Stark Contrast: How Far We Have Fallen

During this memorial period for former president George H. W. Bush, the stark personal and political contrasts between him and the current POTUS (both Republicans of course) could not be more blatantly obvious, ALL to the negative for Trump and the office he holds! In no particular order, these include: Bush 41 signed up to be a naval aviator as soon as he turned 18 during WWII and flew dozens of missions in the Pacific before being shot down, while Trump was a serial draft dodger. Bush was married and probably faithful to the same woman for 73 years until her recent death, while Trump is on his third wife after two divorces, with who knows how many affairs between AND during his marriages. Bush was highly qualified for the presidency, following eight years as Reagen’s VP, as well as serving as a congressman, ambassador to the UN and head of the CIA, while Trump had zero political or government experience. Bush emphasized public service for himself and others before, during and after his presidency, while Trump has always been and still is first and foremost preoccupied with his own business and personal interests. Bush was modest about his accomplishments, never bragging, while Trump is an egomaniacal braggart, usually incapable of self-restraint. Bush was highly principled in all aspects of his life, while Trump is completely unprincipled, a totally unscrupulous businessman, notorious for cheating contractors out of their pay, as well as a pathological liar. Bush was an expert politician, able to work with and even become close friends with political opponents, most notably Bill Clinton who defeated him for reelection in 1992, while Trump sees politics and everything else as a zero-sum game which he wants to win and make his opponents, who he loves to personally attack and vilify, all lose. Bush had great respect for the office of the presidency as well as for the political and other institutions of our democracy, while Trump seems to hold many of these in contempt and seems to actually enjoy tearing them down if they don’t serve his own personal purposes, regardless of the effects on our democracy. Bush had a strong sense of America’s leadership role in the world, both morally and politically, and forged strong relationships and alliances around the world, while Trump, as in his personal life, is totally amoral and transactional (as demonstrated by his shameful response to Saudi Arabia’s murder of a US resident journalist in their Turkish Consulate), loves to bash our traditional allies, and cozies up to autocrats and dictators for no apparent reason except his own psychopathology (and maybe in the case of Russia also personal financial gains). In sum, Bush was a consummate gentleman and the very epitome of selfless public service, while Trump is a pathetically petty, inherently dishonest, selfish egomaniac, totally unqualified for and constantly demeaning the office he was lucky enough to win. So far, Trump has been adequately going through the ceremonial motions of honoring Bush, presumably under the guidance of his aides. Along with all the living former presidents, he will attend the funeral service at the National Cathedral on Wednesday, but will not speak there, which is a completely unconventional but wise decision, whether made by Bush himself or Trump. I imagine he would be an unconvincing, uninspiring and uncomfortable reader of a teleprompter eulogy written by someone else, and it would be a nailbiter to see whether he would be able to resist going off script and risk making an ass of himself on national TV. 

Watching some of the Bush ceremonial proceedings on TV made me wonder what Donald Trump‘s memorial period will eventually be like. Will commentators and political leaders be scrounging for positive things to say about him? Will they be drawing straws to see who has to give his eulogy? Will people be mourning or celebrating, as with the death of the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz? It is said that we make our own immortality while we are alive. We are seeing that on full display in the best sense with George H. W. Bush. We have also been watching that develop in real time for years with Donald Trump, and so far his kind of immortality is hardly one to envy! Are you listening, Donald?!