Already enough has been written about the terrible events that left 17 dead at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, and no doubt many more pages will follow. It is not only the motives of the killer, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz but the subsequent reactions of the president of the United States himself, that makes you wonder in all is well in the state of Trumphood. Even though during his yearly medical, a prerequisite for the job, he was passed entirely fit, one should look at his actions, - past - but more importantly present, to get a snapshot of his mind.
Ask yourself
- Why did he need a prompt-card to show any scintilla of empathy with grieving people?
- Why at no time did he not naturally reach out with words of comfort when those who had lost family and friends were in his presence?
- Why when he was but a short drive away from the first funeral, did he choose to play golf instead, thereby expressing his humanity, or lack of it, to the world.
- When one distressed father expressed his deepest feelings he said nothing.
- On his visit to the hospital to see the injured he smiled incessantly for the cameras, seemingly oblivious to their pain.
Arming Teachers!
Teachers like Doctors have a secret oath of care to all in their charge. Arming them is akin to fighting fire with fire, sending out the wrong signal entirely, and probably has more to do with the Republican Parties long association with the National Rifle Association, than any deep thoughts of student safety.
In that light the Schools Head of Security, - since resigned - preferred to hide rather than face the onslaught of bullets that took away so many innocent lives. On live TV he was called a coward by Trump, a choice of ill-advised words from a man who 5 times dodged the draft during the Vietnam war. He appears to carry the wonderful knack of instilling fear, where calm should reign, chaos where there should be reassurance and confusion where there should be clarity.
Donald J Trump has been the President of the United States for a little over 13 months and in that time has gone from the persona of a car salesman to that of a used-car salesman; a downward spiral by anyone's standard. Daily he is becoming more and more erratic, his tweets more confused and rambling. Unfortunately, a man when the spotlight is not on him takes it as a personal slight and acts like a spoiled child is not going to change anytime soon. It will be interesting to see that now the Olympics are over how his attention, judgement and negotiating skills take the North Korean problem forward?