Gergen: Speech 'most divisive' I've heard from a president

[Solly Mack]

27. Thank you. You're very kind. Trump all too often leaves me sputtering and at a loss for words.

Last edited Mon May 1, 2017, 08:29 AM - Edit history (2)

The Press and people have to stop speaking of Trump in terms of the standards used when normally addressing elected officials. We have a historical frame of reference for what being a president means. There exist a language for addressing a president and how we, as a nation, speak about a president.

That frame of reference does not apply to Trump and the use of it normalizes what should never be considered simply part of the varying scale of what is and isn't presidential.

Trump isn't something new - we've seen his type throughout history. Simply because Trump is American, and some misguided notion that in America - "it can't happen here" - does not mean we should treat him any differently than other tin-pot dictators in the business of reshaping a democracy into an authoritarian state. The entire GOP should be treated the same.

There is something mentally unbalanced about Trump. Dangerously so. It's not meant as an insult to others with disorders who live their lives thanks to treatment. Trump is not under treatment and he would refuse treatment once recommended. It would be an insult to his ego to admit he needs help.

Yet the Press and others dance around the issue as if it is more insulting to America to talk about Trump's instability than the dangers that instability poses. That it somehow insults the office to admit the man holding that office is a threat to very existence of the democracy they are hoping to protect by pretending, somehow, his being in office is a part of the normal democratic process.

Our democracy has been long undermined by those who would deny facts and spread ignorance as an acceptable way of governing. Trump is a creation of that disregard for democracy.

The man is delusional and lives in denial - and his denial, along with the denial embraced by far too many about the dangers we are facing, serves only to create barriers in acting against a very real threat.

America is being lead by a madman. Pretending otherwise normalizes Trump and his actions.

Sure, some have questioned his stability. And in doing so have been treated as if they have harmed the civility of discourse by merely pointing out the truth. There's nothing civil about what Trump is doing. Nothing civil about how Trump came to be. Why pretend it is necessary to be civil about any of it? The house is on fire, people. It's OK to shout "Fire!".

Bush earned an asterisk by his name. A well earned asterisk. But Trump needs multiple question marks after the word President????, followed by a WTF, America after the his name. (President????? Trump WTF, America???)

The Press (and others) needs to separate the office from the man. The idea of a president and how said individual should be treated needs to be divorced from the reality that is Trump.

His ignorance of government is not some refreshing reminder that he is an outsider. Anyone with a TV who has seen "SchoolHouse Rock" knows how a bill becomes a law. But Trump didn't and probably still doesn't understand the process.

Governing is complicated, hard, and there's more to it than he knew. Seriously? There's nothing charming about that. Nothing refreshing about that. Nothing endearing about that. America should be appalled by Trump's willful ignorance and act and speak accordingly. Some people actually take pride in Trump's ignorance - because they take pride in their own.

There is always a learning curve for those elected to office but that learning curve should never start from the very basics of government.

He doesn't want to learn how to govern either. He wants to change how the Constitution works to fit his ignorance. To allow him the power to by-pass all the rules and laws so he can act on his whims without any checks and balances.

He calls those checks and balances "archaic" - "news" that should be front page, with blow-back that eviscerates anyone thinking, much less voicing, such a thought.


Trump has been handed the office of trigonometry and he doesn't even know what a triangle is, and instead of learning about triangles, he wants to declare the standard to be an ink blot. An alternative fact that allows him to claim a fact isn't fact because it all depends on how you look at the ink blot. With Trump, it's always a vagina he needs to grab and fuck over.

The GOP is useless because they are not only complicit, they are the primary reason America has gotten to this point.

Trump is the GOP golem, created from the rancid clay of hate and ignorance they have been molding for years.

The Press is also guilty because they have sold the lie that an opinion is as valid as a fact and that "news" means framing a lie as being on par with the truth.

Between the Press and the GOP, far too many people now feel justified in dismissing facts because they don't fit into how they want the world to be.

It's not respect to pretend there is any validity to their ignorance or hate. There is no purpose served in claiming we have to listen to the complaints of those who would rather cling to ill-formed opinions rooted in misinformation and lies.


Water is wet even if your only experience has been bone dry drought. It's not dismissing your experiences to state a fact - just because you don't know water is wet doesn't mean you get to claim water doesn't exist. Ignorance can be cured. Doubling-down on your ignorance causes terminal stupidity. It says to the world that you would rather drown in dust than to dig for relief.

That's fine - as long it is only you doing the drowning.

You can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think. Thinking is hard. It's complicated. Who knew?

Almost everyone knew. So let's stop pretending those who didn't know are somehow equal to those who did.

Shout it from the headlines the world over - your ignorance is not acceptable. It is not a desirable trait and it will never be a valid way by which to view the world.

If, like a good deal of the right-wing, your goal is to nurture ignorance and hate to sustain your greed, then you are a threat to people the world over. Some on the right are true-believers in their all-too-comfortable ignorance that self-justifies their existence. For them, water couldn't possibly exist because if it did, why aren't they wet?

We have to stop giving credence to their way of thinking. Stop treating them as if they have something to say. It's not a case of differing opinions. It's not a case of seeing a problem and not agreeing on how to solve it.

Those who would ignore facts, who push lies, who use hate as a means to sway, and attempt to strip a democracy of its needed and necessary checks and balances are not people to respect. They are dangers to put down.

They are the fire that needs to face the reality of water.

Sorry. Rambling, I am.