It’s time for America to fire Donald Trump
It’s okay, Americans, Donald Trump is “working for you now”.
That was the Republican candidate’s argument on Monday as he spoke in Colorado on the subject of tax. He did not directly address the leaked 1995 tax return showing a loss of $916 million that could have enabled him to avoid paying taxes for eighteen years, but he did call the tax code that has benefitted him so much “a disgrace to this country”. According to the new post-tax-leak Trump: “Fixing our broken tax code is one of the main reasons I’m running for president.”
The tax scandal broken last week by the New York Times has been hard to shake off for a candidate who brands himself as both a champion for working class Americans and the greatest businessman in US history. Either Trump was a tax cheat who manipulated the system to avoid paying any tax while leading a lavish lifestyle at the expense of others, or he was something worse: a “loser” who lost $916 million.
Neither of these personas inspires much confidence, hence Trump’s attempt to paint the tax debacle as good business sense that he is now using to the benefit of the American people. But what does Trump “working for you now” actually look like?
If the candidate’s actions this week are anything to go by, Trump’s work is more of a hazard than help, to his party, to the country, and to himself.
In recent history Republicans have been the party of the army, and Trump’s strongman attitude is deeply entwined with America’s military strength. But before the rally on Monday, Trump screwed up an easy question from a veteran in Virginia by implying that soldiers who suffer from post traumatic stress and other mental health problems “can’t handle” combat. This is just the latest development in Trump’s apparent campaign to alienate the military, which includes belittling John McCain for being a prisoner of war, and railing against the Muslim parents of a dead US solider after they spoke at the Democratic National Convention. In the last decade the Republican party has enjoyed a 20 point advantage among veterans, but Trump’s comments have sent the RNC scrambling, desperately trying to neutralise the resentment their candidate has created among veterans in battleground states.
Then there’s the ongoing saga of ill-advised late-night tweeting. Trump himself has managed to highlight his past and present misogyny against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, which involves fat-shaming her for gaining weight and falsely accusing her of being involved in a murder case and making a sex tape. Trump’s casual sexism is nothing new – in the first Republican primary debate back in July 2015 he refused to apologise for describing women as “fat pigs” and “disgusting animals”, then went after moderator Megyn Kelly, calling her a (among other things) a “bimbo”. But the Machado vendetta is another step, combining Trump’s troubling attitude towards women with growing concerns about his judgement and temperament.
It was in last Monday’s debate that Hillary Clinton brought up Trump’s previous treatment of Machada as an example of his disrespect for women, reminding the audience that he had called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” in the late 1990s. The following morning, Trump admitted in a TV interview that the Machada reference had thrown him, then continued to harass her about her weight gain. That could have been the end of it. But Trump couldn’t let it go, tweeting at 3am on Friday that Machada was “disgusting” and a “con”, and firing off a string of conspiracy theories about her.
It almost doesn’t matter what Trump said or did to Machada in 1997, even after it was raised in the debate. Trump’s past is full of scandals and feuds that would cripple any other candidate, and, as with so many of Trump’s inappropriate comments, the news cycle would soon have moved on. But Trump lacked the self-restraint and perspective to let the matter slide, giving into the impulse to hit back at Machada on twitter.
And what was his excuse?
For those few people knocking me for tweeting at three o’clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
As he did with his tax dodging, Trump is desperately trying to convince the electorate that his poor judgement could be viewed as a strength. It can’t be. Presidents cannot take to twitter in the middle of the night to launch personal attacks out of spite. Being kept up until 3am by an ongoing grudge match is not a sign of strength. Who would want a president with such irrational anger and weak impulse control in the Situation Room?
The past four days alone have shown that Trump is utterly unsuited to leading a beauty pagent, let alone a country. He says he’s working for America now. Americans should be afraid.