This week is all about Donald Trump. Quite frankly his behaviour hit a new low. At a rally in South Haven, Mississippi, he ridiculed the testimony that Christine Blasey Ford gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee who were considering the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. It was a vicious and vile attack and moreover a total contradiction of what he had previously said when he called her a “ very credible witness”. Trump, one has to remember, stands accused of multiple incidents of inappropriate behaviour against women and if he thinks by attacking Professor Ford he somehow belittles his own accusers he is much mistaken. However, it was also profoundly shocking to see the reaction of the attendees at the rally. They clapped and cheered, probably feeding into the conviction in this megalomaniac’s head that he can do and say what he likes. My only hope is that this disgusting behaviour will back-fire and persuade those Republican senators that are wavering over Kavanaugh’s appointment to vote against him.
Now to the judge himself. I firmly believe that his testimony proved that irrespective of whether he sexually assaulted Professor Ford that he is highly unsuitable for the Supreme Court. I found the interview that his former room-mate at Yale gave to Anderson Cooper on CNN highly convincing. He stated that the Judge was a belligerent drunk who often puked after a session. This was very different from the portrait of a benign drinker who said over and over again that he liked beer. However, the central issue here is not his drinking during his college years but the fact that it now seems that he lied under oath to a Senate Judiciary Committee . That alone should disqualify him. Further to the point, his behaviour during the hearing merely underlined his unsuitability. It is best summarised by what the American comedian Stephen Colbert said on the Late Show on CBS. “ He does not need to be drunk to be belligerent”. Kavanaugh has now become a figure of ridicule on US television and it is well worthwhile watching Matt Damon’s hilarious portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live. The American system is all about checks and balances and the appointment for life to the Supreme Court of such a flawed character is at best highly dubious. If he gets there, he may well hold a swing vote and the thought of a man so beholden to the predator in the White House being in such a position doesn’t bear thinking about.
Now back to Trump. This week the myth that he was a brilliant businessman was seriously debunked. Remember when he said on multiple occasions that the only help his father gave him was a million dollar loan. Well, in an extensively researched article the NY Times has proven he was in fact in receipt of hundreds of millions of dollars, and that on several occasions his father Fred bailed him out. Moreover it has been suggested that the Trump family may have used dubious schemes to evade taxes. The NY authorities have a reputation for being relentless. If they find evidence of tax evasion it will make a serious dent in Trump’s fortune. To compound the pricking of Trump’s balloon, Forbes magazine now says he has plummeted 138 places on their rich list. His mantra that he has built a 10 billion dollar corporation from a million dollar loan from his father is now seen to be absolute bunkum, rather like the man himself.