Chicanery is defined as “dishonest talk or behavior that is used to deceive people” (Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary).
In this column, I express my opinions based on what I have seen. Others may disagree with them.
It is my conviction that Donald Trump used chicanery to make his way into political prominence. Beginning with his July 2015 claim that John McCain was not a war hero, he has continued to deceive people with his outright lies.
Trump’s added variation to his dishonest talk is the cruelty of it, without expressions of regret or compassion.
The first example of Trump’s hurtful rhetoric during his 2015 campaign for President was what he said about Senator John McCain. As a naval pilot, McCain spent more than five years as a P.O.W. in the “Hanoi Hilton,” under the harshest kinds of torture.
His fighter jet had been hit by a missile on his twenty-third combat mission. He suffered broken bones when ejecting from the out-of-control plane. McCain landed in a lake, where he nearly drowned before being taken captive. Vietnamese soldiers broke more bones by dashing a rifle butt on his shoulder and bayoneting him (history. com/news/john-mccain-navy-career- timeline-vietnam-pow).
Somehow, McCain survived without medical treatments, spending two years in solitary confinement, and weeks in an outdoor cage with no protection from the rain, hot sun, and insects (history.com).
“I like people who weren’t captured,” and “He’s a loser,” taunted bone-spur- draft-dodging Trump (nbcnews. com/politics/2016election/hes-not-war-herodonald- trump-mocks-johnmccains- service).
In my opinion, Trump’s criticism of McCain is a classic example of chicanery with added cruelty.
My earlier column, “Down in the human heart,“ described the Christmas Truce of 1914, when the soldiers from both sides of that war stopped fighting and joined in peaceful celebrations. It was my sincere desire that this Christmas would be a reawakening of “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.”
This hope was shattered for me by Donald Trump’s Truth Social Christmas message last week. He wished electric car supporters would “ROT IN HELL” [all caps his]. This was part of a larger tirade against Jack Smith, who is prosecuting him in two criminal cases, and others Trump singled out (msn.com/ en-us-news/trump-wishes- electric-car-supportersrot- in-hell-in-truth-socialchristmas- message).
Evangelical Christians who support Donald Trump might remind him of what the Sermon on the Mount said about hell and who would go there. It said nothing about electric cars but plenty about insulting, ridiculing, and wishing harm on others (Matthew 5:21-24).
Additionally, I took Trump’s wish personally that folks would “ROT IN HELL.” My wife and I don’t own an electric car but do have solar panels on our home. These help with our monthly electric bills, some of which are as low as $2.51. They also help in many other ways.
Fossil fuel sources are finite. A new heaven and a new earth must come to pass before oil and coal deposits can ever be formed again.
Future generations will face a decreasing supply of fossil fuels. Those fuels that are easily extracted were all found long ago. We now rely on such dangerous methods as fracking to extract the last remnants of oil from depleted fields and rely heavily on offshore drilling. Frequent leaks and ocean oil spills have decimated large areas of the world.
Over the two years since we installed the solar panels, several tons of carbon emissions
2 COLUMN 3.08” X 4”
have been saved from being added to our environment, along with preventing other harmful emissions from coal-fired generating plants. By noon on December 26 of this year, for instance, our solar panels had saved 9.9 lb. of carbon emissions so far that day.
These facts stand as prima facie evidence that Trump is wrong about the dangers to our climate.
My efforts, and those of others, to reduce our dependence on OPEC and help our planet should not be the reason to “ROT IN HELL,” which Trump desires.
In my view, Trump’s vindictive message of hatefulness that ended with “MERRY CHRISTMAS” violates the true meaning of the Christmas spirit. Using such language against anyone who happens to disagree with him marks him as, not a serious candidate for the high office of President of the United States, but an immature bully.
People of integrity and goodwill should arise in rejecting those spiteful comments and chicanery. They further divide us when we desperately need peace and unity.