Monumental Moron
President Donald Trump is a moron. There is no polite way to describe our current president any more,. And today, he proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt with his reduction of two
national monuments designated by previous presidents.
Using talking points that mix legitimate points with ludicrous levels of willful ignorance, the president has - against massive public outcry - tramped over public opinion and tribal sovereignty to ensure his cronies in the natural resource extraction business get to profit from, and destroy permanently, some of the most naturally beautiful, and culturally rich, lands in our country.
Trump traveled to Utah today to make the announcement that he was reducing the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments by more than two million acres. Grand Staircase-Escalante was established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, while Bears Ears was more recently created by President Barrack Obama last year. Trump's actions overturn the actions of these previous presidents. But to fully appreciate the vapid nature of our president's thinking on the subject of federally managed public lands, one must turn to, well, his own words. For who can describe the twisted shallow reasoning of Trump's mind better than The Donald?
"I know all of you feel blessed to be living among some of the most glorious natural wonders anywhere in the world. You cherish Utah’s gleaming rivers and sweeping valleys. You take inspiration from its majestic peaks. And when you look upon its many winding canyons and glowing vistas, you marvel at the beauty of God’s great creation."
If this were true, the citizens of Utah he is addressing would want to preserve the national monument designations so as to prevent the "gleaming rivers and sweeping valleys" from being turned into coal strip mines and fracking fluid ponds. Since these citizens appear to support the decimation of these national monuments that belong to all Americans, it would appear they don't give a tinker's damn for the "winding canyons and glowing vistas," nor do they apparently marvel all that much at the beauty of God's great creation. No, they want to rip that red rock aside and dig out as many filthy dollars as they can get their grubby little hands on, and no doubt, leave all of us taxpayers on the hook for the environmental mitigation that comes later, after the corporations profit and Trump retires to one of his self-branded hellish golf courses.
"And that is why I'm here today: Because some people think that the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington. And guess what? They're wrong."
No, Mr. President, the're right. Federal lands are supposed to be managed by the federal government, and these lands were designated national monuments by your predecessors for valid reasons. Again, they belong to all Americans, not just those in Utah. In short, you're ignoring the citizens of 49 other states, the citizens of a number of Native American sovereign nations, as well as a U.S. territory or several, in order to pander to special interests under the guise of protecting us from distant federal bureaucrats, of which you are now one.
"The families and communities of Utah know and love this land the best, and you know the best how to take care of your land. You know how to protect it, and you know best how to conserve this land for many, many generations to come."
I call utter bullshit. Clearly the families and communities of Utah do not know and love that land the best, or they wouldn't let this boorish real estate developer anywhere near that land. Trump makes it very clear that he is freeing up these lands for their destruction through mining and natural resource exploitation. So, if you are a Utah resident who truly does care and know and love that land, then you are appalled by this president's declaration today. He has no intention of conserving that land for many, many generations to come, and you damned well know it.
"Your timeless bond with the outdoors should not be replaced with the whims of regulators thousands and thousands of miles away. They don't know your land, and truly, they don't care for your land like you do. But from now on, that won't matter. I've come to Utah to take a very historic action to reverse federal overreach and restore the rights of this land to your citizens. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
Trump doesn't like regulators. You know, the people who get in the way of your plans, whether they be stiffing the undocumented workers you hired for one of your real estate development projects or screwing over the subcontractors for a casino you built in Atlantic City. He hates those regulators in the government, especially those who protect things he doesn't value, such as clean air, clean water, wildlife, wild lands (he doesn't go for a hike, he goes for a ride around a golf course with his name on it), our youth, our elderly, the poor - you get the idea.
But while his pandering and ponderous speechmaking may ingratiate him to a small group of Utahans or Utahites or whatever they call people from Utah, the president apparently either has forgotten, or thinks the rest of us have forgotten, that these lands he's stealing to dish out for natural resource extraction, belong to us - all of us. Not just the folks in Utah. All Americans.
