One and Only Observer

[The following factual statements appeared on Facebook. I’ve tried to make this a little briefer. At least it’s only one sentence:)]

I owe my Trump-supporting acquaintances an apology. I’ve been critical of his presidency since 2016, and am still exhausted from the experience.

He wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans [… and counting. 1,130,000 US dead from COVID as of a year ago], separated children from their families and lost them in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square [during the Black Lives Matter movement protesting police treatment of African Americans] so that he could stand in front of a church holding a Bible, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached for extorting Ukraine to dig up nonexistent dirt on Joe Biden, got impeached for instigating a violent insurrection, fired the FBI director for investigating Trump’s ties to Russia, publically took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community on Russia’s 2016 election interference,

diverted military funding to build parts of his southern border wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied 30,000 times, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named after Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest that increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist,

refused to concede the 2020 presidential election after he lost, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate the US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, claimed that he single-handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas,” forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like a cult leader,

berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General for recusing himself from the Russia probe, colluded with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and three Supreme Court justices after supporting McConnell’s efforts to prevent his predecessor, Obama, from appointing a Supreme Court justice, repeatedly called the American media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID there’d be fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution which forbids presidents from profiting during their presidency from foreign governments, told reporter Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but downplayed it in public, called his faithful vice president a pussy for following the Constitution, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing US allies,

interfered with and refused to cooperate with the presidential transition to his successor, insulted war hero John McCain after his death, spent an enormous amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote when he actually lost 2.9 million votes to Clinton, falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller who was in charge of investigating the Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential election, mocked wearing face masks during the pandemic to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by installing “acting” officials, hired and associated with numerous shady figures eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser,

pardoned several of these shady associates, had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without evidence that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, constantly shout-interrupted Joe Biden during their Sept. 29, 2020 presidential debate while he, himself, had Covid-19 and didn’t disclose this fact to his opponent standing a few yards away, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers to the tune of $28 billion, claimed that losing his tariff war was a win for the US, ignored/didn’t take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American World War I dead in France because it was raining, threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, throwing paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them,

pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations stopping coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held illegal campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man (Obamacare), refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders,

pushed ahead with political rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even the energy industry supported, insulted members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave far-right propagandist Rush Limbaugh a Presidential Medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, just before the Covid-19 pandemic eliminated the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, used military soldiers as props, fired any advisor who disagreed with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a huge number of white nationalists,

politicized the civil service, did nothing after Russia hacked U.S. government computer servers, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours daily watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time,

led a political party that couldn’t be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security right after they reported that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials in the Oval Office, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development in that location would compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the US during the war, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that US factories were reopening when they weren’t, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” told the white nationalist Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” intentionally interfered with the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic,

did so few of his presidential duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule that, “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed unaware that Abraham Lincoln had been a Republican, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes the four who were assassinated and his predecessor, whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president as several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows that they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others,

bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they were forced to stay at Trump’s properties, evidently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make “his” US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding during his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but prompted his own defense secretary to resign in protest,

insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

But besides that. . . .