Nothing To Laugh About

When I was a kid, back in elementary school in the early seventies, I was taught that America was the greatest democracy on earth, even as the President of the United States was undermining it with his spies and his attack on the press, which my parents and my teachers blissfully shielded me from, seeing as such presidential conduct would be so soul-crushing to a seven-year-old.  Now that we have a President dong far worse than Nixon ever did, including acting like, well, a seven-year-old, we have world leaders at international summits like the recent NATO summit laughing at us.  

On the left is Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who got the ball rolling with his jokes about Donald Trump rambling on too much at his press conference, which clearly amused British prime minster Boris Johnson, second from left.  Bear in mind that they both serve a queen who has been sitting on the British throne since Winston Churchill was prime minister last, and she's a head of state no one ever elected.  And isn't that the queen's daughter whose back is turned to the camera?  In between Johnson and Princess Anne is French president Emmanuel Macron, an elected head of state whose office is designed to be like that of a king.  But at least the Brits love their queen.  (Prince Andrew, not so much.)   The French haven't shown Macron much love lately.

But here's the point: All three of these leaders - even Johnson - are much more mature and responsible leaders than Donald J. Trump, which is why they're laughing at him.  The United States is supposed to be the world's greatest democracy, yet Trump is being laughed at by two prime ministers serving a queen, the daughter of said queen, and a president who has the trappings of a king.

It's enough of a shame for America to be laughed at, when we're supposed to be the world's greatest democracy.  But while Trump deserves to be laughed at, other world leaders shouldn't be laughing at us; rather, they should be furious with us.  The United States, under Trump's watch, has withdrawn from fighting climate change, abandoned the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, cozied up with the Russians in a way that goes beyond détente, undermined the very organization these leaders were at a summit for, and generally made the world a more horrid place because we're no longer content enough to just make our own nation more horrid with lax gun laws, a poor education system, and a lousy health care system.  Everything America has done to the world under Trump - and Americans who support him are also to blame for being partners in crime - calls for swift, severe, punitive action against the United States.  What America does to its own people - voter suppression, for example - ought to be enough for a boycott against the U.S., like the one against South Africa for apartheid.  I'll repeat what James Howard Kunstler said in 1996: "I begin to come to the disquieting conclusion that we Americans are these days a wicked people who deserve to be punished."

Oh yeah, to any of my fellow Americans who are ashamed that world leaders are laughing at Trump, well, we could have elected in 2016 a President that world leaders wouldn't have laughed at.  But, as I recall, when that presidential candidate - my candidate - was running, you couldn't stop laughing at him!

In case you haven't figured it out already, I'm in no laughing mood.