What Leadership Does, And Does Not, Look Like

This is what leadership looks like:

Last Sunday Hillary Clinton tweeted:

President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens

The Trump Administration finally announced two days later that they were sending the hospital ship Comfort.

“It takes a Leader”.

The Spanish-speaking people of Puerto Rico who bear the horrible devastation by Hurricane Maria don't seem to rate up there with hurricane stricken Texas and Florida... I wonder why?

Turns out our Mis-leader had priorities. Since Maria made landfall Sept. 20 and up until Tuesday, Trump tweeted some two dozen times about the NFL — and twice about Maria.

This is what really mattered:

"The booing at the NFL football game last night, when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees, was loudest I have ever heard. Great anger"

“I have plenty of time on my hands,” Trump said. “All I do is work. And to be honest, that’s an important function of working. It’s called respect for our country.”

Our Mis-leader was not content to just blame those uppity Black men protesting against bad cops getting away with killing Blacks. Trump always has room to blame the journalists of our free press.

“FEMA & First Responders are doing a GREAT job in Puerto Rico,” Military is now on site and I will be there Tuesday. Wish press would treat fairly!”

There it is. It's all about him. Everything would be just great if not for the damn press ruining... everything.

Blame. Attack. Accuse. Complain. Whine. Repeat.

Fake News CNN and NBC are going out of their way to disparage our great First Responders as a way to “get Trump.” Not fair to FR or effort!...The Fake News Networks are working overtime in Puerto Rico doing their best to take the spirit away from our soldiers and first R’s. Shame!...Despite the Fake News Media in conjunction with the Dems, an amazing job is being done in Puerto Rico. Great people!

The vile man pitted the press against the military. There is no such thing as too low for that slimy vermin of humanity. 

And of course he couldn't miss the chance to stroke his own ego.

"Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello just stated: 'The Administration and the President, every time we've spoken, they've delivered....... 

He then tweeted:...The fact is that Puerto Rico has been destroyed by two hurricanes. Big decisions will have to be made as to the cost of its rebuilding!

Yes, the cost is the first big consideration for Trump. It’s not easy deciding how much to punish those brown people for their debt to Wall Street, you now. Trump the Enforcer is here. He’ll make it all right.  It’s high time to force those folks with destroyed homes to pay Trump’s cronies first.

Making them ask for help online, with no functioning electrical grid, is a good start.

Before we forget this is still all about Dear Mis-Leader:

"The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump," "Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job,"

But they should take comfort.

Elaine Duke, acting secretary of Homeland Security said, “I know it’s a hard storm to recover from. But I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane.” “The relief effort is under control. It is proceeding very well considering the devastation that took place.”

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz responded.

“Maybe from where she’s standing it’s a good news story,” Cruz said on CNN’s “New Day” Friday. “When you are drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story.”

“I’m sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me,” she continued, holding back tears. “Frankly, it’s an irresponsible statement. ... Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story. This is a life or death story. ... This is a story of a devastation that continues to worsen because people are not getting food and water.”

“If I could scream it a lot more louder ― it’s not a good news story when people are dying when they don’t have dialysis, and when the generators aren’t working and the oxygen is not providing for them.

Where is there good news here?”

Unlike the cruel heart and empty soul of Trump, most Americans' hearts ache for the Puerto Ricans when they see the news coverage.

Meanwhile Hillary and Ms. Yulin Cruz are doing the leading.

These women are demonstrating leadership is about responding to the needs of the people.

Trump is too busy patting himself on the back and attacking the real leaders, whether the are Black athletes leading protests against injustice, or women raising their voices on behalf of human beings in need. 

Let's remind the Republicans that many thousands of Puerto Ricans will be moving to Florida. They will tell tales of destruction, hard times, illness, hunger, thirst and death.

And they will remember how our great Mis-leader worried more about the cost than getting them vital aid. 

And they will remember how he insulted their leaders, and ignored their plight. 

And they are American citizens. 

And they will vote. 

==

Most people don’t have water or power. There’s no cell service. Roads have been totally washed away or blocked by debris. This is life right now in Puerto Rico, where 3.5 million Americans are struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

Something we can do...

