(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

OPINION

I've been a writer for nearly half a century. I've reported breaking news, hard news, and written features, editorials and columns. I've written about local, regional, national and international news. I've written speeches for chairmen of two of the world's largest corporations. I've written poems, short stories and both fiction and non-fiction works. I've even written comedy.

Unfortunately, the sum of these experiences doesn't make it a bit easier to write about President Donald Trump. It appears in a matter of months he's trying to undo what took America nearly 241 years to do. Nonetheless, I am going to write about this man every month until truth emerges from the White House. Consider every professional journalist's work the anti-venom for his poisonous snakebite of a presidency. This isn't sour grapes about Hillary Clinton losing either. It's just that this guy is woefully unfit for the office...and he's proving it daily.

Here's what I know about Donald Trump. He is a pathetically needy man. He wants people fawning over him...daily...hourly. He needs people around him who are suck-ups...something he calls loyalty. However, he insists on blind loyalty...and that means you better be able to lie through your teeth for him.

Please, someone tell this clown that people in government take an oath to uphold the Constitution...not an oath to be loyal to him. He lies like most people breathe...without thinking about it. In his first 100 days, according to the Toronto Star, he told 213 whoppers...more than 2.1 per day. That average has gone up dramatically in the past ten days...and the worst is yet to come.

Every American who loves America should have been outraged by Trump a long time ago.
Are you stupid to continue to support this sociopathic, misanthropic liar and part-time female genital grabber? I wonder whether IQ tests would reveal a significant deficit among those who - after all his deceptions - still blindly support Trump. Otherwise, what reasons exist? 

He's not religious, so why would those who are devoutly religious support him? He's not a hard worker...choosing to visit and promote his golf resorts in Florida and New Jersey instead of working weekends in the White House. The White House is - by the way - open on weekends.

I know this guy...and believe me...he's not that smart. Examples number too many or this column would be a book. Last month, he opined, "Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated." A week later he offered, "This job's harder than I thought." 

It is myth - perpetuated by Trump - that he is a self-made man endowed with business savvy and judgment well beyond mere mortals. More accurately, he is a self-made son. He didn't build his company in the fashion of Henry Ford or Thomas Edison...he inherited wealth from his father.

Fact: He has never been among the top ten real estate developers in Manhattan, much less the United States. Fact: Had Trump invested the money he inherited from dear old dad in a
S & P 500 Index Fund...he would be $10 billion richer than he is today. As far as his current net worth, Forbes magazine pegs it at $4.5 billion, even though Trump says he's worth more than twice that. Perhaps if he released his tax returns we would know the truth.

As far as intellectual capacity, consider that he lacks almost every trait of an intelligent person. He has no natural curiosity. His ability to speak his native language and knowledge of history is that of a ninth-grader. He doesn't know he doesn't know everything. He doesn't learn from his mistakes...he doesn't even admit mistakes. He's not open-minded. He lacks self-control. I'm guessing he wasn't breast-fed either...something highly correlated with intelligence. Come on, folks, if you make George W. Bush look scholarly...you're not the smartest guy in most rooms.

Trump pulls bonehead moves almost daily...sometimes pulling off multiple bonehead moves on the same day. His recent firing of FBI Director James Comey - who was leading the investigation into the Trump Administration's ties with Russia - and the reasons are cringe-worthy. The Administration gave more reasons for the firing than a multiple-choice test question.
And the only truthful answer is E...none of the above.

At first, Trump allegedly fired Comey - and it helps here if you believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus - because Comey was unfair to Hillary Clinton. I'm going to give you a moment to stop laughing and catch your breath before proceeding. Remember, this is the man who led cheers of "lock her up" for nearly a year and a half.

Comey's firing is unprecedented. Yes, even the 1973 "Saturday Night Massacre" when President Nixon fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox pales in comparison. Comey headed the FBI...a job with a ten-year term that purposefully spans at least two and often three presidents to avoid undue influence and maintain independence.

There's so much wrong with Trump's actions in the past ten days it's hard to know where to start. President Trump wrote Comey a termination letter on May 9 that said he concurred with the "judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."

That judgment was evidenced in two letters - one from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and one from Acting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - both also dated May 9. By the way, the FBI Director reports directly to the number two man in the Department of Justice...the Deputy Attorney General. Deputy AG Rosenstein - confirmed by the Senate just two weeks before -appears to have been duped by the Trump Administration...set up as a potential fall guy for Comey's firing.

But Trump - again, I said he wasn't smart - decided within 24 hours that credit for something he thought Americans would perceive as good wasn't coming his way. So, in an interview with NBC News Anchor Lester Holt, he said firing Comey was his decision alone...made days before the two letters recommending the firing, which Trump had given as reasons in his own termination letter to Comey.  Huh?

Does anyone wonder why it took Trump 18 days to fire Michael Flynn - his national security adviser - after being warned by the then-Acting AG Sally Yates that Flynn was compromised and susceptible to blackmailing by the Russians? In Comey's case, Trump deliberated just a day if you believe AG Sessions, Deputy AG Rosenstein, Vice President Mike Pence and White House spokespersons Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But, disregard all of the above if you believe President Trump, who simply threw them all under the crosstown bus.

Also, don't forget, he fired Acting AG Yates even before he fired Flynn. I know it's hard to keep up with this loose cannon of a president, but focus, there's more...a lot more.

Now, just for the record - and the Trump Administration hates facts - just two months ago Attorney General Jeff Sessions was caught in a lie about meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and recused himself from "matters that deal with the Trump campaign."
But that scamp Sessions - who lied about his own dealings with Russians - wrote his letter to President Trump recommending Comey's firing anyway. Sessions apparently doesn't understand what recuse means.

Ok, so 48 hours after Comey's firing a parade of near idiots goes on CNN and Fox - joined by the Three Stooges working as spokespersons at the White House - to say we simply didn't understand the Administration's communications and the media distorted what they said. Once again, the Trump loyalists tried to distract Americans with Trump's version of political Three-Card Monte. The story here isn't about the communications...it's about the President firing someone who's investigating his administration's likely shenanigans.

Think things can't get crazier...or more absurd? Well, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. and part-time spy Sergey Kislyak met with Trump in the Oval Office the morning after Comey was fired. Trump barred American reporters and photographers but allowed a photographer from Russia's state-owned TASS news agency to enter the Oval Office, who then took several photos. The photos went worldwide fifteen minutes later. The not-the-smartest-guy-in-the-Oval Office not only initiated a serious security breech...he thought he could keep his glad-handing of Russians from Americans. Sad.

So, did one or more people in the Trump Campaign do something unethical or illegal with the Russians in the last two years? We don't know yet...but believe me...we will. Was Donald Trump a willing or knowing participant? Again, we don't know yet...but believe me...we will.

Nixon was forced to resign or be impeached in 1973 - not because of that third-rate burglary at the Watergate - but because he tried to cover it up. It's called obstruction of justice...and it's a crime for every United States citizen...including the nation's President. That's the way it worked in 1973...and that's the way it will work in 2017.

– Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines. His essays are a blend of news reporting and opinion.

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