Making America (not) great

“But God will strike you down, pull you from your home, and drag you away from the land of the living.” — Psalm 52:5-7

When did we become so cruel? Or have we always been, and I just haven’t noticed? I ask myself these questions because we currently have a president who is not only merciless and a bully, but also unable to stop lying.

Based on his ideas of making America great again, the U.S. president has resorted to lies and cruelty as standards of what this country stands for in the 21st century. And his bottom line, when making things (not) so great, is how to fill his pockets.

Here are but a few examples:

• “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled.” This is a direct quote from the president while campaigning for the 2024 presidential election. In Waco, Texas, in March 2023, he went as far as to say, “I will have that settlement done within 24 hours.” Almost six months since he came into office for a second term, the Russia-Ukraine war still rages, but now the U.S. is not sure what side it’s on.

• He promised he would “bring peace back to the Middle East.” The truth is, he has made the region more dangerous, including his support for Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s war of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Palestinian human rights experts now consider Gaza the graveyard of international law.

• George Washington, who abhorred the idea of a king for the U.S., famously said: “The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respected Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges…” But our current president has told us that HE IS our greatest president and that certain immigrants are not welcome in the United States. Those specific persons are usually brown and Black, are Latinos, or come from shithole countries, as the president calls them. Cubans, who once believed themselves to be white and exceptional, have realized they were misled. Oh, but there is a path to citizenship: the president has proposed a program, which he calls a “gold card” or “Trump Card,” that would offer a way to U.S. residency and possibly citizenship for wealthy foreigners who invest $5 million in the United States. You see, it all comes down to the money… As for cruelty, immigrants (some here legally and others even U.S. citizens) are being rounded up like cattle and common criminals by men in hoods and unidentified vehicles and sent to prisons where torture is common, like CECOT in El Salvador, or where if the alligators, snakes, and crocodiles don’t kill you, swarms of mosquitoes will. I refer to the now-infamous Alligator Alcatraz in Florida’s Everglades. 

• And what about the Constitution? He is rewriting it (as a king would and as if he could) to please his massive ego, and as long as it fits his wishes for what he considers will make America great in his sick mind. For example, he has taken the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and figuratively crumpled it with an executive order from the White House that states that not all people born here are necessarily citizens of this country. He has run roughshod over the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which clearly states that it grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. 

Consider this: Ivana Trump, the president’s first wife and mother of his first three children, did not become a U.S. citizen until 1988. The president married her in 1977. Their children are: Don Jr., born in 1977; Ivanka, born in 1981; and Eric, born in 1984. Although their father was a citizen, and under the president’s new interpretation of the 14th Amendment, wouldn’t the children be considered “anchor” babies? And what about the strange coincidences surrounding his current trophy wife, Melania, and how she and her parents became U.S. citizens? As for Barron… is he another “anchor” baby attached to the president? 

• “The word ‘tariff,’ properly used, is … one of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. It’s music to my ears,” he said at a rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Sept. 24 before the election of 2024. The president has a history of turning bankruptcies into windfalls — for himself. The imposition of tariffs, as he suggests, on allies and enemies (although we are at a stage where Russians are friends, and Canadians our enemies) alike has been a roller coaster ride. His first 100 days as president have been the worst for the stock market since Richard Nixon’s presidency, with a cliff dive around April 2, Trump’s “Liberation Day.”

• He promised to end inflation and lower prices. The truth is that the threat of tariffs isn’t helping. And to find out whether inflation has cooled and prices are lower, just visit your local grocery store. Or try buying a new car.

• The president and his former best buddy, Elon Musk, promised to improve government efficiency. The recent Texas floods and FEMA’s response, or lack of it, clearly show that this promise has failed.

• Abortion, Medicaid and healthcare, his treatment of the LGBTQ+ community, a disregard for children living in poverty, and his attacks on education (the great equalizer in this country) are further proof of the cruelty and ignorance shown by this president’s administration.

There is so much more that could be said about how hateful, nasty, mean, and awful this man is. 

I don’t know what the president means when he says that he will make America great again. Great, as when slavery was accepted? Or does he refer to before 1920, when women couldn’t vote… or perhaps he means the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which considered African Americans as 3/5 of a person?

And yet, some still revere him, even laugh at his bad jokes. They also find an excuse for all the wrongs he has already committed. It’s always Obama’s fault or Sleepy Joe’s.

And have you seen him try to dance? That in itself should have lost him the election.

Donald Trump has arguably failed to make the U.S. great. He has also made many of us realize that we, as a country, are not what we thought we were. We are many things, but GREAT we are not.