When in the course of human events political activists don’t recognize the opening challenge in The Declaration of Independence, we might conclude that anti-education Republicans are succeeding in creating an electorate ignorant enough to swallow their bilge.
Last week, National Public Radio, in honor of the Fourth of July, decided to modernize its annual Independence Day salute by incrementally tweeting the Declaration. As reported in The Washington Post, NPR’s tweets set off a firestorm of protests from supporters of President Trump, who saw the complaints against the tyranny of George III as attacks upon their man.
“He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.”(Uproar!)
“A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” (Outrage!)
Let’s be clear: These were Trump supporters seeing an analogy between the president and tyranny, not a dedicated lefty pointing out similarities between Trump and Nixon. And, take note, too, the Trumpists defended the tyrant.
Speaking of the president, his continued war against a media independent of right-wing racists and Russian-planted misinformation took a strange turn not related to his trying to incite anti-journalistic violence.
Trump resorts have been busted by keen observers for displaying faked Time Magazine covers, dated March 1, 2009, with Trump’s face plastered on the cover under the headline, “Trump is hitting on fronts.” The lying covers have been spotted so far at Doral, outside Miami, Loudon County, VA, Mar-a-Lago at Palm Beach, Doonbeg in Ireland and Turnberry in Scotland. You’ll remember Turnberry as the locale where Trump wants to build a retaining wall to keep out rising sea waters from the melting ice caps caused by the global warming that he claims is a hoax. Yep, the man who calls anything but his fantasies “fake news” faked magazine covers from the legitimate media to try to establish some credibility.
Good luck with that. Mr. Trump did not appear on a Time cover in 2009.
When presented with the facts, White House shill Sarah Huckabee Sanders replied: “We couldn’t comment on the décor at Trump golf clubs one way or the other.” “Décor?” How about deliberate deception?
And, speaking of the similarities between Trump and Nixon, the coterie of Trump supporters meeting with the Ruskies during the Putin-tainted campaign now includes one son, his son-in-law and his then-campaign manager. That is reminiscent of the spreading revelations of conspirators that led all the way to the Trickster during Watergate days. Junior was hoping a Russian lawyer could supply anti-Clinton information for the campaign. The old adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” shouldn’t really apply when the enemy of your enemy is your country’s worst enemy. Junior’s response to this exposure was a violence-against-the-media tweet of his own.