of ineptitude and total lack of fitness for the office of POTUS and the rampant corruption in his administration. Trump will be remembered for his failure of moral and ethical character that was truly astounding. His ignoring accepted behavior and denigration of civic institutions and people he did not like, was absolutely appalling. His pathological lying, his malignant narcissism, his appointment of toddy incompetent sycophants to serve in his administration made him an embarrassment to our country. His weighing all of his decisions as president, based on how it would best benefit himself, was beyond selfish. His violation of our laws, specifically the U.S. Constitution, has set a new low for any elected official. Yet, ironically, while Trump’s behavior is truly shocking, it should not have come as a real surprise to anyone who was paying attention and may even have been inevitable as an appropriate capstone ending to the Trump presidency.

Over the past 4-5 years, Donald Trump has led an intentional assault on truth and reality, espousing conspiracy theories, leading to a political crisis in our country. His blatant lies, denial of honest facts, manipulating people’s fears, championing the negative feelings of hatred towards others and not even attempting to unify our country, makes us all worse now than we were when he entered office. While Trump was not the cause of these underlying problems, he compounded them. He certainly has exacerbated the divisions of U.S. citizens and will be leaving office with our nation broken up into polarized political tribes with much of his supporters still believing their feelings, based on lies, are more important and accurate than facts. The Republicans in congress were his enablers, either as gamers of the system or those who just wanted to break the system. The degree that Republicans were either willfully blind or just blind to Trump’s maliciousness and malignancy, both as a human being and as a leader, will leave a real stain on that political party.

Thankfully now, the insanity of, along with the destruction caused by the Trump presidency, has finally ended. In addition to his sizable personal financial debts coming due, there are still many final verdicts on Donald Trump still to come, including from the U.S. Senate, from New York State courts, and of course scholars and historians. But as a result of his subversion of our national security, his reckless endangerment of every American during the virus pandemic, and his failed insurrection on Jan. 6th, on thing is abundantly clear: To most Americans and many people around the world, Donald Trump will be remembered as one of the worst, if not the worst president in the history of the United States. Good riddance!