In short, if you are an American, and you have developed a love and appreciation of these lands that Trump has now seized from the national monuments for exploitation, and you believe that they are invaluable for their natural beauty, biodiversity, historical and cultural value, and archaeological resources, and you wanted those lands to be preserved for your grandchildren to appreciate, the president just stole from your grandkids.
But let's let the president explain himself.....
"But before I began - because I understood how big it is - I'm a real estate developer. When they start talking about millions of acres, I say, say it again? That's a lot."
It certainly is, Mr. President. And by the way, thank you for pointing out you are a real estate developer - with absolutely no experience in government at all. It's as if we, as a nation, went out and said, "Let's find someone, preferably a maladjusted, narcissistic, egomaniac with absolutely no experience for the job at hand and put him in charge of our future." Brilliant.
"These abuses of the Antiquities Act give enormous power to faraway bureaucrats at the expense of the people who actually live here, work here, and make this place their home. This is where they raise their children. This is the place they love."
Again, the president fails to understand that national monuments don't belong to only the local people who live near them. If local people control the federal lands near them, then I've got some ideas for the Marine base in Twentynine Palms.
"For example, the previous administration designated more than a half a billion acres of land and water, including Bears Ears. It did so over the loud objections of the people of this state and their elected representatives. Governor - right?"
Wrong, moron. During the charade of a review conducted over the past year by the Department of the Interior of national monuments established since 1996, a total of 2,839,046 comments were received from Americans all around the country, from a broad range of backgrounds. Almost all opposed the proposed elimination or reduction of national monuments, including Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears. So, no, Mr. President, you're trampling on the loud objections of the American people to your land grab for special interests that you perpetrated today. You are a liar and a hypocrite, and you think that is acceptable because you hold the American people in contempt. In short, you are a major source of fake news. I expect to see yourself berate yourself on Twitter.
Trump rambles on and on, but we'll spare you most of the shallow rhetoric and purposefully false and misleading statements he made today. He clearly does not understand that tourism is a tool for economic development, despite the fact that he has profited personally from the hospitality industry. Nor does he understand that we probably should look to other sources of energy other than fracking and coal.
"With your help in treating our natural bounty with respect, gratitude, and love, we will put our nation’s treasures to great and wonderful use. Families will hike and hunt on land they have known for generations, and they will preserve it for generations to come. Cattle will graze along the open range. Sweeping landscapes will inspire young Americans to dream beyond the horizon. And the world will stand in awe of the artistry God has worked right here in your great state."
Evidently, God is going to work a massive coal strip mine that's going to awe all of us as cows picturesquely chew their cud and hunters blast away in the background. And we'll all be asleep, dreaming, which will be vastly preferable to our waking nightmare.
"Together, we will usher in a bright new future of wonder and wealth, liberty and law, and patriotism and pride all across this great land."
Let me be clear, I do not advocate shooting the president. I am utterly non-violent in my nature, despite Congress. But whomever is responsible for writing this blather that's spewing out of the president's mouth needs to be stopped by whatever means possible. Their last gig was writing for a diminutive Austrian with a bad mustache at beer hall rallies in Munich back in the good old days. Neither they, nor the president, actually understand, nor care to understand, the definition of the terms liberty, law, patriotism, and pride. Instead, they hold a perverse mirror up to those ideals, with the implied threat that they will shove their interpretation of those words down our throats if need be. And we will like it. Or else.
In Trumplandia, black is white and white is best and nothing is to be taken at face value. Trump stole our national monuments from us today, which made the latent felons of the San Juan County government happy, no doubt, but it should shock the rest of us into action. Trump has an agenda, and he's going to drive it roughshod over us like a golf cart at Trump Turnberry. If we let him.
We will have more on the growing opposition to this land grab by the federal government, but right now, I literally have to tear myself away from this topic because I have traveled all over the lands that Trump wants to destroy, and his announcement today literally makes me ill.
In the meantime, here is the transcript to Trump's speech today: