WHITE HOUSE SIMULATORS
https://claytoonz.com/2019/02/15/white-house-simulators/
“Signing an executive order, giving a speech, and barnstorming around the country is not leadership.” Is that a direct quote from Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, or even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Is it from one of the many Democrats currently running for president? Nope. It’s from Mike Pence in 2014.
Donald Trump wants to be a dictator. Do you really need examples? OK, here are just a few.
He praises dictators and attacks leaders of free nations. Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Recep Erdogan, Xi Jinping, and Rodrigo Duterte are great guys. Angela Merkel, Theresa May, and Justin Trudeau are treated like U.S. adversaries. He has questioned why we need to be a part of NATO, a military alliance with our allies.
He names things after himself. There is an entire Wikipedia page devoted to things Trump has named “Trump.” Trump Tower, Trump Hotel, Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Casino, Trump World Fair, Trump Castle, Trump Park Avenue, Trump Hollywood, Trump International Golf Club (17 of them), Trump the Game, Trump Style Magazine, Trump Magazine, Trump World Magazine, Trump Winery, Trump Spring Water, Trump Steaks, Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump….at what point does he attempt to have an international airport named after him (if case you’re a Republican, that would be “Trump International Airport”).
He wants to punish the media, loosen up libel laws, and install a government-operated propaganda outlet. He calls news he doesn’t like “fake news” and calls the press the “enemy of the American people.”
He wants to be on Mount Rushmore and has stated so more than once. Dictators love to erect statues of himself. None of the current occupants of Mount Rushmore, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, or Teddy Roosevelt, placed themselves up there.
He believes he’s genetically superior to everyone else. He’s compared his genes to that of a racehorse, as though he’s a better horse than anyone else. He’s got the horse’s ass part right.
He wants to punish his political enemies by sicking the Justice Department on them. He’s openly expressed this on more than one occasion. He has fired people in the Justice Department investigating him and then attempted to ruin their careers and reputations. Look at James Comey, Peter Strzok, and Andrew McCabe (fired days before he would be eligible to collect his pension).
He claims elections that don’t go his way are rigged.
He believes courts shouldn’t rule against him and it’s unfair when they do, because he’s Donald Trump.
He literally told his supporters, “Don’t believe what you see and hear.”
He lies. Dictators lie. Unlike the way politicians usually lie, dictators lie about EVERYTHING, big and small. Trump has lied about the weather. He lies about his wealth. He lies about policy. When facts are thrown at him, even from other government sources, he tells his people not to believe them. AND, his people believe him because that’s another thing about being a dictator…
…he has a cult. People who support Trump abandon previously held principles. They echo whatever line Trump says, even if it contradicts yesterday’s line. Conservatives have stopped being conservatives for Trump. The majority of them talk and defend Trump more than policy. This is not a party. It’s a cult.
He’s insecure and creates huge fabrications for his image, much like a North Korean dictator would. While they will tell their people their leader doesn’t poop and can talk to dolphins, Trump lies about his popularity, praise, success, and even his height.
The height thing is a great example of Trump behaving like a dictator. If you’re a Trump sycophant, you’re going to think this is about Trump’s height. It’s not. Other than Donald Trump, nobody cares how tall he is.
Trump is a tall guy. He’s at least six feet tall. But for some reason, he has to be 6-foot-3. When you look at photos of Trump with people who are at least 6-foot-1, like President Obama, Trump is shorter. What’s frightening about the height lie is that he has government officials issuing, not just propaganda about it, but official reports. A doctor, two actually, employed by the government has lied about his height. Even Baghdad Bob didn’t lie about Saddam Hussein’s height. Hey, we’re kicking the U.S. army’s ass, driving them into the Persian Gulf, they’re surrending by the thousands, but Saddam’s still short. Actually, Saddam Hussein was 6-foo-1, still taller than Donald Trump.
But the greatest proof Donald Trump is acting like a dictator are actions Donald Trump has described as dictatorial.
In 2014, President Barack Obama issued executive orders on, wait for it…immigration. Obama was trying to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation while providing them work permits. This is another difference between the two. Obama was trying to help people and had empathy. Trump’s wall is a hater policy meant to drive up fear and animosity with a rabid base.
Trump criticized Obama for not being able to make a deal with Congress and that his actions were unconstitutional and impeachable. Since taking office, Trump has issued executive order after executive order because he can’t get anything done with Congress except to give himself a massive tax cut.
Now, Trump wants to go farther than just issuing executive orders. Today, he plans to issue a national emergency so he can steal money designated for other programs, like disaster relief in liberal states and Puerto Rico (he plans to have a big ceremony where signs it with a Sharpie and then displays it for all to see, like a cat bringing home a dead mouse). He wants this money to build his border wall because he believes immigration is a national emergency. There is not a national emergency with immigration.
If there was a national emergency then Trump and the Republican congress would have provided funding for his racist border wall during his first two years.
It’s not a national emergency when immigration numbers keep going down every year. It’s not a national emergency because the majority of those in this nation illegally entered legally, not from crossing our border in the desert. It’s not a national emergency because the majority of drugs that enter our nation from Mexico enter through ports of entry. It’s not a national emergency when you spend months contemplating if it’s an emergency, and the funds you’ve been denied aren’t even enough to build the entire wall. It’s not a national emergency if you go to Palm Beach to play golf on the same day you declare a national emergency. It’s also not a national emergency when you’re telling your critics to “lighten up and have some fun.”
Trump’s emergency is that he broke a campaign promise. Mexico is not paying for the wall. His emergency is that he can’t negotiate with Congress and get what he wants. His emergency is that he caved to Nancy Pelosi. His emergency is that Pelosi is smarter and a better negotiator than he is. His emergency is that he doesn’t actually know how to negotiate. His emergency is that he turned down $20 billion because he didn’t want DACA to be a part of a deal, then turned down another deal last December, lost a shutdown fight, and is now signing a budget deal that’s giving him even less money. His emergency is that his pundit cabinet, consisting of Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Rush Limbaugh don’t want him to sign a deal with Democrats without getting $5 billion for a wall. His emergency is that his supporters might see he’s not really the man he claims he is.
And he’s not even six-foot-three.
