The Trump mugshot

“Every time you walk down the street people are screaming, 'You're fired!'” —Donald Trump

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IF I don’t write about the Donald Trump rigmarole when history is unfolding and the whole world is agog over it, I will be committing a big injustice for journalism especially if some readers expect me to chronicle the ongoing political saga riveting the United States nowadays and this important piece of information is missing in my articles.

Thus, there is a necessity for this subject matter to be in the driver’s seat now that the 77-year-old former president of the United States is expected to surrender at the notorious Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia on August 24, Thursday (Friday in the Philippines).

Unlike in Mr. Trump’s three previous indictments which I opted to skip for the more interesting issues in the Philippines, this one is unique since everyone has been anticipating whether he will be treated differently owing to his stature. It is really about the mugshot. 

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has indicated publicly that the former president would be treated differently in Atlanta than he has during his past three arraignments—but just the same as any other criminal defendant being processed into the county criminal justice system. “It doesn’t matter your status,” Labat said at a press briefing. ”We have a mugshot ready for you.

 

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In his previous cases, authorities didn't require mugshots—which are typically taken so authorities have a current photo on hand to post publicly if a suspect becomes a fugitive−-because the former president is so widely recognized. Mr. Trump was fingerprinted, however.

Even though Trump did not have a mug shot taken during processing in his first three criminal cases, his campaign for the 2024 presidential election created one for fundraising purposes.

The day will be historic since it will be the first time that a former US president will be subjected to mugshot in a process known as booking.

Mr. Trump and his 18 co-defendants accused of trying to steal the 2020 presidential election in Georgia are expected to be booked at the Fulton County Jail on Rice Street in downtown Atlanta in the current case.

The facility has a history of poor conditions and bad management, and it often takes several hours for defendants to be processed into the system, according to USA Today’s Josh Meyer.

 

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The leading GOP presidential candidate in the November 2024 election likely won't stay there long given his stature and the worldwide attention being paid to the case.

Meyer said defendants typically who get booked at the county jail are searched, weighed, undergo a brief medical screening, get fingerprinted and have their photo--or mug shot--taken. 

Because it's anything but typical for a former president to be booked, it's not clear what the booking process will be like for Mr. Trump and some of his high-profile co-defendants, including his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

“We’re in uncharted waters at this point,” Chris Timmons, a former prosecutor and now a law partner at Knowles Gallant Timmons in Atlanta, told CNN. 

“We haven’t had a former United States president or anyone with Secret Service protection booked into the Fulton County jail.”

Mr. Trump confirmed Monday on his Truth Social platform that he’s going to Atlanta on August 23 to face law enforcement officials. 

In the post, he accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Department of Justice officials of seeking to target his 2024 reelection campaign without evidence.

Those booked in Fulton County typically are reportedly required to appear before a judge within 72 hours. But, according to USA Today, attorneys for some of the defendants have said publicly that they won’t have initial court appearances because they’ve already been indicted and will mostly likely have negotiated their bond ahead of time.

After the former president surrenders to Fulton County authorities Thursday, he will be released from custody in Georgia under an already agreed-upon set of conditions, including a $200,000 bond, according to an NBC news.

Mr. Trump will be prohibited from doing anything a judge could interpret as an effort to intimidate co-defendants or witnesses or “otherwise obstruct the administration of justice” as part of the conditions.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)

 

 

 

 

 

Wrong investment

“Friend, there's no greater investment in life than in being a people builder. Relationships are more important than our accomplishments.”

—Joel Osteen

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IN the financial world, a wrong investment will cost us a fortune. 

The money we want to double or grow and hope to help improve the quality of our life evaporates because of unwise outlay.

In human resources, hiring wrong or unqualified employees will compromise the good standing, efficiency and growth of the company.

In relationships, a wrong choice of friend will give us plenty of trouble and inconvenience; a wrong choice of partner in life will deprive us of true happiness and give us emotional and mental anguish.

A wrong choice of business partner will drain our assets and resources and give us tremendous stress and king-sized headache. 

An “investor” normally is a person or entity who outlays capital in order to produce an income or to make profits. 

Investing is the act of putting forth capital with the expectation of income or profit. Personal investing is buying financial securities or property for the purpose of making a profit.

Donors and big financial backers of politicians also consider the campaign funds they spend as “investment.” 

They don’t give something out of nothing.

