Blindness by Design: The Dismantling of Democracy

By Robert Day

America has a serious problem in having Donald Trump as a national leadera problem that far too many Americans are refusing to acknowledge. Choosing to close our eyes to the disturbing realities of the Trump presidency will not make them go away.

Whether in regard to his personal improprieties or in the incessant rhetoric from the White House, Donald Trump is simply incapable of being honest. His consuming narcissism prevents him from admitting to obvious missteps, and refusal to do so leads to what this book labels chain dishonesty. Yet in Trumpism, there is always a clear purpose in concealing the truth, hence the term blindness, by design.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984529497

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Copyright © 2018 by Robert Day.

Library of Congress Control Number:  2018905986

      ISBN:      Hardcover           978-1-9845-2911-4

                      Softcover:           978-1-9845-2912-1

                      eBook:                978-1-9845-2949-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 05/17/2018

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CONTENTS

Preface Trumpism—an Obsession with Contention

Chapter 1 From Embarrassment, to Fear, to Indignation

Chapter 2 Sworn to Defend the Freedom of the Press

Chapter 3 The Irony in Trumpism—It’s Not about Trump

Chapter 4 Hypocrisy on Parade Revisited

Chapter 5 About Your Taxes, Mr. President …

Chapter 6 The Constitutional Crisis Launched by the Nunes Memo

Chapter 7 None Dare Call It Treason … or Do We?

Chapter 8 Ballistics before Brains

Chapter 9 Chain Dishonesty

Chapter 10 Collusion—and Why Donald Trump is 100 Percent Guilty of It

Chapter 11 A Concluding Thought: Incendiary Rhetoric Is Unacceptable

PREFACE

Trumpism—an Obsession with Contention

The difficulty in an undertaking such as this lies in the fact that virtually every day, there is a new affront to basic decency or to the rule of law by the Donald Trump administration. Only yesterday, the firing of now ex-FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe added yet another potential element of politically motivated, impulsive, and irresponsible behavior, which might be addressed in this commentary. But my motivation for writing the book at this time is an essential part of the narrative going forward.

I would also like readers to be aware of the biases and experiences in my life that have shaped my perspective and ultimately driven me to do this project. A person as old as myself must seriously ask, Do I really want to devote this amount of time to such an endeavor? I have obviously answered this question in the affirmative. But then an even more pressing question becomes Will anybody even read this commentary? I sincerely hope that this question will also be answered with a resounding yes because the discussion that follows is a narrative that needs to be told and is one that every American should seriously consider.

I previously wrote another book, about seven years ago, that was also entitled Blindness by Design. It was far too narrow in its focus. It is a book that you probably do not want to go back to and read—not because what was said was either untruthful or inaccurate, but because several of the issues discussed in it are no longer pertinent to our current political situation. This time, I want my message to be much more universal and enduring in its application.

That being said, several of the themes in my first Blindness by Design are still very relevant to this moment in time. For example, I spoke at length about the cancer of criticism that had taken root in the United States, and sadly, that cancer has now metastasized into a destructive malignancy that eats at the very soul of American society. My purpose in publishing the original book was not only to underscore the extreme danger of this societal polarization but also to address the perversion of what was once considered conservative thinking, which, quite ironically, has now become vastly more perverted by huge doses of alt-right ideology and misinformation.

It is hoped that by discussing at length the danger that is inherent in dividing a nation at this time, it may still be possible to stem the tide of polarization that has been unleashed in the United States. My intent remains, as was the case in my original book, to condemn the divisiveness that has taken hold of American society, which President Donald Trump has largely been responsible for.

There are several basic truths emanating from my religious experience that have great relevance to our current political situation. I have resisted the temptation to include references to contention and lies that are found in my own Mormon theology. But suffice to say that Satan himself is referred to as both the Father of Contention and the Father of Lies in LDS (Mormon) scripture. It is truly ironic that the Donald Trump administration seems to be so hopelessly steeped in a commitment to both contention and lies—forever distorting or concealing the truth and, at the same time, stirring up incredible animosity in so doing.

Rather than making this a religious commentary, consider simply the following quotations, which probably say all that is needed about the subject of contention:

First, from Abraham Lincoln, who said, Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention.

L. Lionel Kendrick, a Christian thinker, stated, "Christlike communications are expressions of affection and not anger, truth and not fabrication, compassion and not contention, respect and not ridicule … They may be tender or they may be tough, but they must always be tempered" (italics added).

Since this is not a Christian narrative, I shall also add the following from Benazir Bhutto: The next decade cannot be a decade of confrontation and contention. It cannot be East vs. West. It cannot be men vs. women. It cannot be Islam vs. Christianity. That is what the enemies of dialogue want.

The point here is that virtually all major world religions, as well as completely secular entities worldwide, have long condemned contention as a vice to be avoided—certainly not a virtue to be sought for and acquired. The most despised and feared of all Greek gods were those who introduced strife and contention into the world of mortals. And yet this is what Trumpism seems to be all about.

Think about absolutely any of the speeches that President Trump has made in the past two years, any of his tweets, or any of the statements he has made in defense of his actions. You will find that a clear intent behind virtually every one of them has been, in fact, to sow anger, discord, and contention within American society. This president seems incapable of making a single public statement without including an attack upon either his perceived political or personal enemies. And this, of course, always has the ultimate effect of creating great contention. Donald Trump seems completely incapable of tempering his rhetoric in any way, and the complete polarization of our nation is the consequence.

The use of contentious rhetoric, combined with misrepresentation or exaggeration of facts, not only generates anger between people but also virtually guarantees their inability to reach consensus on vital issues that affect the well-being of the United States of America. Unfortunately, these practices have become a hallmark of American politics in general, the Donald Trump White House in particular, and an absolutely identifying feature of Trumpism itself.

*     *     *

It is important that this book strives to maintain a focus on universal and enduring themes that extend far beyond the administration of Donald Trump. Perhaps how fit a person is to lead our nation is one of those themes. One must be very forthright in saying at this point that the Republican Party clearly needs to find a much more fit candidate for president than Donald Trump in 2020. The commander in chief of the United States simply cannot be an individual as dishonest, divisive, and polarizing as Mr. Trump has proven to be—if there is to even remain a United States in the future. There must be a return to basic civility, honesty, and decency in the dialogue emanating from the White House.

A final thought in this introduction is this: In Mormon theology, it is believed that a mighty civilization once existed here on the American continent and that this civilization was eventually corrupted by pride from within and finally fell to its utter destruction. The word most commonly used in place of pride these days is the term narcissism, which suggests a form of pride that has become truly obsessive. So is it really any wonder that a person of the Mormon faith as myself might have such great fear of a national leader so consumed with pride as Donald Trump? For me, this has been another great motivation to push forward in this work. If pride can so