*CNN (banned) – Page 12

August 7, 2018June 16, 2020

“I’d Rather Be a Russian Than a Democrat,” Said the Guy in the MAGA Hat

On Saturday, August 4, a photo of two men wearing t-shirts proclaiming, “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” went viral. The two men were attending a rally in Ohio, where Donald Trump was supporting Republican Troy Balderson, who is running in the special election. “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” seems to directly contradict “Make America Great Again,” emblazoned, ironically (or not), on the baseball cap one of them was wearing.

To say “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” is, on one hand, a little like the “Yeah, butting” (“Yeah, but at least he’s not Hillary”) that has become a trend whenever Democrats find any fault with Trump. In this case, it’s “I support a president who is cozying up to Russia, but at least I’m not a Democrat.”

Some are already explaining away the t-shirts as “just a joke,” and that Democrats are overreacting. Perhaps, but these men are not the only ones who have implied that they’d prefer Putin over a fellow American citizen. About a year ago, a photo of a woman holding a sign that read, “Thank you Russia” went viral. And a new YouTube video promotes the t-shirts for sale. Will we begin seeing more and more such sentiments as the Mueller investigation continues?

It’s troubling when people either don’t know history, or don’t care about Putin and his legacy. It’s downright alarming when people proclaim that Putin and all he stands for (murder and the denial of human rights come immediately to mind) are preferable to Americans who support human rights and basic freedoms.

One might be inclined to laugh (if it weren’t so horrifying) at the irony of two Trump supporters wearing “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” t-shirts. They come from the same group of people who vigorously wave the American flag, claim to stand by our military, and choose to be offended by athletes who “take a knee” during the National Anthem.

On the other hand, is the slogan, “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” all that far off from what a typical Trump supporter advocates? They do, after all, denigrate our free press; support the recent policy of cruelty to children and their families at the Mexican border, and continually parrot Donald Trump’s disregard for such basic American foundations as the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” is closer to the truth than even a Trump supporter realizes when he says it.

‘Pro-Russia’ t-shirts at Trump rally go viral, sending Democrats into meltdown | Today News [2018-06-08]

Trump speaks at Ohio rally |CNN [2018-08-04]

July 24, 2018June 16, 2020

Trump’s Ignorance of History

To say that Donald Trump is the most history-ignorant U.S. president that ever served would be to use superlatives with as much abandon and as little supporting research as does Trump himself. But we do know that in Donald Trump, the U.S. has a president who is grossly uninformed about history. Not only that, he is our president because, in part, the people who elected him “don’t know much about history,” either, and are damned proud of it.

Trump’s supporters seem to see a kind of righteousness in Trump’s (and in their) ignorance of history. Had they understood (or cared about) the importance of having a leader who could navigate treaties and historic global relationships, perhaps Donald Trump would never have stumbled into the Oval Office. It’s an embarrassment that so many citizens of our country have so little knowledge of its past, its place in the world, and its friends and enemies. But the bigger embarrassment by far is that our 45^th president has perhaps even less knowledge, and less desire for knowledge, than his supporters do. It’s more than embarrassing, though – it’s dangerous.

In a recent example, Donald Trump, “leader of the free world,” proved that he barely knows what NATO is, or why it was formed. He insulted member nations (our allies), and in his lack of knowledge of the Obama administration’s 2014 formal agreement already in place with NATO countries, tried to bully them into making greater contributions to its defense fund. At the same time, showing that he was unaware of the real figures, Trump exaggerated the dollar amount of the United States’ contribution. Overall, he likely weakened the U.S. stance with an organization that would help protect U.S. security.

Though the Soviet Union, per se, no longer exists, a former Soviet, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia and adversary of the United States, is alive and well. Putin would like nothing better than to weaken or even dismantle NATO. Trump, however, has demonstrated his apparent ignorance of Putin’s history as well as the history of the American relationship with the former Soviet Union and what is currently Russia, by repeatedly maligning our crucial allies while cozying up to our enemy.

Since Trump’s supporters don’t appear to be familiar with this history, and since they don’t appear to see the importance of understanding this history, it’s no wonder they can continue to make excuses for Trump, even in the face of his astonishing behavior. It’s a threat to our country’s well-being, however, when Trump, a man who ignores history to this extent, is leading us all.

Trump again questions the entire point of NATO | CNN [2018-07-18]

Trump pressures allies to boost NATO defense spending | Fox Business [2018-07-12]