On Sunday March 24, 2019, Attorney General William Barr sent a letter to Congress summarizing the recently delivered Mueller report. On Monday, March 25, late-night TV talk show host Stephen Colbert conceded the point in Barr’s letter that Donald Trump did not “collude” with Russia’s efforts to help him during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Colbert then walked to a white board containing a lengthy list entitled “Reasons Trump is a Bad President” and erased the words “Colluded with Russia.” His point, of course, was that the possible collusion is not Trump’s only flaw. I have transcribed Colbert’s list below:
Reasons Trump is a Bad President
- Puts Kids in Cages
- Gave Security Clearance to Son-in-Law
- Repeatedly Humped Flag
- Called Nazis “Very Fine People”
- Hasn’t released Tax Returns Yet
- All That Birther Stuff – Racist
- Thought Frederick Douglass was Alive
- Tried to Ban Muslims
- Gave a Speech about a Sex Boat to Boy Scouts
- Ruined Kanye
Colluded with Russia- Sides with Dictators over US Intelligence
- Spelled Melania Wrong
- Threatened to Jail Political Opponents
- Covfefe
- Beloved by White Supremacists
- Surrounded by Convicted Criminals
- Fathered Don Junior
- Pathological Liar
- Couldn’t Remember Words to “God Bless America”
- 19+ Sexual Assault Allegations
- Threw Paper Towels at Hurricane Victims
- Paid Off Porn Star & Playboy Model
- Refuses to Get Dog
- Keeps Insulting John McCain
- Insults Allies
- Attacks Private Citizens on Twitter
- Insults Intelligence Community
- Denigrates Gold Star Families
- Gets in Twitter Feud with SNL
- Violated Campaign Finance Law
- Claimed to be “Very Stable Genius”
- Calls African Nations “S***hole Countries
- Buried Report on Climate Change
- Endorsed Roy Moore
- Can’t Close Umbrella
- Calls Free Press “Enemy of the People”
- Goes Through Chiefs of Staff Like Kleenex
- Claimed 5 Million People Voted Illegally
- Totally Dumb
Obviously some of the above-listed items are more important than others. And, also obviously, some of the above items were included more for comedic effect than as serious criticism. But the overall list is quite sobering and deserves to be read and remembered.
We have become so accustomed to outrageous behavior from this President, it has become the new normal. This fact should frighten us. We occasionally need to read lists like this to remind ourselves how far our country has fallen.
Sources: “Colbert Takes Collusion Off ‘List of Reasons Trump is Unfit to Be President’,” Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times, March 26, 2019.
“Colbert: All The Other Reasons Trump Is A Bad President,” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, YouTube, March 25, 2019.
I’d leave the Russian collusion on there. I would argue that it’s non-prosecutable conspiracy with foreign nations to impact our free election. There just wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute. That’s why there’s such a slow release of the report. He did do things, it just wasn’t to the level you could take it to a jury or the Senate and find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, especially with his political power. The FBI and federal investigators can’t just go around investigating things and using FISA warrants without a whole lot of probable cause, especially in such a high-profile case. So at the very least there was probable cause to believe crimes were committed. It’s a sad day when our society is so ill that we are okay with our top leader affiliating with and supporting and is supported by essentially Gadianton robbers (Putin, Kim Jung Un, Mohammed bin Salman) and would do anything to get gain. Sad, sad day indeed.