Let’s consider abuse of power.

Long after NFL players began taking a knee during the pregame national anthem to protest racial inequality, Donald Trump decided he could use the movement to cement his political base and change the conversation from his lack of a prompt response to devastation in Puerto Rico.

Trump then argued such protests were an unpatriotic affront to the flag, the military and the country. Never mind the constitutional guarantee of free speech. He called for a boycott of the NFL. He told team owners to discipline genuflecting players.

Trump’s effrontery outraged team owners. Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, took a knee with his players at their next game.

Then Trump ordered Mike Pence, his vice president and a former governor of Indiana, to leave a Colts-49ers game in Indianapolis if anyone took a knee. Several players did. Pence, total toadie, immediately left the game, costing taxpayers $250,000 by flying from California to Indiana and back to California. Also, the game was a salute to Peyton Manning, former Colts quarterback.

Trump threatened to use federal tax laws to penalize the NFL’s central office if players continue protesting racial inequality. The White House backed down from that bald misuse of power. Trump was “just making a point.”

But Jones now says Cowboys who “disrespect the flag” won’t play. “If you do not honor and stand for the flag in the way that a lot of our fans feel that you should … then you won’t play,” Jones said. The owners are considering a “rule” to ban silent protests during the anthem.

Then this week, NBC reported that at a Pentagon meeting in July, Trump blithely suggested increasing the nation’s nuclear arsenal tenfold. “I want more,” three officials said he demanded. Trump didn’t understand that this would violate international treaties, would be impossibly costly -- $30 trillion or more -- and is totally unnecessary, according to the military.

Humiliated, Trump suggested it might be appropriate to take away NBC’s broadcast license, though it doesn’t need a license; individual stations have licenses. Dictatorships around the globe are sitting up, taking notice of Trump’s assault on a free press.

After the July meeting, NBC reported, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “moron,” which Tillerson has not denied. Trump reacted by saying he’s smarter than Tillerson and said Senate committees should investigate NBC and other news networks.

Trump has told more than 1,000 documented lies since taking office. But he keeps calling fact-based reports he doesn’t like “fake news.” His supporters love it.

Then, when movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was outed by news magazines for many allegations of sexual assault and harassment, Trump said he is not surprised. We’re not surprised Trump knows about abuse. Trump was caught on an open microphone boasting about grabbing and kissing women and getting away with it because he’s a star. Suddenly, a lot of women came forward to accuse Trump of sexual harassment. Trump reacted by publicly demeaning them, threatening to sue each one.

Weinstein’s and Trump’s illegal behavior is flagrant, illegal abuse of power. Voters in 2016 did not care and elected Trump anyway. Weinstein has been ousted from his own company.

Currently, Trump has been taunting North Korea’s unstable dictator as “Rocket Man,” withdrawing from international climate and trade agreements, and scorning the Iran nuclear deal that five other nations agree is stopping Iran’s efforts to build nuclear weapons.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who is not running for re-election, said Trump is getting dangerously close to starting World War III. Trump’s reaction was to denounce and belittle the man he once considered as his vice president or secretary of state. Corker is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Disgusted but unintimidated, Corker compared the White House to a day care center whose attendants were late to work.

Speaking of North Korea, Trump said, “My attitude is the one that matters.”

Two-thirds of Americans are disheartened by Trump. His response is to distract and pump up his die-hard supporters by appeals to their worst instincts, including, again and again, racism.

Trump’s refusal to learn what he doesn’t know is alarming. So is the idea that Corker, privy to the nation’s secrets, worries Trump could start a war, the ultimate distraction and abuse of power.


By Ann McFeatters

Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. -- Ed.


(Tribune Content Agency)