They invest to candidates who will “give back the favor” if the candidates win and, thus, have instant access to public funds and infrastructure or public works projects.

I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine. A quid pro quo.

 

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When the late former Senator John Osmeña was campaigning for reelection many years back, he called billionaire Lucio Tan several times on the phone. 

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) bigwig ignored his calls.

“Naga ring lang tapos naga off gulpi (the phone suddenly turns off after ringing),” the Cebuano politician groaned in Hiligaynon. “Isa lang ang boot silingon sini. He doesn’t want anymore to invest with me.”

Osmeña, whose popularity had waned and was no longer in contention to win, must have realized he was not anymore “bankable”. 

He didn’t anymore press his luck and stopped calling Tan, an astute businessman.

Why do I know the story? Because I was with Osmeña inside the van in Iloilo when he called Tan during the campaign for his reelection in 2004.

Donors and former supporters of come-backing former US President Donald Trump have started distancing themselves after he announced his candidacy November 15 night in the 2024 presidential election.

The donors, including some Manhattan moguls who used to bankroll his campaign in the 2016 and 2020 elections, probably didn’t want anymore to “invest” with him.

 

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Political “investors” must be seriously reading the political landscape. They are aware that in the just concluded midterm elections, almost all—except for a few in the smaller states—of Trump’s handpicked candidates lost miserably.

These candidates for governor, senator, representative, and secretary of state were mostly forceful election deniers and unhinged characters who embraced Trump’s embarrassing lies about President Joseph Biden’s legitimate win in 2020. 

Because they lacked the substance and credibility, they have contributed heavily in the destruction of the Republican Party, according to the consensus of experts and analysts.

Even daughter Ivanka would no longer “invest” for her dad’s third stab at the presidency.

“While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,” daughter Ivanka said in a statement that came the same evening that the former president announced his plans to run for president again.

“This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.”

“We will continue to support my father—as his kids,” she said in the statement first reported by Fox News, adding that she was proud to have been a part of the Trump administration.

But didn’t they know that dad Trump loves to be underdog? He might be a “wrong investment” for some political donors, but some pundits think he can  still oust all other GOP aspirants in the primaries and end up running away with the official GOP nomination and challenge in a rematch President Biden in 2024. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)

 

 

 

 

Rematch of two senior citizens

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.”

—Maimonides

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

LIKE many people in America today, we’re also excited to see the blockbuster rematch between two famous senior citizens in modern American politics.

It appears to be inevitable now that grandfather Donald Trump has officially launched his 2024 presidential bid. 

I also don’t agree when both Trump’s critics and the liberal commentators throw roadblocks on his comeback bid especially if there’s no law that prohibits his candidacy.  

Watching Trump speak on TV “live” on Tuesday (November 15) night, I had a hunch he would blitz his way in the GOP primaries and clinch the party nomination if two to four other contenders stood on his way.

So far, his biggest “obstacle” is Ron DeSantis, the wily 44-year-old Florida governor, who recently won a reelection with a wide margin.

The announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that he was running for president in November 2024, brought Trump, 76, closer to a rubber match versus fellow grandfather, President Joseph Biden, 80. 

He laid out an aggressively conservative agenda that includes executing people convicted of dealing drugs, something that is unheard of in the president administration. 

It will be Trump’s third run for president (1 win, 1 loss), but his first time trying to persuade voters since his refusal to accept the 2020 presidential election results and his frantic effort to stay in power led to the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Slamming President Biden’s record in his first two years in the White House in a speech at his Florida private club, Trump quipped: “We are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation for millions of Americans. I will ensure Joe Biden does not receive four more years.”

 

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The former president, now facing a myriad of criminal investigations, filed papers with the Federal Election Commission earlier Tuesday night in which he declared himself a candidate for the presidency and established a new campaign committee.

He declared: “This campaign will be about issues, vision and success, and we will not stop, we will not quit, until we’ve achieved the highest goals and made our country greater than it has ever been before.”

His toned down speech echoed his 2016 campaign speeches in many ways, painting a dystopian picture of America as a failing nation ravaged by violent crime during “a time of pain, hardship, anxiety and despair.”

Calling for a “top-to-bottom overhaul and clean out of the festering rot and corruption of Washington, D.C., Trump said the “gravest threat to our civilization” was what he called the weaponization of the Justice Department and the FBI, which are currently investigating his handling of classified documents, as well as his role in a massive effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and prevent Congress from certifying President Biden’s victory.

He has rejected the counsel of current and former advisers who had warned him against declaring himself a candidate for president anew so soon after a dismal result in the midterm elections where most of his handpicked candidates, election deniers like him, lost miserably.

 

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CNBC reported that Trump’s filing with the F.E.C. created the Donald J. Trump for President 2024, and officially launched the 2024 Republican presidential primary, a contest where the dynamics have shifted dramatically in the past week.

Trump was the undisputed frontrunner in his party’s nominating contest, with polls showing the former president’s support among Republican voters averaging more than 20 percentage points over his closest rival, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, CNBC reported.

But that was before DeSantis won reelection by an extraordinary 19-point margin, electrifying Republicans nationwide and offering the party a bright spot on a day when Democrats won most of the major Senate and governors’ races.

Trump is still the undisputed leader of the Republican party, however. This week, the Washington Post reported that Trump plans to build a campaign team that looks and feels more like the skeleton crew of loyal aides who ran his successful 2016 run, and less like the massive operation that his failed 2020 reelection bid grew into.

Trump enters the race reportedly with more than $60 million in cash held by his leadership PAC, Save America, and a prodigious fundraising operation that vacuums up small-dollar donations at an unprecedented rate.

Federal Election Commission rules prohibit Trump from using the leadership PAC money to directly finance his presidential campaign.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)

 

 

 

Trump’s ‘return’ opens possibility of Marcos meeting

“Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities”

—Aristotle

By Alex P. Vidal

AS of this writing, news in the United States about former President Donald Trump’s “upcoming” announcement to run again in the 2024 presidential election, has been buzzing.

If ever he will run again and win in 2024, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will still be president by that time—barring unforeseen circumstances.

A Trump-Marcos Jr. meeting in the White House would be historic albeit eerily.  

This can only happen, of course, if “candidate” Trump will first roll past his Republican primary rivals; and, second, if he upsets in a rematch “reelectionist” President Joe Biden.

Writing for Vanity Fair on June 6, 2022, Bess Levin, however, warned that Trump will “terrorize the nation” by “apparently planning to announce a bid for 2024 soon.”

This became possible as the Republican senators, in February 2021, Levin pointed out, “chose not to bar him from ever holding office again, despite some of those senators admitting publicly that Trump was ‘practically and morally responsible’ for the violent insurrection that took place the prior month.”

She cited NBC News reports that Trump is “bored at Mar-a-Lago and anxious to get back in the political arena—as a candidate, not a kingmaker,” according to advisers who are “divided over whether he should launch a third bid for the presidency as early as this summer.” (Trump, of course, found 99% of the job of being president hugely boring, particularly the daily briefings he ignored. But apparently he can only remember the parts of the gig he enjoyed, like shredding documents and exploiting the office for personal gain and revenge on his enemies.)

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William C. Rempel, a former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter and the author of “Delusions of a Dictator: The Mind of Marcos as Revealed in his Secret Diaries,” had written an article that pointed to some striking similarities in the way Trump and the late former President Ferdinand Sr. ruled respectively as presidents of the US and the Philippines.  

“President Trump’s insistence that border security justifies a state of emergency is a tactic ripped from the playbook of another unpopular and frustrated president—the democrat-turned-dictator Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines,” Rempel wrote in the Los Angeles Times on February 14, 2019.

“The messianic Marcos, who claimed in his diary to be doing God’s bidding, took things a lot further than Trump has threatened to do. He imposed martial law nearly a half-century ago, thereby crippling the oldest democracy in Southeast Asia.”

Rempel added: “But his devastating emergency action — installing himself as dictator to fend off an invented insurgency threat — came from the same well of self-serving motivations and ego-driven politics that feeds Trump’s less menacing wall tantrums today.”

“As fellow narcissists risking constitutional showdowns for personal political advantage, their similarities are alarming enough to justify a closer look.”

“While Trump’s mood swings, rants and exaggerations are on regular public display as Twitter posts, Marcos’ temper outbursts were in the form of private, handwritten entries to a personal diary. More than 2,500 pages of that diary and other confidential Marcos papers were leaked to me in 1988, when I was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.”

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Rempel explained that “One obvious similarity between the two men shows up in diary entries bemoaning the Philippine midterms of 1971. Marcos and his Nacionalista Party, like Trump and the GOP in 2018, had suffered sweeping losses in congressional elections. Marcos, like Trump, had boldly declared in advance that the midterm races would be a referendum on his policies and leadership, and he was stung by the results.”

“Marcos conflated his sudden political vulnerability with increasing risks to the nation, writing: ‘I now fear for our Republic.’ Cut to Twitter in 2019 and it’s a Trump tweet singling out one of his chief rivals, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as ‘very bad for our country.’”

“Marcos and many Trump backers, including evangelicals, believe God has political favorites. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told a recent interviewer on the Christian Broadcasting Network that God ‘wanted Donald Trump to become president. And that’s why he’s there.’”

“Marcos said God spoke to him personally in a dream, telling him in 1971, according to his diary, that saving the country was his ‘principle mission in life. … Nobody else can.’”

Rempel stressed that “when Marcos first ran for president of the Philippines in 1965, for example, he introduced a now familiar campaign slogan, but without the red baseball caps: ‘Our nation can be great again.’ Both leaders raged against ‘false news’ and journalists. Among the words Marcos used to characterize reporters were ‘rapacious,’ ‘corrupt,’ ‘abusive’ and ‘self-righteous.’ Sound familiar?”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)

Thank you, President Trump!

“Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.”

—George Sanders

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

BY the time this article comes out, outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump must be on his way to Florida, his official residence. 

He has repeatedly declared he would not attend President-elect Joseph Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, January 20.

Not good for his legacy in particular, and for history in general; but we respect his decision. 

We know he is still hurting after a failed bid to overturn the legitimate and orderly election by using arm-twisting tactics, among other dirty means, including instigating a riot that killed five people in Capitol Hill on January 6, to no avail.

It was reported that Mr. Trump was instead planning to leave the White House January 20 morning for a send-off ceremony at Joint Base Andrews before flying to Florida, where he is expected to spend much of his post-presidency.

The outgoing President would likely make remarks as more than 200 service members were reportedly expected to participate in Mr. Trump’s formal departure, which U.S. officials said, would include a 21-gun salute, a color guard and other ceremonial units. 

 

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Officials said the exact program for the event would be still in flux, adding that it was unclear how many people would attend.

Mr. Trump was expected to fly to his private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago as his presidency concludes at 12:01 p.m. on Wednesday following the event.

Much has already been said and written about his notoriety, especially his poor handling of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was blamed to be the primary reason why he badly lost to Mr. Biden by eight million in popular votes and 306-232 in Electoral College votes.

Even if he destroyed his own legacy by repeatedly lying to his base and voters that the election he clearly lost was “stolen” from him, let’s give credit where credit is due when it comes to his accomplishments as the 45^th U.S. President.

The Trump administration will be credited for “building the world’s most prosperous economy,” according to his own assertion.

Under Mr. Trump, America reportedly gained seven million new jobs – “more than three times government experts’ projections.”

The following also occurred during Mr. Trump’s leadership in the White House, according to his own claims and the White House report:

—Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.

—The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century.

—Achieved 40 months in a row with more job openings than job-hirings.

—More Americans reported being employed than ever before – nearly 160 million.

—Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.

—The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record.

—Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.

—Delivered a future of greater promise and opportunity for citizens of all backgrounds.

—Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.

 

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—Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.

—Lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps.

—Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.

—Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.

—The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.

—Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.

—African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.

—Brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA.

—Created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.

—Put in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas.

—Small business optimism broke a 35-year old record in 2018.

Hit record stock market numbers and record 401ks.

—The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.

—The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have repeatedly notched record highs.

Rebuilding and investing in rural America.

—Signed an Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products, which is bringing innovative new technologies to market in American farming and agriculture.

—Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.

Achieved a record-setting economic comeback by rejecting blanket lockdowns.

—An October 2020 Gallup survey found 56 percent of Americans said they were better off during a pandemic than four years prior.

—During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent – the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.

—Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.

—Jobs have been recovered 23 times faster than the previous administration’s recovery.

—Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent in December, from a pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April – beating expectations of well over 10 percent unemployment through the end of 2020.

—Under the previous administration, it took 49 months for the unemployment rate to fall from 10 percent to under 7 percent compared to just 3 months for the Trump Administration.

—Since April, the Hispanic unemployment rate has fallen by 9.6 percent, Asian-American unemployment by 8.6 percent, and Black American unemployment by 6.8 percent.

