Rahim Islam is a National Speaker and Writer, Convener of Philadelphia Community of Leaders, and President/CEO of Universal Companies, a community development and education management company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Follow Rahim Islam on FaceBook(Rahim Islam) & Twitter (@RahimIslamUC)
Nearly one year after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and by ANY objective measure, his presidency is a total failure and an absolute train wreck in the making. His legislative record is zero and the pipeline is full of extremely difficult issues which will require the best presidential leadership (i.e. healthcare, tax reform, infrastructure, immigration, etc.). The problem is that Trump has NO capacity to lead which leaves Congress with the responsibility that should be the President’s. His administration is riddled with unprecedented scandal after scandal coupled with numerous of violations of basic ethics that has blurred the lines between whether he’s serving the interest of our country or the interest of the Trump family. Donald Trump campaigned on “draining the swamp,” but, instead, he has become the swamp. Donald Trump is America’s hypocrisy.
Donald Trump touted himself as the world’s greatest developer; however, the fact of the matter is, unless he gets a WHOLE BRAIN TRANSPLANT, the only thing he will do is continue to demolish and divide our country more than any time since the civil war. In fact, many of the arguments that Trump and his fellow White supremacists are promoting a delusional and romantic view of that period of time in America when White men ruled unchallenged and Blacks were enslaved. If these issues weren’t enough, Trump’s relationship with Russia and President Putin (America’s number one adversary) is extremely weird and peculiar with many believing that Trump is an agent for Russia. If this investigation is proven to be true, it would represent a political and constitutional crisis for the Country. Donald Trump is America’s hypocrisy.
Words matter and they matter most for the President of United States because he’s the leader of the free world, and by far the most powerful person on the planet. Both our allies and our adversaries are listening closely to what the President says and sometimes doesn’t say, which is why previous Presidents were extremely scripted when they spoke to the public, and they had a strong command of the issues. Being politically correct is important because your words can offend and/or be misinterpreted, which is why Presidents are very careful of what they say. They try their very best to make sure that they tell the truth and when they do speak, they can articulate foreign and domestic policy that are consistent with America values. Being politically correct is an asset of the President and not, as Trump has promoted, a liability.
The President’s words also matter because the Office of the President has the largest and biggest “Bully Pulpit,” and he’s the driver for the most powerful military, directs the investment of trillions of dollars, and defines how and in what way the country speaks. With the entire world watching at all times, the words of the President are magnified unlike any other. If the President isn’t supporting its agenda and policies, they are utilizing their bully pulpit to unite the nation and the world. Unlike all other Presidents, Trump has no filter for what comes out of his mouth and has violated every norm as it relates to this valuable Presidential tool. Donald Trump is America’s hypocrisy.
There are lies and then there is Donald Trump, who is a serial and pathological liar—Donald Trump is the “Liar and Chief.” Medical scientists state that pathological liars have a pattern of frequent, repeated and excessive lies or lying behavior for which there is no apparent benefit or gain for the liar. If you try to dive into the reasons Trump lies then you’ve already lost because it grants his lies the dignity of a strategy. The truth is that, by all appearances, Trump seems to lie whenever it suits him. Psychology Today explains that pathological lying isn’t an official diagnosis, instead, they associated it with a range of diagnoses, such as antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality disorders. Trump slides easily from the notion that something could have happened (lie) to the conviction that it did (lie) and when confronted by the media, he calls the lie “fake news.” Donald Trump has buried America in lies and is America’s hypocrisy.
Donald Trump often repeats some of his lies from one day to the next and many of his lies are repeated especially if he isn’t challenged. Lying is so common place with Donald Trump that its hard press to be certain when he’s telling the truth. He lies so much that he will tell two to three different lies about the same issue in one statement. PolitiFact recently announced that they have awarded Donald Trump winner of the “Lie of the Year” competition with nearly 76 percent of his statements being mostly false or outright lies. The New York Times stated that they have become numb to Donald Trump’s lies but have a responsibility to continue to report them. Starting with his first day in office, he has lied over one thousand times. In their analysis of his lies, in one period, Trump told a lie for forty consecutive days with multiple lies a day. The NYT also cited that Trump public lies sometimes changes with repetition.
The Washington Post Editorial Board issued an op-ed entitled “Trump lies and lies and lies again.” They stated that it might be a fun parlor game if the future of the nation and the world wasn’t at stake. Trump lies about little things and big things – he’s an equal opportunity liar. BuzzFeed News compiled a list of all of Trumps lies and stated that as journalists they set a high bar of accusing someone of committing a lie, and they don’t do it lightly, but they have now crossed the line to say that the President is a liar. The Washington Post recently stated that the lies told during one week made it clear that Donald Trump has zero concern about the truth. There are several national publications that are compiling the lies told by Trump, and depending on how it’s being scores, some have Trump telling more than one thousand lies since taking office. Donald Trump is America’s hypocrisy.
Writing about Donald Trump is important because he influences the nature and climate of the country, and he has done more to divide the country more than any other President. The Black community has always been under attack in America and now we have a White supremacist occupying the Office of the President of the United States, meaning the Black community must be better prepared to defend themselves. The direction that the country is headed in can’t be positive – all of the signals show that danger is waiting for our country. There’s a chance we might see our country start World War III based on his fits of rage and bombastic braggart of United States military might.
The Presidency of Donald Trump is a real train wreck that will hurt our country. The lies and rhetoric of Trump are slowly eroding several American institutions (i.e. voting, media, judicial) while also eroding and weakening America’s standing in the world – both will have long-term negative effects. Americans, those that voted for Trump and those that didn’t vote for him, this nightmare has just begun. We’ve seen the republican lead the United States Congress completely abrogating their responsibility and has shamefully consigned Trumps behavior by not challenging him and/or reducing his impact. Our only hope is that the Russia investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Muller will interrupt this Presidency because Donald Trump is America’s hypocrisy.
