Hi Vlad,

I appreciate your comment. I think I understand what you're confused about. I agree that our politics are broken on both sides. Still, Trump is not a normal politician, or even a normal human being. I have never voted for a republican and likely never will, but there is no comparison between the candidates they've run for office in the 2000s and Trump. All politicians must play to their base to get elected but, typically once that happens, a president's job is to lead and unite. Trump has zero concept of how to do that and further, he doesn't care to learn (that, or anything else).

It's probably clear that I'm a progressive, and I can tell you the republicans who ran against and lost to Obama in '08 and '12 (McCain and Romney) were "normal." I did not agree with them about a lot. But they cared about America and its people, that was obvious. Trump is different. He does not listen to his advisors or to other experts, even though he has literally no experience that qualified him for this role and, with his natural instincts, has proven to be quite bad at it.

Trump came into office with 35,000 lawsuits filed against him, from his dishonest and disgusting practices in business and in his personal life. One lawsuit, which the anonymous plaintiff dropped after receiving death threats, accused Trump of the rape of a 13-year-old girl. That Trump was friendly with Jefferey Epstein, who was found dead in custody after being arrested for the sexual abuse of multiple underage girls, gives you an idea of what kind of guy he is. His first wife and mother of his three children, Ivana, also famously disclosed that he raped her during an argument when they were married in her divorce filings (meaning there was no political motivation for her to share this). In 1989, Trump used his vast resources to take out full-page ads calling for the death penalty for five innocent black teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman in Central Park. The boys were incarcerated for 6-9 years before by some miracle they were exonerated. Trump bragged, on video tape, about grabbing woman by the genitals, basically because he was rich and he could. This is a perfect example of someone who went all in on whiteness and privilege and traded their humanity to do it.

No president we've had has targeted states based on the political party running those states, threatening their governors and people to comply or to be punished financially. (In the states, the republicans are the party that—allegedly—champion less federal oversight and more state's rights; though Trump seems not to know this.)

Among other things, the president's job is to lead and unify in times of crisis. Trump's own people are advising him not to talk right now, because they know anything he says will make things worse. He's not playing along with white supremacists, he is one, though he may be too intellectually vapid to understand what that means. Without making an effort, most people have very little self-awareness—by that I mean an understanding of who they are and how they became that way; what motivates them and how they go about getting it. Trump's self-awareness is in the red. All he cares about is optics; the irony is that even his optics are terrible. This week, he had protestors teargassed so he could walk through the park to a damaged church he's never been to, for a photo-op that was so absolutely cringe-worthy and tone-deaf even his sycophantic GOP underlings had to slap his wrist about it. He is not a leader. His arrogance about the coronavirus has already killed over 100,000 Americans. He has no idea what he's doing and worse than that, he doesn't realize or care that he has no idea what he's doing.

I am glad you read some of his books, which he himself did not write. His ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, has an intimate understand of Trump, as he had to shadow him and spend time with him to write these books. Here is his opinion on the matter: https://gen.medium.com/the-psychopath-in-chief-aa10ab2165d9

Here are the lawsuits he brought into office with him: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/01/donald-trump-lawsuits-legal-battles/84995854/

Here are the court filings of the anonymous woman who claims Trump raped her at a private sex party when she was thirteen years old. This article also shows how Trump was connected to Epstein. Snopes is a website specifically dedicated to verifying or debunking viral stories: https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/06/23/donald-trump-rape-lawsuit/

Here is an in-depth article of sexual assault and misconduct allegations against the president, including his ex-wife Ivana's claim (from her divorce filings) that Trump raped her in a fit of rage during an argument: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/documenting-trumps-abuse-of-women

Here is Trump talking about the victim of the Central Park 5 as though he's ever cared about the sexual assault of women. A copy of the ad he spent his personal money on to charge the black teenagers is included:

https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/07/politics/trump-larry-king-central-park-five/index.html

Here is Trump refusing to take back his disgusting rhetoric about the Central Park 5, even after the boys were exonerated. In 2019, as president. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/nyregion/central-park-five-trump.html

Here is the infamous "Grab 'em by the pussy" tape:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html

Trump was a bona fide criminal before he came into office. We don't have to imagine what he'd do with unchecked power, because he's doing it (or trying to) right now. There will be more we don't know about, though it probably won't make a difference to his base. I hope it does make a difference to a judge, when he is removed from office.

You are right that the establishment is disgusting, we agree there. But even in that disgusting system, Trump is an outlier, because he's too short-sighted to play the game for real. His ego is monstrous. He is both the Power White and the foot solider at the same time. Way, way too convinced of his own capabilities and intelligence. The Dunning-Kruger effect embodied. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dunning-kruger-effect)

You ask what Trump can do — that's the thing. There are things he can do to bridge the divide, and people in his own circle are telling him to do it. But he won't listen because he thinks he knows best. A perfect example is his handling of the coronavirus, in which he keeps peddling unproven fringe medical advice that is terrifying the experts advising him: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/trump-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-pandemic

I will very honestly tell you that even before he became president, there was nothing Trump could say or do that would lead me to give him the benefit of the doubt. But my distrust was not unearned. He has been the same self-obsessed do-nothing his entire life, and I could almost feel sorry for him were he not in a position of power where his lack of integrity actually harms other people.

I appreciate that you follow our news and would never tell you it's not your problem or business. Our two governments are probably more similar now than they ever have been. I am a little worried about what the news says about him where you live, though; I can't tell if your impression of it is different, or if the news itself is different.

Before I go, I want to recommend some documentaries that illustrate some of the things I mentioned above.

Here's one about the Central Park 5: https://www.amazon.com/Ken-Burns-Central-Park-Five/dp/B00BYEVUWI

Here's one about Roger Stone, who is responsible for the "dirty tricks" of the GOP and is now in prison for covering up for Trump: https://www.netflix.com/title/80114666

Here's one about Steve Bannon, who honed Trump's white supremacist messaging and helped put him the White House: https://www.amazon.com/Brink-Stephen-K-Bannon/dp/B07SHJ69C3

Here's one about Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of not just sexually assaulting dozens of young women but also hosting parties much like the one described by Trump's then-13-year-old accuser:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80224905

I hope you can access them, and that they help paint a picture of how this abomination came to be our president. I leave you with this quote from General Mattis, our former secretary of defense who resigned in 2018 in protest of Trump's foreign policy in Syria. Of this week, he says:

“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”

There is more here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/