Caribbean Hurricane Maria & Irma Relief Fund

Hurricane Maria caused devastating destruction in Dominica and massive floods and destruction in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands just two weeks after Hurricane Irma. This fund will provide relief to survivors in the form of emergency supplies like food, water, and medicine in addition to longer-term recovery assistance to help residents recover and rebuild. All donations to this fund will exclusively support any necessary hurricane relief and recovery efforts in the Caribbean.

All donations to this fund will support hurricane recovery and relief efforts in the Caribbean. Initially, the fund will help first responders meet survivors' immediate needs for food, fuel, clean water, hygiene products, and shelter. Once initial relief work is complete, this fund will transition to support longer-term recovery efforts run by local, vetted organizations responding to this disaster.

This Is Our Test

I've had it.

Let's break this "KneeGate" thing down to its essence.

Patriotism has been pitted against protest.

Patriotism is in this case one side's version of patriotism, as represented or even embodied by the national anthem and the flag. They feel their patriotism is offended. This version of patriotism has been pitted against a Constitutional protest over unaccountable killings of Black Americans by bad cops.

One side views the protest being against the anthem, against the flag, against the military, against all of law enforcement, and even against the entire country.

The other side sees it as a Constitutional protest against unaccountable killings of Black Americans by bad cops. They are exercising their First Amendment right to demand the all-American values and goals of justice and equality. 

This is the difference of views that has produced such division, anger, and hate.  

One person in particular has incited this division, anger and hate.

Trump. "Great anger", he called it.

He stokes the blame and hate and anger that echoes from far Right political rallies from Europe’s past. Questioning the patriotism of political dissent has a nefarious history.   

America's original sin of slavery leaves unhealed scars of division and racism. Trump is ramping up hate and fueling the ideological civil war among our people. Brother against brother once again becomes a factor in America's ongoing struggle for equality. 

Trump is betting Americans will be easily steered into buying his anger and hate that is rooted in the curse of slavery, segregation, racism and xenophobia.

Trump basks in the anger.  He wants us to hate, resent, and fight over two views that are not in conflict. He wants Americans to be too stupid, or too angry, or too partisan to understand one can be both patriotic and outraged by unaccountable killings of Black Americans.

This is our test. Will we let Trump divide us, or will we stand together for equality, justice and country?

It's Just Possible

This we have learned from our Divider-in-Chief and Angry White Con-servatives:

“Very fine people” marched with the white supremacists, Klan, and Nazis. 

Black Lives Matter is a racist hate group. 

And Black athletes who protest exonerated bad cops and the racist police killings of unarmed Blacks by taking a knee during the anthem are “Sons of bitches”.

Angry White Con-servatives readily believe all of this.

True to form, FOX (R) propaganda feeds their Angry White Con-servative dupes:

Howard Kurtz (Host): The president is clearly tapping into resentment among a lot of sports fans and others toward these multi-million dollar athletes who they think should be playing instead of protesting.

Cheryl Chumley: Well, I just want to take a little bit of disagreement with what you said.

Kurtz: Please.

Chumley: First off, I think it is fairly simple for journalists to look at this issue in a light that isn't covering it just from the day-to-day rapid reaction. First off, Trump didn't call anyone an S.O.B. He came out and said, “What if the coaches called these players S.O.B's?” And I think that --

Kurtz: A fine distinction I think.

Chumley: It is a fine distinction, but it's the difference between truth and not truth. And I think as journalists, we are in the business of reporting truth as we see it down the line.

Trump's exact words were, "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now'?"

This is how millions of Angry White Con-servatives learn “the difference between truth and not truth”. 

They don’t. 

All they believe is crap, from their C.R.A.P., the Cult of Right-wing Authoritarian Personalities.

Is it any wonder so many AWC's and Trump supporters are duped by “alternative facts”? Could it be they choose to believe what they want to believe? It's just possible.

In what’s left of our free country, demonization of free speech begets more free speech.

The number of NFL players taking a knee multiplied exponentially.

Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "But I've been in the league a little while, and I know the players in this league. There are no SOB's in this league. These are men that work hard, of integrity, they're involved in our communities. They're fathers, they're brothers, and their mothers aren't what he said they were. And our guys, just like anything else, we believe in unity, civility and also the First Amendment rights to peaceful expression and freedom of speech.”

Von Miller, a player for the Denver Broncos, said, “We felt like President Trump's speech was an assault on our most cherished right, freedom of speech."

