Berl Falbaum
President Donald J. Trump made an observation about himself recently, the implications of which he may not even fully understand.
But it told us all we ever needed to know about him.
During a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, when asked if there were any limits to his global powers, he replied:
“Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” Then he added, “I don’t need international law.”
Nothing will stand in his way, he proudly boasts. Not local, state, national or international laws. Thus, we have to rely on Trump’s morality for protection.
That revelation should have received massive coverage but it lasted for all of a few hours in the 24-hour news cycle.
You might want to read his statement again — and again.
Our guarantees against lawlessness, depravity and corruption comes from a man who does not have one moral, decent, virtuous, ethical, commendable, honest, noble, honorable (I can go on but I think you get the picture) cell in his character,
Which, of course, translated, means, since morality is not an issue for Trump, anything goes. He will wield his power, while the law, decency, honesty, integrity be damned.
Following the raid in Venezuela, Trump made that point by criticizing Democrats, stating: “They (Democrats) should say ‘Great job.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh gee, maybe it’s not constitutional. You know, the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.”
Yes, we have been “hearing” this, to be exact, for 250 years.
Wrote The Times: “It was the most-blunt acknowledgment yet of Trump’s worldview: that national strength alone should be the deciding factor when nations’ interests collide. Past presidents, he suggested, have been too cautious with American power.”
But we should not be surprised. We had warnings — several — along the way.
Mary L. Trump, a psychologist and the president’s niece, warned us in her book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man (Simon & Schuster 2020).”
She described the dysfunctional family and that should have helped us better understand Trump’s moral — immoral —- standards.
Then there was Marine Corps General John F. Kelly who served as chief of staff in Trump’s first term before resigning in 2019.
“The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me,” Kelly was reported to have told friends. “The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.”
Former New York Times political columnist Charles M. Blow wrote in October 2016, a month before the presidential election:
“Your soul is dark…your character corrupt…a prime example of the worst of humanity [emphasis added].”
At the time, when I was already writing very critical columns on Trump, I thought Blow crossed the indefinable journalistic line but, it turned out, he was ahead of his time.
In one instance, Trump seemed to understand his flawed character.
When he was asked during a five-hour interview with Michael D’Antonio who was writing a biography, if he ever contemplated the meaning of life, Trump answered:
“I don’t like to analyze myself because I might not like what I see.”
That, of course, is another unintentional confession. He knows very well what he would see.
His (im)moral compass explains Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Nigeria, Iran; his praise for Vladimir Putin; the National Guard in U.S. cities; and so much more.
It all comes down to “might makes right” and he wants to become the Putin of the world. And he has three years to achieve this demented objective. His focus at this stage in his political career is all on power, more power, ultimate power.
In keeping with his view of power, he has ordered the testing of U.S. nuclear weapons for the first time in decades.
He once asked: Why do we make the weapons if we don’t intend to use them?
Never mind that we already have more than 5,000 nuclear warheads, enough to destroy the planet several times over. (Russia has a similar number of warheads and seven other countries are nuclear powers as well.)
Trump’s alter ago, Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, in a recent interview, dismissed international law as “legal niceties.”
“We live in a world, the real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” said Miller. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
So, understanding that Trump’s only guardrail is his morality, how do you feel about our future and the world’s?
But it told us all we ever needed to know about him.
During a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, when asked if there were any limits to his global powers, he replied:
“Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” Then he added, “I don’t need international law.”
Nothing will stand in his way, he proudly boasts. Not local, state, national or international laws. Thus, we have to rely on Trump’s morality for protection.
That revelation should have received massive coverage but it lasted for all of a few hours in the 24-hour news cycle.
You might want to read his statement again — and again.
Our guarantees against lawlessness, depravity and corruption comes from a man who does not have one moral, decent, virtuous, ethical, commendable, honest, noble, honorable (I can go on but I think you get the picture) cell in his character,
Which, of course, translated, means, since morality is not an issue for Trump, anything goes. He will wield his power, while the law, decency, honesty, integrity be damned.
Following the raid in Venezuela, Trump made that point by criticizing Democrats, stating: “They (Democrats) should say ‘Great job.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh gee, maybe it’s not constitutional. You know, the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.”
Yes, we have been “hearing” this, to be exact, for 250 years.
Wrote The Times: “It was the most-blunt acknowledgment yet of Trump’s worldview: that national strength alone should be the deciding factor when nations’ interests collide. Past presidents, he suggested, have been too cautious with American power.”
But we should not be surprised. We had warnings — several — along the way.
Mary L. Trump, a psychologist and the president’s niece, warned us in her book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man (Simon & Schuster 2020).”
She described the dysfunctional family and that should have helped us better understand Trump’s moral — immoral —- standards.
Then there was Marine Corps General John F. Kelly who served as chief of staff in Trump’s first term before resigning in 2019.
“The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me,” Kelly was reported to have told friends. “The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it’s more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life.”
Former New York Times political columnist Charles M. Blow wrote in October 2016, a month before the presidential election:
“Your soul is dark…your character corrupt…a prime example of the worst of humanity [emphasis added].”
At the time, when I was already writing very critical columns on Trump, I thought Blow crossed the indefinable journalistic line but, it turned out, he was ahead of his time.
In one instance, Trump seemed to understand his flawed character.
When he was asked during a five-hour interview with Michael D’Antonio who was writing a biography, if he ever contemplated the meaning of life, Trump answered:
“I don’t like to analyze myself because I might not like what I see.”
That, of course, is another unintentional confession. He knows very well what he would see.
His (im)moral compass explains Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Nigeria, Iran; his praise for Vladimir Putin; the National Guard in U.S. cities; and so much more.
It all comes down to “might makes right” and he wants to become the Putin of the world. And he has three years to achieve this demented objective. His focus at this stage in his political career is all on power, more power, ultimate power.
In keeping with his view of power, he has ordered the testing of U.S. nuclear weapons for the first time in decades.
He once asked: Why do we make the weapons if we don’t intend to use them?
Never mind that we already have more than 5,000 nuclear warheads, enough to destroy the planet several times over. (Russia has a similar number of warheads and seven other countries are nuclear powers as well.)
Trump’s alter ago, Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy, in a recent interview, dismissed international law as “legal niceties.”
“We live in a world, the real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” said Miller. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
So, understanding that Trump’s only guardrail is his morality, how do you feel about our future and the world’s?
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
