Character flaws cost lives the final presidential debate

Vijaya Chandrasoma

From 1993, the third week in October has in the United States been dedicated to National Character, a time to “highlight character education and the importance of modeling good character”.

Trump delivered a gem of a Proclamation of National Character Week in the first year of his presidency, in October, 2017. Some especially cynical extracts:

“Character can be hard to define, but we see it in everyday acts – raising and providing for a family with loving devotion, working hard to make the most of an education, and giving back to devastated communities.

“Character is forged around kitchen tables, built in civic organizations, and developed in houses of worship”.

In the three years of his presidency after this Proclamation, Trump has provided the perfect antithesis of the qualities of character he has described. What we see in his everyday acts are examples of pathological mendacity (20,000 lies in that period, according to the Washington Post), of self-serving and corruption, and of unbridled narcissism.

He has raised and provided not for just one family but three, and treated them all with his unique brand of betrayal. His loving family devotion has been displayed in his public exhibitions of lust for his own daughter, Ivanka, hinting at a penchant for the inbreeding traditions of his white-trash hillbilly supporters from the Deep South, who believe in “keeping it in the family”.

He has worked tirelessly to obtain an education which has won him the presidency, a supreme achievement for a man who paid others to take his examinations. His exemplary efforts to give back to devastated communities were illustrated in the humiliating lobbing of paper towels to a crowd of Puerto Ricans at a relief center in the hurricane ravaged U.S. territory.

He knows not the purpose of civic organizations never having participated in one; and rarely goes near a house of worship, except to stand in front of a church, holding aloft a Bible upside down, a display of hypocritical devotion for the benefit of his adoring evangelist base.

And his character has been forged not around kitchen tables and houses of worship, but in casinos, notorious Epstein-style orgies and bankruptcy courts.

Trump proclaimed October 18 – 24 as the National Character Counts week for 2020, with a speech proving beyond all doubt that his speechwriters continue to be blessed with a perverted sense of humor. Some extracts:

“The foundation of any free and virtuous society is the moral character of its people. Personal responsibility, integrity, and other values which define our unique American spirit underpin our system of self-government and inspire us to continue working toward a more perfect union….

“This week, as we continue to unite as one Nation to both defeat the virus and safely reopen our country, we are reminded of how far decency and compassion can go in helping others during times of great challenge and uncertainty….

“Throughout this week, we recommit to being more kind, loving, understanding and virtuous.”

Moral character. Personal responsibility. Integrity. Unity. Decency. Compassion. Kindness. Love. Helping others. Understanding and Virtue. These are arrows in Trump’s quiver of character singularly conspicuous only by their absence.

Trump has never taken personal responsibility for the countless blunders of his administration. He lies that he has done an incredible job in containing the virus, which he has downplayed from its inception. His desperate desire to keep the economy strong, which he conceives is his ticket to re-election, has taken precedence over the health of the people he has sworn to protect. Even today, he mocks people for taking preventive measures like wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding crowds – advice of leading epidemiologists in the world, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute of Health since the 1980s, who has served under six presidents, Democratic and Republican. Trump recently called this celebrated and world renowned epidemiologist a “disaster” and, “an idiot”. Talk about projection.

Amazingly, as Covid19 hospitalizations and fatalities are increasing in the US at exponential rates, Trump, at a rally in Nevada on Monday, ranted that “Sleepy Joe” will “listen to the science if he is elected”. Which is exactly what Biden has promised to do if he wins the presidency!

At a recent rally in Arizona, Trump mocked CNN, ranting, “You turn CNN on, that’s all they cover. Covid, Covid, pandemic, Covid, Covid, Covid….You know why? They’re trying to talk everybody out of voting. People are not buying it, CNN. You dumb bastards”.

In fact, the “dumb bastards” exhort voters, on an hourly basis during programs, to have their voices heard by voting. On the other hand, Trump tries to avoid all reference to Covid19, as his homicidal incompetence in the mismanagement of the virus is the single main reason he will be denied re-election. He continues to lie about the virus, saying it is “round the corner”, when it shows no sign of abatement. He has talked about the virus rounding the corner so often that he seems to be going round in circles! The reality is that the pandemic is showing a resurgence throughout the world, with infection and death rates at record levels.

