DNC Night #3: Obama Triggers Trump

The third night of the DNC was in part devoted to policy with lengthy discussions about gun control, climate change, immigration and the economy. 

While I don't necessarily agree with everything Democrats have to say on these subjects one cannot help but be moved by the letter of an 11-year old girl whose mother was deported to Mexico separated from her and her father who served this country as a U.S. Marine in Iraq and had supported Trump because of his pledge to support military families. 

One also cannot help be moved by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' bravery and progress nearly a decade after being seriously wounded by assassin who claimed the lives of six other people. Giffords said, "Words once came easily, today I struggle to speak. But I have not lost my voice. America needs all of us to speak out, even when you have to fight to find the words."

It could be said the third night of the DNC was Ladies' Night. Aside from Giffords, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham spoke as well as Kamala Harris who formally accepted the VP nomination.

But this night belonged to former President Obama. As with Michelle Obama on Monday night, the former President did not pull punches on Trump:

I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.

But he never did. For close to four years now, he's shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.

Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.

Somewhere in the midst of these three paragraphs, President Trump tweeted in all caps, "HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT!" Neither of these things are true. What is true is that Obama triggered Trump.

Mind you I'm still not fond of President Obama. He emboldened Iran, miscalculated on Russia, underestimated ISIS and repeatedly promised that anyone who wanted their health insurance could keep their health insurance knowing full well that wasn't possible. But Obama did take public health seriously as was the case with both the H1N1 pandemic during his first year in office and the Ebola crisis in 2014 as did Joe Biden. The same cannot be said for Trump where it concerns COVID-19. For all of my disagreements with Obama (and for that matter Hillary Clinton) I cannot imagine them allowing 170,000 plus Americans to die needlessly under their watch and proclaim, "It is what it is."

Let me put it another way. Trump is so incompetent and malevolent that he makes Obama's presidency look better by comparison. In a sense, Donald Trump is the best thing that could have ever happened to Barack Obama even if he is the worst thing that could have happened to this country.