Reading Michael Cohen's book “Disloyal: A Memoir” confirms and expands what I already know or have suspected about our President Donald Trump.
As a therapist and a former Substance Abuse Professional, I have often used a variety of test instruments to get a clearer picture of the client with whom I am working. That same approach has allowed me to gather a clearer picture of who Donald J. Trump is and is not by reading books of those who were closest to him or interviewed those who were closest to him. It is rather a frightful picture.
Reading Cohen's book about his experience of ten years being Trump's fixer, sent me to thinking about this word “patriotism”—as in “What does it mean to be a patriot? Or what is the essence of American patriotism?”
You would think DJT would be a model of patriotism, but that would be incorrect. He is the antithesis of a patriot and patriotism.
Let me tell you why I believe that is true. There are some qualities wrapped up in this word patriotism which can be identified and expanded upon.
First, I would say that a patriot loves her/his country. For the Christian, that love would be perhaps 3rd in a list of “loves:” love of God first, love of spouse/family second, love of country third. The love of country can be expanded to include the features that make the United States uniquely the United States. For me there are many things that come to mind. I love a government that is supposed to be populated with the people who are in the United States. So that national, state, county, local government is a mix of the people who reside within the limits of those jurisdictions. I love the diversity of this nation and like Ronald Reagan suggested people can come from around the world to America and become Americans. I love the freedom of religion, the freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, the right for redress of wrongs. All of those are a slice of the nation I embrace. More than that, I love and respect those who join the military, serve honorably, often heroically, because they believe in the vision cast by our founders for this great nation. All of the above are things in which Donald Trump does not participate in or hold affection for. He loves himself, money, and his brand. They are his “trinity.”This last week has shown us he only has contempt for our military and its leadership. They are “losers” and “suckers.” My father was a vet from the Marines fighting in the South Pacific during WWII. Awarded two purple hearts for injuries sustained in battle, he was anything but a loser, a sucker or stupid. I have lost count of how many veterans I have worked with through my practice and I have not seen a single person I would describe in that way. Instead they are men and women of heroic courage on which my gratitude and the gratitude of a grateful nation rests upon their shoulders.
I would also say a patriot is loyal. I would say I am not a “America right or wrong” kind of patriot, but rather a loyal citizen who both embraces who we strive to be and challenges the blind spots in our nation. I have only one higher loyalty and that is to the Kingdom of God. After that, my love of this nation and what it has historically stood for in the world still draws my admiration, fully aware we are not perfect. Sadly, Trump has no loyalty to this country. Simply, he is loyal to his own self interests, money, and the brand. Have you heard that before? That one reality is why DJT is dangerous. If he could make a really good deal with Putin, he would betray us in a moment.
I would say a patriot respects: the institutions that define and make this nation workable; the people who are within our borders whether legal or illegal; gender differences and those who feel pushed away and marginalized. Patriots respect life in all its forms especially other human beings. DJT simply respects nothing beyond himself. It is difficult for me to understand the level of disrespect DJT carries each and every day for others. He respects no ethnic group, no race, no gender, no social class beyond his own. He does not even respect his own children. Cohen often mentions how much abuse Don Jr. takes from his father, but that is not surprising because DJT saw that same treatment toward his oldest sibling, the father of Dr. Mary L Trump. His father called Mary's father's love of flying, enlisting in the Air Force “stupid.” It is not surprising that apple has not fallen far from the tree.
A patriot obeys the laws of the land. Everything from voting laws to speed limits, we define ourselves by how we related to the laws of the land. We also show ourselves as we adhere to the covenants we make and the covenants we break. You cannot be arrested for having an affair, but you have broken a covenant with your spouse. DJT defines himself by the way he has lived his life as a man of utter and complete lawlessness. The most foolish action any person can take is to get into a contract with Donald Trump on anything. He continually threatens, sues, and obstructs those who get in his way. Cohen acknowledges the tax records of DJT are a mix of low balling the value of his properties for IRS purposes, and inflating the real value for loan purposes. That is why he fights so hard to keep his taxes from being made public. That is also why most US banks will not loan him money. Instead he has to turn to Deutsch Bank apparently because they skate very close to the edge in their business dealings. Trump fits right in with that bank.
Finally(this is not an exhaustive list) I would put patriotism is about goodwill. We are a nation of immigrants. Immigrants bring with them their language, their heritage, their culture, their customs, their foods, and their religion. One of the most incredible articles of the Bill of Rights was Article I “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The history of Europe and Britain has often been written in the blood of religious wars between the State church and others. The genius of America was to remove the state from the affairs of the church and remove the church from influencing or controlling the state. People who whine about “God being taken out of the schools” have no understanding of the presence of God or what real prayer is. God cannot be extricated from the public schools because he comes to school with every believer, and saturates and indwells every space within the school. As I told my folks years ago, “God is equally present in all things at all times.”He is not subject to the ruling of the Supreme Court. He indwells all and is in all.
Because of that, Christian people need to be people of good will. It is the welcome mat both of this nation and of our faith. There really is no other place where someone can come with all their possession in a sack and because of the opportunity of this nation become people who contribute and succeed in this nation of good will. DJT is not a person of good will in any stretch of the definition. He is a racist. Of that I have no doubt. His inflammatory invectives toward non White Europeans and Scandinavians is frankly a disgrace. His pejorative words toward African Americans, and Hispanics demonstrate to me his hatred of both. In fact, his rhetoric is not only toxic in what he says but he gives license for those whose movements are hate fueled to surface and parade their toxic hatred.
In sum, DJT does not know the meaning of the word patriotism. Michael Cohen confirms that. And yes, like a mafia guy who turns and cooperates with the state, there is reason to test his words and his accounts. Sadly, with all that I have previously read, his perceptions are spot on.
Sadly, this President does not get the patriotism thing.
Wash your hands, wear your masks for others, mind the gap and be kind.
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