PeaceVoice
Cause of
termination: Gross fraud and malfeasant negligence
Wim Laven
(9/9) In the eyes of the law there
are differences in lies. While it is wrong to deceive,
deception with the intent to cause injury or damage is
especially bad. This is the current, and persistent,
practice by President Donald Trump and it is worthy of a
deeper look.
Much has and continues to be
written to chronicle the rampant dishonesty coming from
Trump and his administration. The most current lies are
about his trade debacle with China, where he tried to
commit fraud against the American public to artificially
inflate the stock market (highly illegal by federal law),
and hurricane Dorrian, where he has tried to maintain that
Alabama would be impacted are categorically different from
other lies like those he tells about crowd sizes. Fraud
and fake weather reports are taken as serious crimes
because of the harm they cause. Trump lies about life and
death matters and at least some of those lies are clear
violations of federal law.
Trying to navigate his network of
lies is nearly impossible. Currently his gargoyles Moscow
Mitch McConnell and Kevin Kremlin McCarthy are doing
everything in their power to jam up the checks and
balances, which the Founders included in order to rein in
a reckless presidency. Democrats have been impotent in
removing Trump from his position of causing chaos and
damaging citizens of the US and the world alike. But, here
we are.
Trump could, and I think should,
have been impeached for violating federal
anti-discrimination laws throughout his tenure. It would
be a protection of the most sacred of American
values—equality. But, his defense of hate crimes and white
supremacists emboldens him as much as it fuels the
terrorists who target 17-month-old babies and young
children. Trumped up claims of "invasions" and other dog
whistles for race-wars have inspired cowards to bring
violence to a wide range of places from mosques and
synagogues to back-to-school shopping. His lies are
intentionally hurting America, because he sees the
suffering as his profit.
Failed systems, however, do not
equal a failed future. Thousands of years of history
present the roadmap for success: nonviolent action. It is
time for the American public to show the moral courage in
confronting the human-caused disaster that is a Trump
presidency. It is not just enough for Trump to get the
message: "We are tired of being lied to." A stand must be
made against the damage that is done by his corrupt
leadership and prejudicial government.
The gratuitous cruelty of the
policies being pushed forward can be stopped. The people
can stop it by taking action. The people in Hong Kong have
shown—again—that when people stand united that governments
must listen to them. The nonviolent protest pressured
China into caving on demands that Hongkongers not be
extradited to mainland China. The movement has evolved
into demands for Hong Kong’s continued independence. The
method is tried and true. Protest is part of the American
DNA—from women's rights to labor rights to civil rights to
disabled rights to Native rights to environmental
protection--all those struggles had significant victories
over the decades won entirely by nonviolent resistance
Bringing down a dictator can be
done. Removing Slobodan Milosevic from office did not
require bloodshed, and the same tactics can work against
Donald Trump. The so-called Gentle Revolution (also know
as the Velvet Revolution) ended the communist party of
Czechoslovakia and ushered in change to a parliamentary
republic. This is my dream, I long for the public to tell
Trump he’s fired. The people of Puerto Rico just did that
to a duly elected governor ("Ricky, te botamos!"--"Ricky,
we threw you out!"). That Trump's neglect of his oath of
office has gone on for too long. He abdicates his duty to
the truth that all people are created equal. Millions of
us in the streets—jingling keys in the air—to symbolize
for America the same as it did in Czechoslovakia: the
unlocking of doors and telling illegitimate government,
"Goodbye, it's time to go home."
The crimes of the Whitehouse are
numerous and ongoing. Trump is willfully damaging the
country with his fraud and malfeasant negligence; he hurts
us for personal gain. There is no hope, however, that
check and balances, well intentioned as they are on paper,
will bring us to safety. There is a grifter in the
Whitehouse and he is not even trying to hide his cons.
"China called last night our top trade people and said,
‘Let’s get back to the table.’ So we will be getting back
to the table and I think they want to do something, "the
president told reporters. "They have been hurt very badly
but they understand this is the right thing to do and I
have great respect for it. This is a very positive
development for the world. I think we are going to have a
deal." But it was gross fraud and it is time for Trump to
get his pink slip. I would love to see a million Americans
outside the White House telling him in a deafening
proclamation, "Trump! You're fired!"
Wim Laven teaches political science and conflict resolution at Kennesaw State University, and is on the Governing Council of the
International Peace Research Association.