“MY advice to President Trump about his incessant ‘Tweeting’ that undermines his ability to govern: knock it off,” was the message of Fil-Am Republican leader Rudy Asercion in the Facebook forum “Fil-Am Voter.”
This could not be more relevant than ever.
Trump said he would not give up tweeting because it is his direct line to communicate to the American people as the nation’s highest leader but many times during his six-month presidency, his “incessant tweeting” even at 3:00 a.m. has created more problems and controversies for him that have been sabotaging his own agenda of “making America great again.”
Take this latest Twitter war he waged himself against the hosts of MSNBC’S “Morning Joe,” Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, two of Trump’s most outspoken critics on the liberal network channel.
Trump tweeted on Thursday, June 29: “I heard poorly rated @Morning Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore. Then how come low IQ Crazy Mika, along with psycho Joe, came”…”to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face lift. I said no!”
MSNBC responded with the statement: “It’s a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job.”
Trump’s controversial tweets came amid so many challenges he has to spend his time and energy on, like the danger posed by North Korea and the much-delayed tax reform. And not to mention, the health care bill that he and the Republican Party have been so obsessed with to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Yet, after all these years, they have not been able to offer a viable alternative that is acceptable to the American people which will and can give them better help they are now finally getting under Obamacare.
He could have used Twitter instead to explain to the American people the details of the proposed health care bill and just how exactly it can deliver better health care than how Obamacare is helping them now. Does he even know the details? Does he even care about the concerns of the 83 percent of Americans who are not on board with the Republican health care bill?
And yet what consumes this president is to fire back against anybody he deems to be critical of him and his policies. He demonizes them with such vicious toxic words that we, as parents, would not want our children to hear from anybody, especially from the President of the United States!
This is not an isolated case. Trump has time and again been accused of his assault against women, about their looks, especially strong women who challenge and criticize him. Is this a good role model for our children? Is he modeling how to respond to people with dissenting opinions?
And then he acts like he is the “victim,” and his surrogates and fan base would contend that Trump is just defending himself — that he is tough and won’t allow himself to be “bullied.” Who is the real bully here?
The problem with Trump tweeting is that he is consumed by his unbridled emotions and unrestrained knee jerk reactions to spew tweets that in many cases are not substantiated by facts and evidence.
Trump has used Twitter to accuse former President Barack Obama of wiretapping him, the UK of doing the espionage on behalf of the latter. He used the social media platform to “threaten” former FBI Director James Comey about the “tapes” that he later on admitted do not exist. There are so many more examples to list.
As president, Trump should listen to the members of his own party who have publicly voiced out their opinions about this issue:
“Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.” — Republican Senator Lindsey Graham
“Obviously I don’t see that as an appropriate comment.” — House Speaker Paul Ryan
“Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office.” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse
“Stop it! The Presidential platform should be used for more than bringing people down.” — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski
“This is not okay. As a female in politics, I am often criticized for my looks. We should be working to empower women.” — Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins
“It’s incumbent on all of us, then — from the President to Congress on down — to be responsible for our speech.” — Republican Senator Orrin Hatch
“This has to stop – we all have a job – 3 branches of gov’t and media. We don’t have to get along, but we must show respect and civility.” — Republican Sen. Susan Collins
Republican commentator Ana Navarro said in an interview on CNN:
”I thought, this dude has such a fixation with women and blood, what is wrong with him…Then you remember that this dude, this disgusting dude is the President of the United States and you realize just how much he is diminishing the presidency of the United States … he is embarrassing. He is shameful. He is disgusting.”
Navarro also pointed out that Trump’s family, friends, and fellow Republicans are tolerating and enabling his behavior. ”I’m really tired of hearing words like disappointed, disturbed, like I’m bothered, like I wish he wouldn’t do it,” she said. She added that they should “confront this and confront this hard or it will never stop and it will embarrass all of us. It will take the presidency low, low, low.””
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
