It might be that Donald Trump once read or heard about President Teddy Roosevelt and his bully pulpit. And it might be that Donald J. Trump decided thet he wanted to be a big man like Teddy Roosevelt and have a bully pulpit.
And so it came to pass that Donald J. Trump grew up, at least physically, and became very wealthy, and well-known, and bankrupt a few times, and a womanizer, and a husband a few times, and had a few kids. And then one day, just like Teddy Roosevelt, Donald J. Trump became President of the United States of America. And he finally had his bully pulpit!
There was only one problem with this turn of events. For all those years that he dreamed of having a bully pulpit, Donald J. Trump misunderstood what it was. And so to practice for adulthood, young Donald became a bully. As he grew older, he perfected the art of bullying, especially, it seems, with women.
As a candidate for President, Donald J. Trump practised the art of bullying. He called the other opponents names that he made up, mostly mean names. He bullied reporters. He bullied minorities and people from countries like Mexico. He bullied people with physical disabilities, and people who tried to heckle him, and anyone who did anything he didn’t like.
When he became President, Donald J. Trump applied all the years he praticed bullying to being President. He used his bully pulpit for everything a president has to do. He bullied people in the government, like the CIA and the FBI. He bullied people in his own Cabinet, like Rex Tillerson and Jeffrey Sessions. He bullied some people by firing them. He bullied everyone he didn’t like by tweeting about them. He continued bullying Hillary Clinton even after he won the election - more than a year later!
And Donald J. Trump applied his bully pulpit to governing. His foreign policy, for example, uses the bully pulpit. He bullied Kim Jong-un of North Korea, calling him names and mocking his nuclear button that is smaller than Donald’s nuclear button. He bullied Kim by threatening to destroy North Korea. And then Donald J. Trump gloated and preened when Kim Jong-un appeared to back down and agreed to meet with Donald J. Trump.
Then Donald J. Trump bullied the country of Iran. He huffed and puffed about the “worst deal ever...ever!” negotiated by President Obama’s administration limiting Iran’s nuclear weapon development. And he called the Iranians names, and told the allies of America that they were wrong and stupid, and only he could fix this horrible, horrible bad deal. And then he unilaterally pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal, like a kid grabbing all the marbles so nobody can continue the game.
Donald J. Trump, his head swelling with a bully’s pride, then decided to bully the country of China. He bullied them by calling them names and then imposing tariffs on products coming from China. He was so confident in his bullying abilities that he assumed that China would continue to support his bullying of North Korea, even as he bullied China.
And then Donald J. Trump bullied the Palestinian people, and every country with an embassy or consulate in Israel, and all people who work for Middle East peace, by declaring, again unilaterally, that he would move the American embassy to the city of Jerusalem. And his partner in bullying, Bibi Netanyahu, crowed and huffed and puffed with glee alongside Donald J. Trump. And once again the bullies claimed victory while the bullied looked on in anger and amazement.
And Donald J. Trump, the consumate bully, also whines and sheds crocodile tears about how he is being bullied by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He cries out “witch hunt” and “no collusion” to let people know how he is being bullied by that Justice Department bully. He lets us know that he can out-bully that bully whenever he wants by firing him, but he is too nice to do that!
And so it is that Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, governs with a bully pulpit. He is the Bully in Chief. Every decision and choice and action he takes is that of a bully. He is the BOTUS.
Too bad Donald J. Trump didn’t actually do his homework about President Theodore Roosevelt. If he had, he would have understood what a bully pulpit is. President Roosevelt used the bully pulpit “to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses, and corrupting money brokers.” President Roosevelt certainly would have used his bully pulpit to bully Donald J, Trump and his corrupt cronies!
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