Electing a bully like Trump would be unprecedented 4-year embarrassment for U.S.

Editor:

Not understanding why it would be a disaster to have a bully representing the United States as President is like thinking Michigan Governor Rick Snyder isn’t responsible for the lead poisoning crisis in Flint. Both may be based on a lack of information.

Though bullying is normally associated with children, adults are subjected to bullying as well. Fearing retaliation, adult victims, who often work for the bully, may acquiesce to intimidation. But what happens when the targets of the bully are elected officials, life appointees, or leaders of independent countries?

Candidate Trump’s repeated assertion that Mexico will pay for a border wall is the tactic of a bully. Does he value our relationship with Mexico or not? We have seen the reaction it evokes. The last three Mexican Presidents have, in effect, told candidate Trump to “go pound salt.”

When the brash billionaire told Jeb Bush to “Shut up,” he displayed the petulance and disrespect that might make one wonder who he would not talk down to. Perhaps to appear Presidential, Bush went along.

How does Ted Cruz running a tape of Tim Russert’s interview with the stridently pro-choice 1999 version of currently pro-life candidate Trump warrant the threat of a lawsuit? Was he saying, “If you exercise your First Amendment right of free speech, I will sue you?” Such a legally baseless, ridiculous attempt to intimidate is nothing more than the m.o. of a bully. His threats to sue or run as a third-party candidate are further attempts to bully.

Donald Trump has said he is smarter than most of our generals. Who, then, does he intend to take counsel from? When you think you are smarter than anyone in the United States government, do you really need to surround yourself with anyone other than sycophants and bodyguards?

When questioned about Paul Ryan’s stern admonition that there was no place in the Republican Party for hate groups, Trump bragged, “I’ll get along fine with Speaker Ryan, and if I don’t, he will have a very big price to pay.” Does he think Paul Ryan is a bell hop at Trump Tower? Perhaps he thinks Ryan’s youth, stature, or hair style, make the Speaker of the House someone he can bully with empty threats.

Attacking people on a personal level is indicative of a bully as well. Though Carly Fiorina’s interjection cut short his implosion in the first debate, he later questioned, “How could anyone vote for that face?” Those who question him are “losers,” “fat pigs,” or “stiffs,” or, in Megyn Kelly’s case, something else. Or perhaps their ears are big and they sweat a lot (like working people do). Ted Cruz is “Liar Ted,” and Marco Rubio is “Little Marco.” These, too, are typical of bullying behavior.

Though he chirps a lot about veterans, Trump has even disrespected the military. The McCain prisoner thing was a pathetic example. He said the military would break the law and torture if he told them to. That may not be how it works when it comes to ordering people to break the law.

As we found out disastrously in 2000, anything can happen in an election. If the American people do not inform themselves quickly, a great nation may be in for an unprecedented four-year embarrassment that will make George W. Bush look like Mt. Rushmore material.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent
Albion