Comment on a BBC Newsnight video by Tiffany Jenkins (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04vl88g) posted to Facebook

The false equivalence between Donald Trump and other U.S. presidents expressed in this video demonstrates a lack of understanding of U.S. history and a serious underestimation of Donald Trump. Someone who talks too much at social gatherings is ‘obnoxious,’ Mr. Trump is cruel, thoughtless, rash, immature, uneducated, and ill-informed. No recent president – and probably no president in American history – has expressed such open contempt for American institutions, history, values, and its people. Trump may have been elected in a mature democracy with rule of law, a free press, and an independent judiciary, but he has systematically and brazenly attacked all of these institutions. With a Republican-majority Congress enabling him, there is a justifiable fear that he can damage American democracy in ways that we cannot foresee. Having said that, I agree that a better strategy for progressives and Democrats (and anyone else who actually wants to see America succeed) would be to oppose Trump/Republican policies rather than Trump himself. The overriding impulse that led to Trump’s election was a desire to shake-up an economic system that was not providing desired opportunities or benefits to a significant number of people. The Democratic Party in particular needs to find a way to address this issue. The saddest part of the whole thing is that Trump’s proposed policies will not help the working class voters people who elected him.

Mar 4, 2017