They Great Divider was delighted by the reactions to his fanning of the flames. The Orange Fuhrer beamed:

"The booing at the NFL football game last night, when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees, was loudest I have ever heard. Great anger"

"Great anger". That's what feeds Angry White Con-servatives and their racist authoritarian leader. Great anger is how they feel, how they react, and how they thrive. 

Exactly like Angry White Germans in the 1930's.

"One might call Trump's base the white working class. But one of those adjectives is working harder than the other”, writes Ta-Nehisi Coates in “The First White President”.

“The fact of a black president seemed to insult Donald Trump personally. He has made the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy the foundation of his own. According to pre-election polling, if you tallied only white voters, Trump would have defeated Clinton 389 to 81 in the Electoral College. Not every Trump voter is a white supremacist. But every Trump voter felt it acceptable to hand the fate of the country over to one. The American tragedy now being wrought will not end with him.”

Coates summarizes:

“I think if you own a business that attempts to keep black people from renting from you; if you are reported to say that you don’t want black people counting your money; if you say — and not even reported, just come out and say — that someone can’t judge your case because they are Mexican; if your response to the first black president is that they weren’t born in this country, despite all proof; if you say they weren’t smart enough to go to Harvard Law School, and demand to see their grades; if that’s the essence of your entire political identity you might be a white supremacist, it’s just possible.”

If only those athletes marched with the Klan and Nazis, maybe then they’d be praised as “very fine people voicing their free speech” by the White Supremacist Racist-in-Chief. 

Angry White Con-servatives And BLM

Oh, no. 

Back Lives Matter got in trouble again. Did they kill someone? No. Did they cripple someone? No. They protested a trigger-happy cop. 

Ah, that’s the problem.

Whatever did that good police officer do? For one thing, he shot a fleeing black man in the back. But that’s ok, right? Anyone can make a mistake. Even trigger-happy cops.

Turns out this cop proved it’s really ok, and even did it again. Yes, he shot two fleeing black men in the back. One is dead and the other will spend his life in a wheelchair.

Black Lives Matter protested that police officer named Officer Ryan Pownall. This annoyed angry white con-servative, and Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police President, John McNesby, who called them "a pack of rabid animals" and said, “These are not activists, they are racist hate groups determined to instigate violence.”

Got the message? It serves those protesters right. Let’s dehumanize BLM and have more cops thinking it’s fine to shoot black men in the back. It doesn’t bother birther Trump, why should it bother all the other angry white con-servatives? After all, those black men are the real racists for protesting good white cops shooting Blacks in the back.

This is the ugly racist core of con-servativism, folks. They hate BLM. They hate anyone who marched with BLM. They hate anyone who invoked the BLM name. They hate anyone who was even associated, or not associated, with the members of the organization. 

Angry white con-servatives refuse to see the difference between real hate groups such as the Klan and white supremacists and BLM with its multi-racial support. The former groups are united by hate, espouse hate, and direct hate at minorities. Their speech is hate speech. BLM exercises free speech as the founders intended. As covered under the First Amendment, BLM protests government policy and the legal system’s tolerance of police unaccountably for killing Blacks. In other words they demand equal treatment from law enforcement and under justice. That is the core of their message. 


Go to the BLM organization’s website and see if you find anything resembling the hate of the racist, angry, white con-servative organizations. There is no comparison.

Doesn't matter. All angry white con-servatives choose to see are roving gangs of black thugs. 

BLM and those sympathetic with the organization or anyone marching with them are all a “racist hate group” to angry white con-servatives. I’m sure the Klan and Nazis whole-heartedly agree.

It turns out, not even Nazis are as bad as BLM. At least McNesby never demonized white racists as “a pack of rabid animals” like he did BLM protesters.

When it was brought to the attention of McNesby that one of his officers named Ian Hans Lichtermann displayed a tattoo showing an eagle in the style of a Nazi emblem, it didn’t bother him.  Not even with “Fatherland” inked out in Germanic lettering over it. As you know, “Fatherland” was the Nazi’s term for Germany.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the tattoo “incredibly offensive”.

But there was nothing offensive to the angry white con-servative McNesby. “It’s an Eagle. Not a big deal”.

All he saw was the Eagle. Yup, one of those proud American Eagles... under the Germanic banner of “Fatherland”.

So just who is the racist hate group?  Not the angry white conservatives, obviously.

After all, they’re just dedicating their work to dehumanizing and shooting minorities in the back for the “Fatherland”. When was that ever done by a racist hate group?