The United States, with 4% of the population of the world, has suffered 25% of global fatalities caused by the pandemic. A Report from the Columbia University National Center for Disaster Preparedness, released on October 22, states “we estimate that at least 130,000 deaths and perhaps as many as 210,000 could have been avoided with earlier policy interventions and more robust federal coordination and leadership. The inability of the US to mitigate the pandemic is especially stark when contrasted with high income nations, such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, Germany, France and Canada”.

Following South Korea’s or Japan’s protocols and policies would have led to as few as 2,799 and 4,315 deaths, respectively, in the US, the Columbia team estimated. Stunning numbers, representing 97% to 99% deaths in the US which could have been saved. Over 200,000 avoidable deaths, to date, with competent leadership.

President Obama, the epitome of all the character traits required of the US Presidency, and still the most popular and admired man in the country, if not the world, weighed in at a Biden campaign rally in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the eve of the final presidential debate.

Obama gave an unprecedented, blistering, mocking rebuke of the incumbent president on the eve of the final presidential debate. He slammed Trump’s many character flaws, concentrating on his failure in his handling of the pandemic and healthcare, two issues most likely to defeat Trump in a landslide.

President Obama concluded a stirring speech, saying, “What Lincoln called the better angels of our nature, those are still with us….We see that what is best in us is still there, but we’ve got to give it a voice, and we have to do it now.

“We have 13 days…. until the most important election of our lifetimes. And if we pour all our efforts into these 13 days….then we will not only elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we will also leave no doubt about who we are as a people, and the values and ideals that we embrace.”

Personally, listening to an inspiring speech by a great president, after four years of the racist rantings of an ignorant narcissist, made me weep.

In yet another stunning pre-debate development, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyers reported that the whereabouts of 545 children, separated from their parents at the Southern border and caged by the Trump administration, are unknown.

The final debate was held on Thursday, October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee, subject to a restriction imposed by the non-partisan Presidential Debates Commission: the debaters had their microphones muted while their opponent spoke. The moderator was the NBC White House correspondent, Kristen Welker. Both candidates had tested negative on the day. Audience members also tested negative before they were allowed into the auditorium.

Viewers were treated to a presidential face-off in stark contrast of the chaos of the first debate. Thanks mainly to the most professional control by Ms. Welker, the moderator who emerged as the star of the evening.

Republicans breathed a sigh of relief that their leader managed, against all odds, to behave like a human being. Though his lack of compassion when talking about 225,000 Americans killed by the virus, and the fate of 545 children separated from their parents while in the charge of US Immigration authorities, showed that he only just cleared the “human being” hurdle.

As expected, the US response to the Covid19, took center stage, and brought the comment of the night. When the President tried to defend his inexcusable response to the virus, basically shrugging off the fatalities, saying that Americans “will have to learn to live with the virus”, Vice President Biden retorted, “He says we are learning to live with it. We are learning to die with it”. Referring to the Coronavirus virus and the resultant death rate, which is many times higher than any other developing nation, Biden said, “Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain as the president of the United States”.

When Trump was praising Republican states and slamming Democratic states, Biden said that he would be the president of all Americans, of the United States.

Trump entertained the audience with his hilarious perennials: that “he has done more for the blacks than Abraham Lincoln”, “he is the least racist person in the room”, “he will release his tax returns as soon as the audit is completed”, and the classic that “he has been tougher on Russia than any other president.” And when he tried to justify his failed relationship with North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un, calling him “a different kind of guy”, Biden retorted, “It’s like saying we had a good relationship with Hitler before he invaded Europe.”

Biden also scored points about Trump’s refusal to divulge details of his mythical healthcare plan after his Supreme Court repeals Obamacare and strips 20 million Americans of their healthcare.

Trump also had the audacity to allege that the Biden family was guilty of corruption, making money from Russia, Ukraine and China. Never has a glass house been so clearly in view!

The consensus was that Biden won the debate, perhaps not as resoundingly as he would have wished. It is also doubtful that the debate swayed the opinions of undecided American voters in any significant way.

Current opinion polls indicate that Joe Biden will win the presidency and drag America from the brink. If, however, Trump causes a major upset and wins re-election, this “harsh, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream will surely be the first line of America’s obituary.”