—80 percent of small businesses are now open, up from just 53 percent in April.

—Small business confidence hit a new high.

—Homebuilder confidence reached an all-time high, and home sales hit their highest reading since December 2006.

—Manufacturing optimism nearly doubled.

—Household net worth rose $7.4 trillion in Q2 2020 to $112 trillion, an all-time high.

—Home prices hit an all-time record high.

—The United States rejected crippling lockdowns that crush the economy and inflict countless public health harms and instead safely reopened its economy.

—Business confidence is higher in America than in any other G7 or European Union country.

—Stabilized America’s financial markets with the establishment of a number of Treasury Department supported facilities at the Federal Reserve.

Thank you, President Trump. Thank you for both the good and bad memories you left us all. Good luck on your second impeachment trial and your new life as “Citizen Donald.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

 

How a lie can destroy us

“Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself.”

—Teller

 

By Alex P. Vidal 

 

NOBODY has escaped the temptation of lying. 

Sinner or saint, everyone lies or has lied at least once or more in their lifetime. 

When we are afraid to admit a misdemeanor at home as kids, we lie to our parents to dodge a penalty; we lie to our teachers if we break the school rules and regulations to escape sanction. 

When we are worried of losing the trust and confidence of friends over an honest mistake, we sometimes thought of lying as a way to wiggle out from dire straits.

When we are ashamed to admit something that will place us in imminent embarrassment, we think lying will altogether expunge the unpleasant feeling.  

When our partners suspect us of committing infidelity; when we are dishonest in our financial and marital dealings, sometimes we think it’s easy to lie to erase the stigma of our trespasses.

Others lie about their age to qualify in a competition with age brackets. 

When we lose in a fair and honest race or election, we lie to assuage a wounded pride and mollify a tattered ego.  

But lying—big or small, one-time or sustained, written or verbal, excessive or sugar-coated—will never redeem us; it will never save us from perdition.

 

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When President Donald Trump lied repeatedly for two months that the November 3, 2020 U.S. presidential election he clearly lost was stolen from him, Americans who voted for him believed him.

He used deception, which refers to the act—big or small, cruel or kind—of encouraging people to believe information that is not true only because he couldn’t accept defeat. He’s a sore loser.

The President sought refuge in lying as a common form of deception by stating something known to be untrue with the intent to deceive only because he still wanted to remain in power even if he was “fired” in a fair and honest election.

As a result, Mr. Trump’s voters swallowed hook, line, and sinker anything he said about the “rigged” election; they will no longer listen to the truth.

They will ignore the reality that Mr. Trump lost by eight million in popular votes and in the Electoral College, 306-232. It’s not even close, but Mr. Trump and his dishonest enablers still had the gall to lie and lie again and again.

This is a clear example of how a single lie—repeated several times—became the “truth” as popularized by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

A lie than can destroy us.

“Trust is the bedrock of social life at all levels, from romance and parenting to national government. Deception always undermines it. Because truth is so essential to the human enterprise, which relies on a shared view of reality, the default assumption most people have is that others are truthful in their communications and dealings. Most cultures have powerful social sanctions against lying,” according to the Psychology Today.

Mr. Trump and his enablers need to stop lying in order to bring back the trust and faith of the Americans to the electoral system and to save America from civil war.

 

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THE worst thing that could happen to any public servant is to be slapped and convicted with a graft and corruption case near and during retirement age.

If there is a jail term aside from forfeiture of benefits, among other penalties, it’s really hell.

The sorrows, anxieties and stress felt by those convicted and their relatives and friends are doubled.

They also have domino effects.

Their health will be affected. When the mind is in deep sadness, the heart is in pain; the body deteriorates.

The children are traumatized.

Instead of spending the retirement years enjoying the fruits of their labor, they will agonize worrying how to wiggle out from the mess.

Those who are remorseful and bothered by their conscience console themselves by the thoughts that if they could only turn back the time, they would never ever dip their fingers into the cookie jar.

Those who think they are innocent and only unfairly dragged in the fiasco and have not benefited even a single centavo, will fight to clear their names and defend their dignity to death.

But it’s stamina-sapping. Nerve-tingling. Time-consuming.

Not during the retirement age.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, Twitter isn’t a hero

“The more social media we have, the more we think we're connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other.”

