In Mel Brooks’ brilliant cinematic spoof, the ‘History of the World Part 1,’ world history is pilloried,parodied, and pushed to the limits, creating uproarious laughter, but that is a movie.
In his most serious and somber, oh so somber voice the President credited the 1917(sic)Spanish flu with ending World War II. “The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic. It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War," Trump said. “All the soldiers were sick. That was a terrible situation.” For the next act, the President will reenact the scene from the movie Animal House when Bluto implored his frat brothers to fight Dean Wormer with the words, “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”
I am not making fun of President Trump, well yes—I am, but for a reason. Presidents have made mistakes before either out of a hurried recall of facts, over preparedness, or just plain fatigue. Even a learned man like Barack Obama was quoted as talking about the “57 states” of the U.S. This came after about 15 months of campaigning and Mr. Obama admitted the mistake, although the right-wing, on cue, converted his gaffe into a confession of his imagined allegiance to the Islamic States. The biggest difference between Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump is that you know Obama was not an idiot, but with Trump, it is up for debate.
Had Donald Trump been president during World War II he may have sent the “Yo-semites” into “Thighland,” or asked Frederick Douglass to help lead ‘my African Americans’ to victory. I have never seen a man of his age and supposed education so willing to publicly demonstrate his ignorance. According to Merriam Webster, the phrase “priming the pump” has existed since 1933, but Mr. Trump in an interview for The Economist in May of 2017 told the publication, “Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just … I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good.” He also said in a press conference no one knew Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and that no one knew healthcare legislation could be so hard.
All those things created laughs and giggles, but it can be dangerous. Not knowing history can doom America to repeat it. As I said before, Presidents have made mistakes and some to the point of creating new words like “misunderestimate.” Generally, they are slips of the tongue or avoidance techniques, but the current President believes he created the phrase priming the pump and that only he knew that Lincoln was a Republican. When confronted by world leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a scientist, or chemical engineer and Chinese President Xi Jinping or former KGB PsyOps expert and current Russian President Vladimir Putin, it should make you shudder. So, the next time Donald Trump is standing alongside Joe Biden, the six-term senator, and former VP of the United States, ask yourself; which one is more likely to drop the tablets?
Vote in 2020 for Change.