Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Boundless hypocrisy

Boundless hypocrisy

In an impeachment hearing last week, a legal scholar cracked a joke when asked to distinguish the difference between a king and a president, responding with the following: “While the President can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron,” said professor Pamela Karlan.

It was a harmless reference, but Melania Trump — she of the gloriously ironic anti-bullying #BeBest campaign — jumped into the role of victim. Our First Escort immediately took to Twitter to whine.

“A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics.”

Fair enough. And I could perhaps respect that if everyone played by the same rules, but, of course, they don’t.

A few days ago, Time magazine announced 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg as its Person of the Year. Time’s choice irked our Dorito-colored president, who ardently denies global warming. Predictably, this morning Tweeter-in-Chief Trump took to his favorite social media platform to attack Thunberg’s character.

“So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!”

So much for keeping minors out of politics.

Never mind the insanity (and lack of self-awareness) of Trump, no paragon of self-control, lashing out on Twitter to tell anyone they need anger management. People who live in glass houses, etc.

The colossal hypocrisy of Cheeto’s attack would be astounding, if it weren’t exactly what one expects after years of the Trumps’ antics.

How do these people live with themselves, when the man they support is nothing more than a phony? It comes down to power. No one is really so stupid as to fail to recognize the double standard in play here. But his supporters have grown adept at the practice of Orwellian double-think: What they savagely criticize in anyone else, they look past in the Trumps.

I guess they’ve decided there’s such a thing as having too much freedom, eh?

I see no other explanation for it: The Trump phenomenon is a cult, a cult of personality and ignorance. A fascist cult at that — power at any price. Even the price of wholly sacrificing one’s personal integrity in defense of an indefensible man and his garbage family.

Sam Killay

Claremont

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