—JR

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

I’M supposed to be a confessed dyed in the wool advocate of a free speech and free press, but how come I will not join the mob of those who demand for the blood of Twitter after it banned “permanently” the most powerful man in the world, President Donald Trump?

Didn’t Twitter violate Mr. Trump’s rights to freedom of expression?

Wasn’t the act tantamount to muzzling Mr. Trump, who had 88 million followers in the interdicted social media account?

We can cry out loud if we want to pick up the cudgels for Mr. Trump for this loathsome censorship in the social media platform, but Twitter’s moral obligation is opaque in as far as the civil libertarians’ paroxysm is concerned. 

As a private company, this American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets” isn’t covered by the provision in the Constitution that prohibits any legislation abridging the freedom of the press and expression.

 

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Thus, we can’t place Twitter in a public box and demand for our constitutional rights so it will toe the line and serve our whims.

Twitter, as well as other private social media platforms, is not obligated to provide any special treatment to anyone who owns an account. 

A Twitter account is a privilege, not a right. 

Ditto for Facebook, Twitch, Instagram, SnapChat, Youtube, etcetera. 

These companies can terminate any account anytime of the day if they determine the account has violated the company’s terms and conditions; if it finds the account—or the method of using the account—to be inimical to public interest; if it incites and foments sexual abuse, bigotry, hate and violence.

Even as advocates of free press and free expression, we’re hands off on this issue. 

 

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Mr. Trump is old enough to handle this matter. 

This is not the end of the world for him as a private person starting January 20 noontime. 

But it would have been better if he had this account, which can help caution the impact of his inevitable life in the burning hell as soon as he loses power and becomes citizen Donald.

He has nothing to fret about, however.

For four years, Mr. Trump has used the Twitter platform to marshal his attacks against political enemies and allies who refused to obey his self-centered and Orwellian decrees.

He has benefited a lot especially when he used the platform to repeatedly lie about the election result; and, abetted by his enablers, poisoned the minds of his loyalists that the presidential race he clearly lost “had been stolen.”

His lies repeated, Twitted and re-Twitted several times became the Goebbelean truth. 

We can’t either credit Twitter supposedly for stopping in his tracks a megalomaniac tagged as responsible for inciting a group of thugs and insurrectionists to commit the most abominable crime in America’s cathedral of democracy, Capitol Hill, on January 6.

Long before the outgoing President became a pariah, Twitter “slept with the enemy.” 

It placed itself in the crime scene and technically became complicit to the Capitol Hill carnage by allowing Mr. Trump’s dangerous tweets that inspired bigotry, perpetrated a canard and innuendo, and helped the troublemakers think it was okay to storm and vandalize the people’s House and to attempt to kill the lawmakers for certifying a legitimate election result.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

A lesson when someone slanders the press

“Don't hate the media, become the media.”

—Jello Biafra

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE have been always trying our best to maintain objectivity when we covered political issues because, as members of the Fourth Estate, it’s the right, the most logical and decent thing to do.

Our credibility rests on how we perform our tasks and how we embrace and uphold the tenets of journalism.

In making comments and reporting about the events in the United States these past years, we did our best to be fair and objective, to tell the story as it is—but it was always based on facts, data, and veracity.

On my part, I have been very careful when I wrote a story not to sound like favoring certain political figures or parties; I was aware that in the United States, media practitioners have been tagged as either belonging to the “liberal media” or the “conservative media.”

But in the recent tumult at the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. that made shocking headlines all over the  world, lines have been drawn.

 

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Even during the tense and most horrific moments in the morning on January 6 when disgraced President Donald Trump was egging his unhinged and unruly loyalists-turned-thugs to storm the Capitol and disrupt lawmakers from certifying President-elect Joseph Biden’s and Vice President-elect Kamal Harris’ Electoral College win, the President continued to irrationally attack the press.

He has been belittling and slandering political enemies like he was swatting the mosquitoes in a dirty kitchen, and the Americans ignored and tolerated him for four years, knowing fully well he was always at odds even with the unknown shadows in the porticos.

But Mr. Trump’s continued antagonism with the press by constantly calling media establishments “fake news” even during normal press conferences was both perplexing and incomprehensible.

In our local dialect it’s already a “wala na sa lugar” or not anymore normal or nonsense.

 

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The press is only doing its job—to report and mirror the truth.

Politicians like Mr. Trump who are easily annoyed at critical press presumably don’t really understand the role we play in a democratic world.

