Charles Pierce on Donald Trump

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From Charles Pierce, in Esquire:

“In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, “And we shall overcome.” I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh’s madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing ‘Amazing Grace’ in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

“These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

“And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

“The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

“Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don’t have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn’t he a funny man? Isn’t what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now.”

You can read the full text of Mr. Pierce’s article, along with a video of Trump’s speech HERE.

UPDATE 08/13/2025. I posted this in 2019, and it’s been getting many views each day since. Now, 6 years later, I have a new poem of my own to bookend Mr. Pierce’s piece. I hope you’ll read it HERE.

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

24 thoughts on “Charles Pierce on Donald Trump”

      2. Unknown's avatarAnonymous

        I spoke of this same fact in 2009, the ignorant should be shielded from the Internet until controls were put into place. Unfortunately the opposite has happened, less restrictions, so sad.

        Liked by 1 person

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      The Dalai Lama says to let oneself fall into despair over the state of the world renders one helpless. He says it is our obligation to stay happy and enjoy life in spite of all adversity.. and this will make us better able to combat it. Will and Ariel Durant said pretty much the same thing. I keep telling myself this. Be the change you want. Vote right. Work for change. I’m preaching to myself more than you…..Courage.

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  6. Gerry C.'s avatargc

    There should be a book written: “The Abandonment of America: Trumped by a political Moron”. However there has been a poll taken and 99 per cent of fundamentalists in America are against the impeachment. Hope they are praying lot more these days.

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  9. Unknown's avatarAnonymous

    I go from despair to resolve in a vicious circle. When will that end? I’m now thinking about the special elections in New York and Florida. Do they matter if the Republicans manage to suppress the vote again?

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      I’m very curious about how you found this blog which was published 5 years ago but is still, obviously, as relevant today as it was then. I got 150 views on this old post today. Can you tell me where you saw it? That said, thanks for your comment and for sharing your agreement with what it communicates! Judy

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  10. Gerry C.'s avatarGerry C.

    Adolph Hitler wrote two books dealing with his personal struggles. Trump reportedly read them both. Hitler wrote of polotical and economic crises in his country which he hoped to correct

    Trump’s struggles which he vehemently denies is cognitive decline and callous indifference to realty.

    This misguided miscreant claims he rules the world but I suspect he cannot control his lower bodily functions.

    He needs a lobotomy and a padded cell .

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      No argument from me about that!!!! Absolutely chilling. I’m curious about how you managed to come upon this post I made so long ago. It is still getting lots of hits at certain times and I’m very curious about where folks are seeing it. Thanks for your comments.

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      1. Unknown's avatarAnonymous

        I came upon these words today 6/2/2025 in a Facebook post from a friend. I was going to share the post but I generally like to research these things before I do. So I find myself posting here. Pierce’s words ring even truer today, so I imagine this will continue to bounce around the Internet for quite a while.

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  11. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

    It continues to be one of the most-watched of my blogs, in spite of the fact I only published it once. Strange what catches hold with all of the things published about him since then.

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