Let’s just have a couple. A couple won’t hurt us. If we have too many, our brains will be addled, and we will need a designated driver to take us home.
Let’s knock this one back. As recently as June 1, Trump announced that President Joe Biden was dead. Trump said Biden was executed in 2020. His still living predecessor had been turned into a robot or a clone, Trump let us know. I will confess I found this upsetting. I must have been the only one; no one spoke up or followed up.
No member of the Trump cabinet, no congressional leader, no Secret Service investigation into how a president could be executed when Biden and his family still have round the clock security service. What’s wrong with me? I should not worry that the man who can call a nuclear strike claimed a living man was dead and turned into a creature never before created? If Trump believes the statement he posted on Truth Social, why does he still rail against Biden almost daily. And, if Biden is dead, who can Trump blame for every fault he sees?
OK. Set them up again. Now in July in Pennsylvania, Trump wove an absolutely riveting tale about his very smart uncle who taught at MIT. If you go back and look at the video, Trump is so delighted telling this ripping good yarn. His smile, voice, and body tell us how happy he is to think of his smart uncle. As he continues this tale, he explains that his uncle taught Ted Kaczynski who went on to earn the nickname “The Unabomber.â€
Trump begins by saying that he wanted to “brag just for a second.†His undeniable pride in his uncle did not guide him to state his uncle’s credentials accurately, but Trump beams telling the world this fact-free tale.
Why does it make me so unhappy? What is wrong with me that I cannot share in this familial pride?
When a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the many false statements in the little tale, she shot back that her boss has a letter from his uncle on MIT letterhead in the Oval Office dining room. “Maybe we’ll let you see it sometime,†she said to the reporter. After she scrapes the ketchup off it, I would decline her offer.
Here’s one for the road. Trump repeatedly states that the price of gasoline everywhere in the continental United States is $2 a gallon. Everyone who visits a gas station could take a picture of the price board and send it to the White House. Each of those pictures would show gas priced at more than $3 a gallon. This is not a conspiracy, not a Democratic or Republican split. In the simplest of demonstrations, everyone who buys gas can show this statement is false.
So, before anyone says “last call,†let’s take a quick review of these three small examples of Trump World. We are in this comfortable setting. Can’t we agree that Trump said Biden was executed five years ago and is now a clone or a robot? Trump beamed with pride as he told a tale about his smart uncle, but filled his story with errors. Trump also praises imaginary gas prices.
See. I kept it simple with three easy examples of life in Trump World. No one could be upset by these tiny three, and we can agree these uncomplicated examples illustrate more lies.
Still sober and clear eyed, I did not mention divisive topics like predatory sex, felony convictions, Alligator Alcatraz, dropping the world’s biggest bomb on a country that did nothing to us, pardons for unpardonable acts, teens who stole our Social Security numbers with Trump’s approval, or cuts to all vital services that have already caused deaths and will certainly cause more. I spoke not a word about another country’s gift of a plane that is certainly a bribe, but a bribe we taxpayers will pay to outfit. I can be reasonable.
We designate periods of time like the Paleolithic; we note its characteristics. A mere six months of Trump Time moves with warp speed backwards into the tar pits.
Susan Williams is a retired Gazette-Mail reporter living in Falls View.
