Insensitivity Is Donald Trump's Middle Name

photo by Alan / flickr

Of all the things I could say negatively about Mr. Trump--I guess his insensitivity bothers me more than anything. Now he is going after Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's top Aide. Her husband, Anthony Weiner has been caught yet again sending out salacious pictures of himself to women over the internet. Somehow Trump has linked this sorry incident to Hillary Clinton via Huma Abedin. His paranoia has run wild saying Abedin must be connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has implied as a Muslim she may have even be in league with Islamic terrorists. There should be nothing of political fodder about this story. Think of the burden of embarrassment and shame this woman must carry because of her husband's sorry behavior. But finally she has had enough and has separated from him. How heart-broken this woman--or any woman--would be. Six years of marriage, a baby--and her husband's pathetic behavior. But Mr. Trump's response reflects his utter insensitivity to human brokenness and this woman's pain. He only sees another chance to make some points for his campaign. Winning has no boundaries. 

We've seen his cruel responses so often that maybe we just look away. He began with those ugly remarks about Mexicans and how so many of them were rapists and murderers and maybe, he generously said, there might be some good ones among them. Who cares what he says now about his immigration policy? Making fun of a newsman with physical disabilities. Dismissing the five years that John McCain spent as a prisoner of war. Snarling at candidate after candidate in his own party just to win the nomination. Linking Mr. Cruz' father with Kennedy's assassination. His remarks about women. His tirades after Mr. Khan's impassioned remarks about his Muslim son giving his life for his country. Bringing up all of Hillary Clinton's painful past about her husband's pathetic behavior with Monica Lewinsky. This must have been the darkest, most painful experience in Hillary's life. All their dirty linen spread everywhere with their child in college. Did Trump even think for a moment what this must have done to all these people he has personally attacked.

Public figures--whomever they are--are human beings. Just like the rest of us. And to use shootings and grief and the poverty of black Americans and questions about President Obama's birth certificate--Mr. Trump in his desperate desire to win has run rough-shod over everyone who gets in his way. The feelings of his opponents do not matter at all. 

We have never seen the likes of him before in any national election. And we have had some lulus in our past. The opposition calling Andrew Jackson's wife a whore. The mean-spirited antics of George Wallace. These are just a few of many other hard-hearted examples. Donald Trump is certainly not the first candidate to lie again and again hoping to win the Presidency. But this continual pattern of merciless disregard toward just about everyone is alarming to say the least.

Have you read the long article about Mr. Trump's treatment of just the workers that built the Trump Tower by a Time Magazine writer? Failing to pay Polish immigrants and threatening to "send them back" if they were illegal. His pattern with so many who were partially or never paid for work done. Are all these hundreds of lawsuits just greedy folk after a millionaire?

We all know that Hillary Clinton has a dark side and a multitude of faults.--but this is only part of who she is. Look at her record of public service. None of the multitude of charges against her have stuck. She may have made some very serious mistakes but she is no traitor.

These words are not a "Vote for Hillary" piece. Far from that. But Donald Trump's insensitivity is a character trait of the first magnitude. All the hoopla and the glitter cannot erase what we have heard during this last long year. Mr. Trump cannot re-invent himself any more than any of us can. And to elect in any age a man who cares so little for anyone but himself would be scary indeed.

(You might want to read Laura Clawson's take on thrice-married Trump's attack on Huma Abedin.)

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com