Donald Trump Hates America
He shows it with his middle finger, literally, and by his daily attacks against American interests and our people. He must be defeated.
Some moments are so on-the-nose they make you stop, smacked by the insanity of our political reality. Donald Trump giving the middle finger to an American expressing his First Amendment right is one of those moments.
Several days ago, Trump was visiting a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan that makes Ford F-150 trucks. As he walked past the factory floor, a worker yelled up to him: “Pedophile protector.” Trump heard the comment and responded with the elegance and grace we’ve come to expect from him. Twice he mouthed “f**k you,” then gave the guy the finger. (You can watch the episode here.)
Let’s break it down for a second. This man, occupying the highest office in our land, could not control himself when an auto worker said something he didn’t like. He was incapable of grasping anything beyond the insult, such as the right of an American to say what he or she thinks, nor did he feel in any way constrained by decorum.
He heard something he didn’t like, which—as we watch the Justice Department’s contemptuous refusal to comply with the law and release the Epstein files in full— suggests that he remains threatened by any assertion that he was involved with Jeffrey Epstein’s monstrous pedophilia and sex trafficking. Would an innocent man be so quick to flaunt his hostilities, his hatred, his violence?
But he could count on his enabling team to defend his fragile psyche. One of his particularly nasty rapid-response handlers, Steven Cheung, had a quick counterpunch. Trump “gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” he said in a statement, because a “lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage.”
You get the idea. If Trump does it, it’s just fine, indeed evidence of his impressive authenticity. If he’s in any way criticized, that person must be a rage-filled lunatic and slapped down.
This is no way to run a country, surely not one based on encouraging a diversity of viewpoints—so necessary for creativity and innovation, so fundamental for a society dedicated to personal freedom. But then, we are being held hostage by a deeply broken man whose increasing need to silence dissent is a feature of his malignant narcissism and his cognitive decline.
The middle finger in so many ways
But let’s zoom out and look at the bigger picture. Trump may have given the finger to one man, but that “f**k you” followed by a middle finger is what he’s been saying every day since he returned to the White House.
Federal workers? “F**k you.”
American foreign aid and the life and death of the poor around the world? “F**k you.”
Affordable health care, the price of groceries and the struggles of regular Americans? “F**k you.”
Public health, trust-worthy data and serious policymaking? “F**k you.”
Democracy and the rule of law? “F**k you.”
NATO allies and global stability? “F**k you.”
Support for America’s democratic ally Ukraine? ““F**k you.”
International law and sovereignty? “F**k you.”
The East Wing, the Rose Garden and respect for history? “F**k you.”
The memory of John F. Kennedy and his commitment to the arts? “F**k you.”
A real Justice Department that pursues actual crimes instead of serving one man’s lust for vengeance? “F**k you.”
Policies that serve most Americans, not just billionaires and the Trump family? “F**k you.”
This list could go on and on. Please do add your own examples in the comments.
Inciting more violence
This isn’t just an odious man showing how repulsive he can be; it’s a daily threat to America and the world. Let’s look more closely at two ways in which Trump’s “f**k you” mindset is currently endangering us all.
One is his increasingly belligerent threats to invade and take over Greenland. This deeply foolish campaign is not just about threatening Greenland and Denmark, but flaunting his power to destroy the NATO alliance and the shared commitment to defend member nations’ sovereignty. As Trump raises his middle finger and threatens military action to annex the island, once-devoted American and NATO allies Germany, Sweden, France, Norway, the Netherlands and Finland are sending military personnel to Greenland.
In his wildest dreams, Vladimir Putin could not have counted on an American president this ignorant. But a big, fat “f**k you” and a belligerent demand is so much easier than actually having to engage in real negotiation and collaboration.
And the other is Trump’s threat yesterday to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis, a move he’s been hungering to do somewhere in America. This is a maximum middle finger to justice-seeking protestors expressing their rights of free speech and assembly. This is a big “f**k you” to all who dare criticize him and his lawless ICE operation that has inflamed the public through reckless acts of violence by masked men against vulnerable communities.
This is the man who would invoke an arcane 1807 law that would only be applicable if an armed insurrection were underway in a place known for being “Minnesota nice.” This is the violence-loving, America-hating man who incited a deadly insurrection in our nation’s capital and now wants to deploy his shock troops to suppress a conflict that he and his sociopathic sycophants have triggered.
Trump posted this on his ridiculously named Truth Social site: “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.”
There are so many lies here: the Minnesotans are insurrectionists and professional agitators, the lawless ICE agents are patriots, the problem is Minnesotans refusing to obey the law, all under the false guise that thousands of federal agents and likely military troops are needed to quell “a rebellion.”
It’s a “f**k you” to the truth, a middle finger to Americans’ constitutional right to protest, a maximal show of hate toward a Democrat-led state and total mockery of the idea that this man cares one whit about law and order.
Fighting back
The response demands action, both right away and over the course of this year.
Trump’s threats require wider and larger protest, not just in Minneapolis but around the country. We all need to be speaking out in all the ways that we can.
Democratic senators and representatives should be flying to Minnesota now and standing together in a show of force and solidarity, just like our NATO allies are sending troops to Greenland.
Other tools of civil disobedience are needed, including boycotts, labor strikes and other work disruptions, especially as too many businesses and corporations have chosen silence or capitulation as Trump’s attacks escalate.
We need leaders to focus on more than a single message and grasp both what’s at stake and that business-as-usual approaches won’t end this. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer thought Thursday was a day to discuss affordability rather than to act on the five-alarm fire in Minneapolis.
Trump needs to be impeached, convicted and removed from office. We must elect candidates committed to pursuing criminal accountability.
Let me end with where we began. The auto worker who triggered Trump is named TJ Sabula. Trump and his enablers may think the only response to his free speech is to silence him—and he has been suspended by his employer that says they don’t condone “anyone saying anything inappropriate” in their facilities. (I guess if the president says “anything inappropriate,” we’re all supposed to just gloss over it?)
But Sabula’s been backed by two GoFundMe pages that have already raised over $800,000, so much that he’s asked people to stop sending him money and support other causes. His union is also squarely behind him, standing up for their member and American values.
Sabula “believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job,” the United Autoworkers’ Ford Department said in a statement, adding, “Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.”
For his part, Sabula says he “has no regrets whatsoever.” And, he said Wednesday after speaking out, “I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity. And today I think I did that.”
That’s the spirit, just the right attitude we need more of as Donald J. Trump continues to give our country and our people the finger.
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“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience.” - Howard Zinn
I think the f—-you gesture and comment made by (shock, surprise) the President of the United States is clearly in character. Now we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how obscene a person he really is. He is unmasked, and he couldn’t care less. The question is not so much what he thinks or how he responds, but how the Republicans in Congress and Trump supporters respond. Do they celebrate this obscenity? Are they even a little bit disturbed by how little he cares about the average person? As you said, Steven, he has given the middle finger to just about everything that holds us together as a country, especially the Constitution. As you stated it, he has flipped off “the rule of law”.
The rule of law is the ONLY thing, I would argue, that makes us a Democratic Republic. Therefore, I would say unequivocally that he has given the finger to Democracy. As a country of laws, checks, and balances, what else is there? Everything else falls under that category…human rights, civil rights, and our system of government…all are falling under the weight of that middle finger. The Supreme Court, who would become obsolete if Trump is allowed to continue his offensive, since he likes to ignore court orders such as the Epstein file release, might want to ponder the question: What hast thou wrought?