I said it in a blog post a few days ago, and I’m gonna say it again. I’m old enough to remember when protecting American from Russia was a part of the Republican Party’s platform. And, I don’t think I’m that old.
Like Trump, when John F. Kennedy took office critics questioned if he was up to the task. People worried he was too young, inexperienced, and that a much more seasoned player on the international stage like Nikita Khrushchev would manipulate and get the best of him. In Trump’s case, people worry he’s not up to the job because he’s a narcissistic idiot.
JFK was tested like no president before him. Lincoln may have had the hardest challenge of keeping the nation together, but Kennedy had the task of preventing nuclear Armageddon.
The Bay of Pigs disaster gave Kennedy’s critics every right for concern, but he proved he was the right man at the right time when he stared down Khrushchev, and Khrushchev blinked. Nearly every presidential historian has JFK and Lincoln in their top five of greatest American presidents. Trump will be in every historian’s bottom five, if not rated the very worst.
If you’re a geek like I am, you read books grading each of our presidents. Even the worst presidents have a few positive details included about them. Most historians give Nixon high marks for his foreign policy and economic performance, and even James Buchanan is given credit for receiving concessions from Paraguay, China and England…before he allowed the nation to split in two. Trump will probably only be given credit for winning an election, and even that will have an asterisk.
If Trump was president during the Cuban Missile Crisis, today there would be a lot of Soviet missiles 90 miles from Miami pointed at the United States. Trump has shown only appeasement to Russia, the nation that helped him win the presidency.
You wonder what else Putin has on Trump, as our president has never said one critical word about Russia’s president. Trump still can not acknowledge the fact Russia meddled in our election. The guy truly is Putin’s puppet.
Trump isn’t just Putin’s puppet. He’s everyone’s puppet. All you have to do is give him praise or insults, and you can manipulate him to do what you want. China gave him a state dinner and in return, Trump refused to criticize their atrocious human rights record. He even followed China’s lead and didn’t allow our press to ask questions when he was in China, which is customary.
During the presidential campaign, Trump said China was raping us. During his Asia trip, he said he didn’t blame China for raping us. Like most Republicans, Trump would rather blame the victim of rape instead of the rapist.
Saudi Arabia gave him a sword dance and in return, Trump supported their criticism of Qatar (where we have a military base) and their recent internal power grab. He said, “they know what they’re doing.”
After Turkish President Erdogan seized more power and even had his security detail attack American protesters outside the Turkish embassy, Trump praised the guy and said, “he’s getting very high marks.”
The White House says Trump spoke to President Duterte of the Philippines about his extrajudicial killings, and the Philippine government tells us it never came up. However, Duterte did serenade Trump with a love song called “You are the Light.” Seriously. In fact, Trump said Duterte is doing an “unbelievable job” in fighting the drug war. Trump also chuckled when Duterte chastised the American press for asking questions and when he called them “spies.” So much for the President of the United States being a defender of freedom.
As much as Trump has sucked up to other autocrats, Putin takes the cake. Hell, Trump has probably baked him one. After Trump came into office, Putin asked him to host the Russian ambassador and Foreign Minister in the Oval Office. Trump dutifully complied, kicked our our press and allowed the Russians to bring their own.
During an international summit in Germany, Trump met with Putin and didn’t bring an American translator to their chat. He also went light on Putin about their meddling in our election and those of other nations.
Congress passed sanctions on Russia, and Trump has yet to implement them even thought it’s past the deadline the legislative branch mandated.
Trump has continued to deny Russia ever meddled in the election, despite daily revelations of his campaign colluding with Russians. During Trump’s Asia trip, he got to hang out with Putin again.
During this meeting, Trump says he talked to Putin again about the meddling and Putin said he didn’t do it and he’s offended by people saying he did. Trump said he believes him. Later, Trump said he believes our security experts but he also believes Putin doesn’t think he meddled. Say what now?
Is Donald Trump seriously trying to convince us that Russia meddled but Putin isn’t aware of it? Seriously? That makes about as much sense as Roy Moore telling us that he never dated someone without their mother’s permission…when he was in his 30s.
Donald Trump is no JFK, no Abraham Lincoln, and he’s no Barack Obama. He’s not even a James Buchanan.
Creative notes: I can’t recall the last time I drew JFK or RFK. Maybe I never have. I wasn’t sure if I should go with this idea as I was wondering if it was funny enough, but I really got into it when I started adding all the little details. While writing today’s blog, the idea of including a Life Magazine came to me. It bugged me enough that I went back and added it, and then resent it to my clients, who already had the first version.
It would have eaten me alive every time I looked at the cartoon if I didn’t have Life Magazine.
Clay Jones can be contacted at [email protected]