When a certain story doesn’t sound favorable they go ballistic and defame the reporter who authors the broadcast or written item.

It has been happening again and again, and it has emboldened bullies and thugs masquerading as public servants to use the opportunity to undermine the credibility of the media.

Again, because the press is only doing it’s job, it’s not in a business to engage these ruffians in public office in a sustained mudslinging or vendetta; its role is bigger than that. 

The press may be confrontational by nature, but non-combatant in principle.  

In the end, however, these good-for-nothing public leaders like Mr. Trump, in particular, go down in infamy and are harshly and humiliatingly judged by history, while the free press survives and continues to serve in democratic societies.

No dictator or authoritarian ruler in history has succeeded in bringing down the Fourth Estate, which survived even during the more frightful French Revolution hundreds of years ago.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

 

 

  

 

Bad role models

“A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful.”

—Charles W. Pickering

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FILIPINO politicians in the past have looked up to their American counterparts for guidance and inspiration when it comes to cultivating and strengthening our democratic ideals and society.

We had illustrious leaders like Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel L. Quizon, Carlos P. Romulo, Elpidio Quirino, Claro M. Recto, Raul Manglapus, to name only a few, who either collaborated or learned some important lessons and leadership from famous American leaders like William McKinley, George Dewey, Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Dulles, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, to mention a few.

Until the recent leadership in America when the first black politician, Barack Obama, had been catapulted into the presidency in 2008, American politics was still central to the Philippine politicians’ attraction and imagination.

America has been the Philippines’ No. 1 role model in governance and politics in many aspects.

What is shaping up after the November 3, 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and prior to the inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden as the 46^th President on January 20, 2021 may frustrate if not turn off a lot of people (not only the politicians) in the Philippines who have been following the turmoil in American politics only because a defeated presidential reelectionist has refused to accept a clear election loss and has been scandalously egging his party mates to tilt the election result in his favor.

 

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Just when the world is waiting for Mr. Biden’s ascension in the White House, which will be traditionally confirmed by Congress on January 6, several Republican politicians with future presidential ambitions want to use the furor, whipped up by President Donald Trump’s false claim of election fraud, to advertise their talents and make a noise by opposing the certification of Mr. Biden’s election win.

They have become bad role models of American politics.

The stunts and grandstanding of Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, and the threat made by at least 140 Republican congressmen to oppose the certification of the Electoral College of Mr. Biden’s win if a 10-day “emergency audit” of election results in key states is not conducted, is the latest in a series of efforts to overturn the election.

Their insistence continued even as all 10 living former defense secretaries have declared the election is over in a forceful public letter published in the Washington Post on January 3. 

 

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As reported by CNN’s Paul LeBlanc, while President Trump continued to deny his election loss to Biden, the former Defense secretaries—Dick Cheney, James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry and Ashton Carter—signed the letter.

Many people here viewed the letter as “a remarkable show of force against Trump's subversion efforts just days before Congress is set to count Electoral College votes.”

The former Defense chiefs wrote: "Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.”

As everyone has noted, Mr. Trump has been falsely claiming since Election Day that a second term “is being stolen”, even as there have been no credible allegations of widespread voting issues as affirmed by dozens of judges, governors, and election officials, the Electoral College, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the US Supreme Court.

 

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LeBlanc reported: “Still, a wide swath of congressional Republicans are siding with the President and plan to object to Biden's win during Electoral College counting on Wednesday -- even though their efforts will only delay the inevitable affirmation of Biden's win.”

The former Defense secretaries, who collectively represent decades of tenure in the position, wrote that presidential transitions "are a crucial part of the successful transfer of power."

The group wrote further: “They often occur at times of international uncertainty about U.S. national security policy and posture. They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation."

LeBlanc said “the letter follows Trump's removal of Esper in November as part of a set of sweeping changes atop the Defense Department's civilian leadership structure that included the installation of perceived loyalists to the President.”

The shakeup reportedly put officials inside the Pentagon on edge and fueled a growing sense of alarm among military and civilian officials.

 

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And while America's top military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, told Congress in August that the military won't help settle any election disputes, the group of former Defense secretaries reiterated in their letter that such an effort "would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory."

"Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic," the letter stated.

"We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them," the letter further stated. 

"This final action is in keeping with the highest traditions and professionalism of the U.S. armed forces, and the history of democratic transition in our great country."

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)