Unfair!

President Donald Trump tweets that Alec Baldwin mocking him on Saturday Night Live demonstrates “nothing less than unfair news coverage.”  “Unfair, waaa,  waaa,  waaa,” from a man who publicly and notoriously mocked a handicapped journalist.

YouTube lists “Donald Trump Mocking,” the Me Too Movement, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Senator Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Spanish Language and Puerto Rican Mayors.  A Google search turns up our President mocking Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi, a Japanese Reporter, and CNN’s Jim Acosta.  This is the short list.

Besides mockery President Trump employs sarcasm and criticism to disrespect and belittle any who do not follow in lock-step behind his every whim and pronouncement or who just happens to wander into his line of ire: labeling a beauty pageant contestant “Miss Piggy,” taunting Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas,” erstwhile First Lady and Secretary of State as “Crooked Hillary,” decrying “Fake News” Networks, the Washington Post and York Times, insulting Senator Dianne Fienstein and Senator and War Hero John McCain.  Our Commander in Chief’s sarcasm and criticism extend even to arguing with experts such as the Joint Chiefs or telling heads of his National Security agencies “go back to school.”  Unfair Mr. President?

The only person who seems exempt to our President’s insults is Vladamir Putin!

In short, Donald Trump is a World-Champion mocker.  His brutish, sixth-grade bullying reflects an astonishing failure to appreciate others’ beliefs and feelings and to grasp fundamental principles of civil discourse by which democratic government operates.

How much mockery and mean-spirited debate do we hear in the Untied States Senate and Congress?  While a Senator or Representative may experience visceral disagreement with a colleague–usually across the aisle–her or his opinion and/or rebuttal are not personal but addressed to “Madam President,” “Mr. President,” “Madam Speaker,” “Mr. Speaker.”  References to a member from the loyal opposition take the form, “My friend from Oklahoma fails to appreciate . . . ”  This, Mr. President, not mockery, sarcasm, criticism and insult, is the mechanism of civil discourse whereby, for two and a half centuries, America’s “government of the people, by the people, for the people” has survived and thrived.  One of countless virtues that continue to Make America Great.