Can the Republican party rein Donald Trump in or will he become so vile that he will just self-destruct as did former Republican, Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, on December 5, 2002.

Like Lott, Trump appears to find a sense of solace in his off-the-cuff comments that some might consider just old fashion race-baiting. But will he ultimately become so ridiculous that the American people will realize that he is unfit to run our great country?

In some ways Trump actually does remind me of Trent Lott, who ended his career being considered by some as a kind of buffoon and embarrassment to the Republican party. Perceived as a rising star in the GOP, and even presidential, his career was cut short by what he said at a party honoring segregationist and United States Sen. Strom Thurmond. His culturally insensitive comments made at Strom Thurmond’s 100^th birthday party caused a surfeit of woes for the party.

Lott, caught up in the celebration, said in effect, that the country essentially took the wrong course in not embracing Thurmond’s divisive politics. “We’re proud of it (his segregationist position), and if the rest of the country had followed his lead we wouldn’t have continued to have all these problems over all of these years.”

When the press got wind of his comments, some Republican leaders immediately began to distance themselves from him in order not to be associated with his brand of politics.

Now comes President Donald Trump

Some believe Trump stretches the truth when it comes to being sensitive to racial diversity in the United States. His attack on Muslims and Mexicans give the appearance to some that his popular slogan, “Make America Great Again,” is not inclusive.

A president who is thin-skinned, Trump has been known to vigorously and viciously attack his critics in his endless tweets. After there was a failure in overturning what we now call Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), Trump in a series of tweets not only lambasted former president Obama, but he also lashed out at his fellow Republicans for failure to repeal the health care act. Without a doubt, he is causing serious problems for Republicans leaders who can conceivably be defeated because of his nonsensical behavior as a Republican president in the 2018 midterm elections. As a point of reference, some Republican leaders are refraining from hosting their normal town hall meetings because of the embarrassment Trump is causing the country. Some of their discontent has to do with the repeal of Obamacare. Strangely, in many of the highly publicized Republican town hall meetings, constituents were having an epiphany – they hated Obamacare, but loved the Affordable Care Act! When they realized this, they became riotous in many town hall meetings, demanding that the Affordable Care Act not be touched.

When these incidents were reported in the major media to validate Trump’s inability to forge an alliance within his own party, he literally declared war on the media, calling them “among the most dishonest human beings on earth” and tweeted they are the “enemy of the American people.” Actor Robert Redford, in a recent Washington Post opinion piece stated that “Trump’s language takes the Nixon administration’s false accusations of shoddy and shabby journalism to new and dangerous heights.”

Americans are willing to give Trump a chance at becoming a great president. We pray that he does not become an enemy of the American people as he has referred to the media. At this very moment, Americans are uncertain about Russian interference in the recent presidential election or if our sitting president has business or other connections with the country that would not portend favorably for American interests and security. If investigations discover this to be the truth, Trump should rightfully be called an enemy of the American people.

 

It is no secret that the majority of blacks in the United States did not embrace or vote for Trump. They believe his politics are divisive at a time when race relations in the country are at their worst. To buttress their position, they believe that to gain the support of conservatives, he appears to never tire of blaming welfare and subsidy programs as causal factors which are destroying America. This is a not-so-subtle racial card played repeatedly to convince poor whites who receive government assistance to vote against their own best interests. The fact is when you break down welfare statistics, the number of whites versus blacks who receive public assistance is almost equal. The margin between blacks and white on welfare is extremely small and narrow- 38.8 percent of whites and 39.8 percent of blacks are on welfare in our United States. Trump has been fond of calling Obama the food-stamp President. While true, according to Politifacts.com, it was a trend that started due to a combination of the recession and greed of corporations.

Here’s a fact for you. Almost $104 million dollars’ worth of food stamps were used at military commissaries in 2013. In addition, nearly 1 million veterans receive food stamps as well.

What’s your opinion?

 

 

****Dr. Glenn Dowell is an author and columnist who currently lives in Jonesboro, Georgia. He has been a guest speaker on major college campuses , including having appeared on TV programs such as the Oprah Winfrey Show. He may be reached at gdowell@live.com