Tag Archives: Josef Stalin

‘Congratulations,’ Poland … on being invaded and brutalized?

Donald Trump’s lack of historical perspective is astonishing in the extreme, such as what he displayed today when given a chance to comment on the 80th year since the start of World War II.

A reporter asked the president if he had any words to offer to Poland, where he was scheduled to visit this week to commemorate the launch of that massive and bloody conflict. He stayed home to “monitor” the progress of Hurricane Dorian.

Trump mentioned that the vice president, Mike Pence, was going to “represent me” and the United States at event in Poland marking the event.

And then … he offered a word of “congratulations” to Poland. Yes, congratulations. For what? For being invaded and brutalized by the 20th century’s most despicable tyrant, Adolf Hitler? Or, for being attacked as well from the east by the Red Army, which operated under a non-aggression pact signed by Hitler and Soviet tyrant Josef Stalin?

Trump then offered his customary ignorant platitudes about Poland being a “great country” with “great people,” compliments he could apply to virtually any country on Earth — with the exception of the “sh**hole” nations that produce all those immigrants who seek entry into the United States.

The president’s lack of knowledge of — or empathy for — the suffering of others is manifestly evident to me when he makes observations such as what he offered today.

Disgraceful.

Win or lose, Trump’s impact has been ‘y-u-u-u-u-ge!’

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Americans ought to perhaps prepare themselves for a major shock at the end of this year.

I’m talking about Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.

No, I do not mean to suggest that Trump is going to win the election and start preparing himself to settle into the chair behind that big ol’ desk in the Oval Office. He won’t ever get to do that — in my humble view.

What I mean is that Trump’s presence on the campaign scene has had an impact far, far beyond anyone’s expectations when he entered it this past summer.

Yes, America, this man well could become Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2016.

I don’t know how the Time editors are going to process this election. The winner of the campaign assuredly should be the logical choice for the esteemed honor. If it turns out to be Hillary Rodham Clinton, well, she will have made history as the first woman ever elected, just as Barack Hussein Obama made history by becoming the first African-American ever elected president.

Trump’s influence on this election, though, has been overarching.

He has redefined how the media cover these events.

Think of it: The guy has no government experience of any kind whatsoever. He is known as a reality TV celebrity and real estate mogul. He has lived a life of excess — and boasts about his extramarital sexual conquests. He begins his campaign by insulting Mexican immigrants who come here illegally by lumping all of them together as rapists, murderers and drug dealers.

Then it got worse.

Still, the man remains the frontrunner for the Republican Party presidential nomination. The media cannot stop reporting on his utterances. Why is that? Because the public is infatuated with them. Even those of us who cannot stomach the sight of him or the sound of his voice can’t stop writing about him.

Trust me on this: If there wasn’t a public appetite for this guy, the media wouldn’t report on him. The media respond to what the public demands.

The Time editors have made much of the criteria they use for these selections. The person they put on the magazine’s cover are there because of what they contributed for “good or ill.” The publication has put some pretty hideous characters on its cover: Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the Ayatollah Khomeini come to mind immediately.

Donald J. Trump ain’t in their league.

However, he’s had a gigantic impact on the political process that selects the person who becomes president of the United States.