Guest View: Trumps mother would be appalled – Seacoastonline.com

On June 1, as Donald Trump was sending the police to violently clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square, I was sitting in my fathers backyard with my brothers and sisters, mourning the loss of my mother.

As Donald Trump ordered the use of tear gas and bang grenades against American citizens engaged in a constitutionally protected demonstration, my family joined thousands of others across our country who have been forced to navigate the painful sorrow of losing someone we loved dearly and deeply, under Covid-induced restrictions.

Unable to embrace each other as our hearts were breaking, we sat socially distanced, grouped by quarantined households, crying behind our face masks. As we celebrated my mothers legacy of love, faith, and kindness, we were unaware that the President of the United States had ordered a violent offensive against peaceful protesters in a park.

Like millions of other Americans, I am stunned by the actions of this President in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a black man killed as the result of police brutality. Treating civil unrest like a theater in war, calling on Governors to use military troops to dominate the streets, and using riot tactics to clear peaceful protesters, the President has responded to the heartache of a nation with violent rhetoric and dangerous actions.

This was Trumps presidential moment, the moment for him to finally display leadership and inspire a divided and despondent nation with a message of freedom, equality, and unity. Instead, he defended the confederate flag and heroes of the confederacy who fought to preserve slavery in America.

It was another colossal failure on the part of this President, but as I reflect on his actions, I cant help but connect them to the parallel experience of honoring my mothers legacy.

Mom raised 10 children and lived an example of kindness, compassion and service that will touch the lives of others for generations to come. She was the first in her family to earn a college degree, built childrens libraries, rocked babies so their teen-aged moms could go to school, taught catechism and empowered young women as a Girl Scout troop leader.

Above all else, my mom was inherently decent with an iron strength that was rooted in faith, integrity, and morality.

In fact, she was not unlike what we know of the Presidents mother. Maryanne Trump was a church-going woman who supported charities that served those with cerebral palsy and intellectually disabled adults. She was a school volunteer and philanthropist whose service to her community was honored by naming a pavilion of Jamaica Hospital after her.

Knowing that he was raised by a generous, service-focused woman makes it even more difficult to understand the mind of Donald Trump. He imagines himself to be a strong, military-like leader, or a mob-boss who demands pure loyalty and punishes all who dare to cross him, or a stable genius who strategizes the downfall of his enemies.

But this illusory idea of Trump is make-believe, a fantasy character who lives only in his own imagination, like a child who pretends to be Spiderman while wearing his superhero Underoos.

In the real world, Donald Trump has failed in the face of every critical challenge as President.

He is weak when confronted with strength and he loses in every intellectual battle with dictators and tyrants. Vladimir Putin is still influencing the outcome of our elections, Kim Jong-un is developing nuclear weapons and Xi Jinping is winning the trade war.

In the face of a global pandemic, when we needed an intelligent, strategic response, we got the pretend-President, full of bluster and dangerous lies. He failed at stopping the spread from China and Europe, he failed at ventilators, he failed at testing, he failed at treatments and he failed at the economy.

He cages immigrant children, tries to bribe foreign leaders to work against our Republic, and lies to the American people on an hourly basis. He refuses to read the daily intelligence briefings that are critical to our safety and instead needs the picture-book version that includes lots of references to himself.

And now, in this moment of painful, divisive racial unrest, he is failing again. These past few weeks have exposed a president completely lacking in strength, empathy, and decency; he is weak precisely because he lacks the compassion and moral compass instilled in us by our mothers.

At this moment, our mothers would counsel strength through compassion and grace. Trump went with violence and selfishness. Everything our mothers have taught us leads to one indisputable truth: in a world in desperate need of decency, Donald Trump is an indecent man.

On June 1, when Donald Trump sent the word to violently disperse a peaceful crowd of Americans, he did so not in pursuit of peace or safety, and not in the pursuit of unity or healing. He did so for strictly selfish purposes; in order to take a picture of himself in front of a church, holding a bible awkwardly in his hand, to use in a campaign video.

My mother would find his behavior appalling. And I bet his mother would, too.

Jennifer Horn is co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a political action committee formed by Republicans and former Republicans with the goal to prevent the reelection of President Donald Trump. Horn was chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party from 2013 to 2017. She is a community adviser for Seacoast Media Groups editorial board. Find her on Twitter @NHJennifer.

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Guest View: Trumps mother would be appalled - Seacoastonline.com