The speech Trump should give
Trump said to a group of journalists on Tuesday, “I want to see our country united,” and later, in the State of the Union, he listed what he perceives as his accomplishments, lamenting that he doesn’t get credit for them from a biased media.
Well, let me explain to him why he continues to be the most unpopular president ever at the end of a year in office. It’s not his policies, it’s his personality. People can agree or disagree about tax policy, DACA, NAFTA, Guantanamo, a border wall, sanctuary cities and everything else. Almost everybody I know (including me) actually agrees with Trump on something or other, so it’s not like he’s 100% wrong 100% of the time.
Why, then, doesn’t he get more credit from people like me? Because, like I said, of his personality. He is repellent. I’ve been saying for the better part of two years that he is a horrible person, not a kind man, or a good role model for kids. I won’t go through the litany of his various forms of nastiness—you’re aware of them. But I will say that a significant majority of Americans believe he has a depraved character and is personally divisive and ill-tempered. This is why opposition to him is so formidable. We want to look up to our leaders, not down on them.
Americans are generally a forgiving people, but those who have misbehaved, like Trump, if they wish to be forgiven, first must follow certain steps. They have to apologize. This implies a recognition of their bad acts, and a consciousness of guilt. Unfortunately, after all the terrible things Trump has said and done that have hurt so many decent Americans, he has never come close to apologizing, nor have his surrogates, like Sarah Sanders, ever acknowledged his foul words and actions. How can Trump expect Democrats and independents to like him, when he is such a repellent human being?
If I were Trump, I’d get on primetime T.V. and give a speech saying something like this:
“I regret deeply the awful things I’ve said about so many people, starting with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I’m sorry to both of you. I feel awful about attacking the Justice Department and the FBI, and I apologize to those good men and women of law enforcement for denigrating you. I apologize to Haiti and the African countries I called ‘shitholes.’ That was a racist thing to say, and I feel nothing but guilt for saying it. I apologize to Congressional Democrats for insulting you over and over. I am truly sorry that I have offended so many Latinos. I offer my most profound apology to the many women I have sexually molested and called ‘liars.’ I ask the media to forgive me: I have repeatedly lied about you. I acknowledge having many bad personality traits, and can tell you that, for the first time in my life, I am undergoing psychotherapy to understand myself and why I do these awful things. For all these things, and more, I am sorry. In order to foster true bipartisanship, I am asking for a clean DACA bill. I also promise Leaders Pelosi and Schumer that, if I am president the next time a Supreme Court seat opens up, I will allow them and their caucuses to choose my nomination to fill it. I am sincere in these declarations, and pledge to listen to and respect Democrats from now on. And I utterly, completely and forever reject the sickness of the Republican far right. I am repentant that I ever allowed myself to fall under the spell of Steve Bannon and the neo-nazis he represents. I have ordered the immediate firing of Stephen Miller and Gen. Kelly because their views are so outside the mainstream of American thinking. I also have fired Sarah Huckabee Sanders for her repeated lies and misstatements. And I apologize to my darling wife, Melania, and to my children for being an adulterous pig.”
Well, that’s the speech Trump should give. He won’t, of course. And that’s why we will continue to resist this abnormality.
