OPINION: Trump as 'great man'? Now that's preposterous
In the Aug. 28 edition of the Inter Lake, a letter from Mr. Tim Adams was published that responded to a letter from Mr. Todd Cardin. Mr. Cardin’s letter related that an ancestor in his wife’s family tree had kept a Bible he found on a Civil War battlefield, and Cardin challenged Rep. Zinke to make some sort of oath or promise, which I don’t recall, on that Bible while looking him in the eye.
Mr. Adams’ response first attacked Mrs. Cardin’s ancestor(s) for not returning the Bible to the heirs of whoever it had belonged to, making the assumption that there was, in fact, some name in that Bible. Apparently, Mr. Adams believes that, in the 1860s, an ad could have been published on the internet that could have easily been broadcast to the attention of all potential heirs, wherever they may be, and that they could have, just as easily, claimed their rightful inheritance.
How preposterous! Any person who would have considered contemporaneous technology would have recognized that such an endeavor in the 1860s would have required a monumental effort, and undoubtedly would have resulted in a life-long exercise in futility.
However, even more preposterous is Mr. Adams’ claim that “... real Christians can see in [Trump] a great man.”
Without addressing the majority of Mr. Adams’ tirade, which was predominantly a regurgitation of discredited radical right-wing talking points demonizing Secretary Clinton and President Obama, his characterization of Trump as a “great man” is nothing less than an outrage.
Mr. Adams seemingly claims to be a Christian, yet he apparently condones and endorses Trump’s vile mocking of a journalist afflicted with arthrogryposis. While others may be tolerant of such aberrations from common decency, I am not. I cannot remotely imagine that the Jesus Christ I came to believe to be the Son of God would consider any person who publicly mocked a disabled person to be “great.”
It is truly ironic that, as I was jotting down notes for this response, I was watching “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936) on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on the evening of Aug. 28. In that movie, starring Gary Cooper as Mr. Deeds, one of Mr. Cooper’s lines, addressing someone who had mocked him as a simpleton, was, “It’s easy to make fun of someone if you don’t care how much you hurt them.”
For those of you who are not old enough to know, Gary Cooper was a true Montanan, whose father served on the Montana Supreme Court. While Mr. Cooper may not have written the words he recited, I have no doubt that he believed in the message. Clearly, Trump doesn’t care how many people he has hurt along the way, or how deeply he may have hurt them. There is no reason to believe that his future conduct will demonstrate any more compassion toward the less fortunate than have his prior actions.
For those of you who would rather not vote for Hillary Clinton, I get it. However, there are three other alternatives. But if you chose to vote for Trump don’t pretend you are voting for a “great man.” How anyone who claims to be Christian can consider a person who openly mocks the physically disabled to be a “great man” is beyond my comprehension. Cannot Christians anymore understand, or at least accept, that those afflicted with disabilities are also God’s children? “Just asking,” Mr. Adams. In my mind, anyone who mocks one of God’s children for the way in which they were created mocks God him/herself.
Trump’s public mocking of a disabled person conclusively disqualifies him from the office of the president of the United States. Only a heartless, mindless life form, completely devoid of compassion for the hardships and afflictions of our human brothers and sisters, could have inflicted the despicable, hurtful attacks that Trump seems to relish.
The thought of such a person becoming the president of our country should turn anyone’s stomach. And any Christian who considers Trump a “great man” needs to reevaluate his or her religious beliefs.
Weed is a resident of Kalispell.