By Deauwand Myers
This is the second in a series of open letters to U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of his Nov. 7-8 visit. ― ED.
On the eve of Mr. Trump's visit to Korea, and the coming of the holidays, I'm reminded of an old television animated classic, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," based off the eponymous book written by Dr. Seuss.
In the TV special, Mr. Grinch, cruel and heartless, steals gifts and Christmas decorations from the entire town of Whoville.
My favorite song from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," is "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."
Mr. Trump, obviously, is Mr. Grinch in this song, complete with his daily scowl, rash and angry tweets, foul language, and, as people have called it, his "un-presidential behavior."
You're a mean one, Mr. Trump.
Your being recorded saying that due to your stardom and the power thereof, you can arbitrarily "grab" women by the vagina, is glaringly cruel, particularly post-Weinstein.
Your mocking Senator McCain's war service record, where he was captured and tortured for over half a decade, then offered release due to his father's rank and status (an offer McCain refused in solidarity with his fellow soldiers), was disgusting.
You, who received nearly half a dozen medical deferments during the Vietnam War, deferments that many white, wealthy men like yourself also received, while the poor and colored fought and died in that senseless, unwinnable conflict, now have the audacity to call (mostly black) professional sportsmen unpatriotic for not "respecting" our flag, country, and servicemen and women.
You believe you can openly insult Senator McCain and say he is not a war hero, disrespecting him and all those who fought and served and were POWs in service to America. Meanwhile, you then declare others cannot kneel during the national anthem by kneeling during the pledge as a form of peaceful political protest against racial injustice.?
The hypocrisy of it would be breathtaking, if it came from anyone else but you.
This is probably the worst thing you've done (so far). You've made incivility more acceptable. The bellicose tweets, the malice, the glaring ineptitude, the pettiness, the vindictiveness, the mendacity, the divisive, scurrilous overtures to white, racial angst and tribalism are no longer outrageous. Our civil, public discourse, the very ideas of facts and data and truth are upended, while the renunciation of empirical evidence is seen as righteous.
The argument of what's authentically American (the answer: heterosexual, preferably white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants) isn't new.
Further, conservative thought has always been based on white supremacy and the othering of non-whites. Before the establishment of the country, white supremacy was deployed as a psychological, socioeconomic tool to excuse slavery, support its economic imperatives, and allow for the land theft and genocide of indigenous peoples.
Mr. Trump, you're an unvarnished, unsophisticated version of the GOP's thinly-veiled ideology, one that's "Christian" only in the most rudimentary of terms (one's belief in the Christ); one that ridicules the poor, marginalizes people of color, exalts the wealthy, and sees women as little more than baby-making machines.
You hurt your poor and working class supporters with your attempts to gut "Obamacare," and your tax plan skewed toward the wealthy; you do this to appease your political benefactors and to spite President Obama, a man with more class in his pinky finger than you have in your whole body.
You will visit Korea, the first state visit by a U.S. President in a generation. You will threaten North Korea with no viable military plan to do so, because your ego demands it. You will endanger the lives of some 48 million Koreans, and countless others, with the possibility of a third World War, nuclear-tipped for our pleasure.
Thanks. A lot.
Happy holidays, Mr. Trump.
Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.
.jpg/dims/resize/740/optimize) |
On the eve of Mr. Trump's visit to Korea, and the coming of the holidays, I'm reminded of an old television animated classic, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," based off the eponymous book written by Dr. Seuss.
In the TV special, Mr. Grinch, cruel and heartless, steals gifts and Christmas decorations from the entire town of Whoville.
My favorite song from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," is "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."
Mr. Trump, obviously, is Mr. Grinch in this song, complete with his daily scowl, rash and angry tweets, foul language, and, as people have called it, his "un-presidential behavior."
You're a mean one, Mr. Trump.
Your being recorded saying that due to your stardom and the power thereof, you can arbitrarily "grab" women by the vagina, is glaringly cruel, particularly post-Weinstein.
Your mocking Senator McCain's war service record, where he was captured and tortured for over half a decade, then offered release due to his father's rank and status (an offer McCain refused in solidarity with his fellow soldiers), was disgusting.
You, who received nearly half a dozen medical deferments during the Vietnam War, deferments that many white, wealthy men like yourself also received, while the poor and colored fought and died in that senseless, unwinnable conflict, now have the audacity to call (mostly black) professional sportsmen unpatriotic for not "respecting" our flag, country, and servicemen and women.
You believe you can openly insult Senator McCain and say he is not a war hero, disrespecting him and all those who fought and served and were POWs in service to America. Meanwhile, you then declare others cannot kneel during the national anthem by kneeling during the pledge as a form of peaceful political protest against racial injustice.?
The hypocrisy of it would be breathtaking, if it came from anyone else but you.
This is probably the worst thing you've done (so far). You've made incivility more acceptable. The bellicose tweets, the malice, the glaring ineptitude, the pettiness, the vindictiveness, the mendacity, the divisive, scurrilous overtures to white, racial angst and tribalism are no longer outrageous. Our civil, public discourse, the very ideas of facts and data and truth are upended, while the renunciation of empirical evidence is seen as righteous.
The argument of what's authentically American (the answer: heterosexual, preferably white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants) isn't new.
Further, conservative thought has always been based on white supremacy and the othering of non-whites. Before the establishment of the country, white supremacy was deployed as a psychological, socioeconomic tool to excuse slavery, support its economic imperatives, and allow for the land theft and genocide of indigenous peoples.
Mr. Trump, you're an unvarnished, unsophisticated version of the GOP's thinly-veiled ideology, one that's "Christian" only in the most rudimentary of terms (one's belief in the Christ); one that ridicules the poor, marginalizes people of color, exalts the wealthy, and sees women as little more than baby-making machines.
You hurt your poor and working class supporters with your attempts to gut "Obamacare," and your tax plan skewed toward the wealthy; you do this to appease your political benefactors and to spite President Obama, a man with more class in his pinky finger than you have in your whole body.
You will visit Korea, the first state visit by a U.S. President in a generation. You will threaten North Korea with no viable military plan to do so, because your ego demands it. You will endanger the lives of some 48 million Koreans, and countless others, with the possibility of a third World War, nuclear-tipped for our pleasure.
Thanks. A lot.
Happy holidays, Mr. Trump.
Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.
