Donald Trump is a real jerk.

Donald Trump is a real jerk. I am pleased with many of his policies and every once in a while I want to cheer him when he spits in the eye of the politically correct or says something so commonsense that you wonder why no one else dared say it before.  I like some of his plain talk but some of it makes me cringe.  At a minimum, he lacks class and is crude. Sometimes he comes across as a spoiled brat, a bully and a mean person.   Having said that however, policies are more important than personality.  I thought President Jimmy Carter was a moral man, a kind soul, and a gentleman. Jimmy Carter was a better man than Donald Trump, but I would prefer Donald Trump to be president than Jimmy Carter.

This week following the death of Senator John McCain, President Trump showed what a petty mean-spirited jerk he really is. It cost nothing to be nice to the dead. I understand Donald Trump and John McCain had their differences. However, when someone dies, it cost nothing to be gracious and kind.  I did not always agree with John McCain, however he spend a lifetime in service to his country.  He spend five years in a North Vietnamese prison and two years in solitary confinement and was tortured for his country. Donald Trump evaded the draft due to flatfeet. In my mind, Donald Trump is not worthy of tiring John McCain's shoes.

Trump did not issue a statement honoring McCain; he only tweeted an expression of sympathy for the family.  He lowered the White House flag to half-staff for the mandatory time but did not keep it lowered until McCain's burial which is customary for a deceased sitting senator. There are certain norms of behavior that we follow that make society function more smoothly.  One of them is shaking hands with people you don't even like and being polite. I don't think it shows commitment to principal to refuse to shake the hand of someone you disagree with, it simply shows what a jerk you are. Civility and politeness and conforming to common norms of behavior are not signs of weakness; they are a sign of dignity and manners. Being respectful of the deceased is minimally expected behavior for anyone who is not a jerk.

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