The Pulpit of a Bully

Donald Trump enters the Oscar De LA Renta Fashion Show, New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The term 'bully pulpit' was coined by Theodore Roosevelt, which was originally meant as a way for the former President to promote his agenda when he was in office, whether it's busting trusts or protecting the environment.  TR also liked to say "bully" a lot, in reaction to anything he considered superb or great to him.

Fast forward to this century.  The word "bully" has taken on a more ominous meaning.  Under President Donald Trump the pulpit he uses, whether it be Twitter or the occasional public statement where no questions from the peanut gallery are allowed, has not resulted in getting his agenda across.  Instead, it's been mostly used to bully and intimidate all those who oppose him.  And the list is long:  his own staff, politicians from both parties, the news media, "Saturday Night Live", world leaders, environmentalists, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, anyone involved in the Russian investigation, etc.  Everyone, that is, except Russian president Vladimir Putin.

There are times when Trump's bully pulpit gets him in serious trouble, enough to endanger the lives of millions of people and his own credibility.  Here are two recent examples.

The North Korean Missile Crisis

When North Korea's nuclear program advanced much farther than anyone thought, developing a missile capable of reaching the United States, Trump responded with a war of words with "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-un that frightened the world.   The President threatened to unleash "fire and fury like the world has never seen" on the Korean peninsula if Kim dared to attack this country.  And should the North Koreans bomb the Pacific island of Guam, which has American military bases, Trump assures us that Our Troops are "locked and loaded".  Seeing that the Trump administration is nowhere near ready to commit the country to a nuclear holocaust, nor is Kim willing to sacrifice his impoverished nation to a war he's certain to lose, apocalyptic rhetoric like this is never helpful in the cause of world peace.

For now, Kim has apparently decided to back off on plans to bomb Guam, instead preferring to wait and see what Trump's next move might be.  So are we.

Charlottesville

In Charlottesville, Virginia--the home of a university founded by Thomas Jefferson and located in the heart of the old Confederacy--a march of extreme-right groups degenerated into violent clashes between them and the demonstrators who protested their mere existence.  A car rammed into those demonstrators, killing one woman and injuring 19 others.  The suspect, who is from Ohio, has been arrested and charged.

Trump took time out from his "working vacation" at one of his resorts in New Jersey to address the situation, sort of.  He blamed "all sides" for the violence in Virginia, spoke a few words about tolerance, then exited stage left.  The crescendo of criticism from "all sides"--including members of his own party--forced the President to make another statement from the White House two days later. This time he remembered to mention by name the hate groups--the ones who helped him win the election--who helped make this tragedy possible.  His critics were not impressed.

It should be noted that in neither speech did the President mention nor give his reaction to the bombing of a mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota the previous week, with no deaths reported.  As of August 15, the FBI is still investigating and no suspects have been arrested.

President Trump has turned the bully pulpit into the pulpit of a bully.  The longer he stays in office, the more likely it is he could say or do something that causes irreparable harm to him, his country and the world.  Not that he listens to anyone's advice but his own, but Trump might benefit from another of Teddy Roosevelt's famous sayings:  "Speak softly and carry a big stick".  In the President's case, it might as well be "Tweet Loudly and Carry a Big Mouth".