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Is Trump’s response to the latest shooting evidence of a burning bush?
I was pleased to see POTUS45 get to the microphone and speak some soothing words in a timely manner, but the double-think that he and the GOP are capable of emerged more strongly than his compassion. I have no doubt he is saddened by what has happened and I am conscious that some will say, no matter what this man does, he cannot be credited with doing something good by people like me. This is a fair complaint, but there is a reason why credit evades him.
In the opening remarks of his address he attributes the shooting to a matter of ‘pure evil’ and he did nothing to expand or moderate this assertion during the remainder of his comments. We can all agree there was nothing righteous in the shooting of hundreds of people with an automatic weapon but invoking a moral explanation of an irrational and violent act at this early stage is curious, or perhaps it is calculated.
We know nothing about the perpetrator or his motives or mental health, and yet we have been advised that all that needs to be known of this man is that he was ‘evil’. Now that the ‘evil’ is dead we are absolved from the need to consider further explanations. There is no need to be rationally minded now as the answer to these terrible events is clear and the consequences have been concluded. Simply, there is nothing more to do but mourn the lost, comfort the bereaved and repair the wounded (at least those with heath care insurance). No doubt the NRA will be please at this conclusion, as will the huge numbers of Americans whose livelihoods or lifestyles are dependent on the culture of guns. How many of these are Trump supporters?
Further along in his speech, he talked of coming together as a nation, communities keeping strong and being comforted by the Lord being in the hearts of those who have been ‘crushed’. It was extraordinary to hear this road to Damascus sermon, when all that had gone before was moral turpitude, division of communities and tolerance of hate. Let’s hope these events have been Trump’s Burning Bush, but it will take some convincing.
You might be thinking that my cynicism of POTUS45’s recently acquired religious fervour and invocation of moral standards is misplaced at a time of national tragedy. Well, possibly, but only if I am wrong. There is so much inconsistency in his remarks that I am sure I am not that far off the mark. After all, he is entirely rationally minded, and seemingly amoral at best in marital relationships, his business practices, educational ventures, and soon we will see if this extends to public office, in which he may be impeached. Why should we think a moral framework is anything more than part of the rallying of the support that elected him?
The fact is that POTUS45 is a serial moral offender and, typically, serial offenders get religion when the arrive in prison. Often, not always, it is a ruse to help in the process of persuading authorities to let them out. In this case POTUS45 seems to be getting his case prepared early, perhaps in anticipation of the same challenge in which he will have to spin a great tale and cut some deal. I suspect, when the time comes for his reckoning, he will do such a deal. I’ll tell you, it will be the best deal the world has seen. Meanwhile, I would rather he avoid the moral frame in which he cannot fit, and just try to help people in hard times in Charlottesville, in Puerto Rico, in Las Vegas.
Originally posted on LinkedIn
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