Baltimore, MD - July 31, 2019 - I occasionally post on our Facebook page when the mood strikes.  After I wrote this below and received some interesting comments that I responded to, I was approached by a friend to put the whole exchange on Baltimore Jewish Life. I removed the names of those who made the comments. Enjoy the reading. It is a fascinating contrast that pinpoints with precision the philisophical divide

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My original post:

If President Trump is a racist for calling out the many decades of failed leadership that has failed the inner city of Baltimore City, well I guess we have to call former Mayor Pugh and Bernie Sanders racists too (as well as so many others).

The blatant overuse of the word racism and the constant attacking of people on both sides for simply expressing facts while ignoring the constant double standards, has led to a President Trump and as it seems to be unabated and continuing, will lead to another 4 years. Stop the partisan attacks on people who share differing views. This is still the United States and the last I looked differing viewpoints are still allowed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2D4zoIODVo&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3BxftyzjcsV5C8SsPcRn1xgs1qsOrrg1n4Gga_ww_xxHOT7MKoDJXQFLM

https://youtu.be/fY3QKR4BnEQ  

 https://nypost.com/2019/07/28/trump-is-right-about-baltimore-and-the-democrats-know-it/?utm_campaign=iosapp&utm_source=message_app

Someone Commented:

The difference is that some want to make the situation better, and Trump wants to use it as political fodder. He is President of all Americans, not just the rich, the white, and the Republicans. It is beneath the dignity of the Office to engage in such petty pejorative

 My Response:

Thanks for sharing your views. I am not interested in debating but sharing. Make better, again is in the eye of the beholder. Since I started voting 45 years ago or so as a Democrat all I’ve heard in Baltimore city is we need more money for schools and if a one term republican was governor in office he never supported the city. Now after 45 years of untold asking and receiving increased funding asked by all the democrat politicians, the city is worse off and guess what “they keep asking for more and more money as lack of money is the root cause” Maybe just maybe more money is not the answer. Same old same old is not helping the inner city. A new generation cannot mask the past. It’s time for new outlooks for the inner city (as shared by nearly every Uber/lyft driver I engage) but it will never happen. Staying on the same broken perpetual system has been and will continue to be the inner cities destiny, very unfortunately.

The same person Commented:

I'd agree that the City has problems, and very serious ones. We disagree, apparently, on whether to call out the President for using hyperbole, name-calling,and scapegoating to advance his political aspirations. Anyone who criticizes Trump (many of whom he has praised in the past) or who pierces his veil of lies, is labeled with abusive epithets. Money is not the sole answer, true. That does not change the fact that racism is alive and well in the US. How has our President made any serious effort to address it, or to help (economically or otherwise) the communities who are burdened by it? What I see is quite the opposite: Rather than encouraging programs that might help, he prefers to use these disparities to advance an agenda of division. It worked for him in 2016, and he appears to be certain that it will get him re-elected. Anyone who wants to change my opinion will have to demonstrate how the current administration is trying to unite us, rather than to further exacerbate the divisions among us. Yes, Trump has been a strong supporter of many policies important to Jews. That is good, and he deserves credit for doing that, whatever his motives. Beyond that, what I see in this president is a bully who is doing far more harm than good in this nation. I vehemently oppose his re-election not because I hate America, but rather because I cherish the freedom and democracy that it offers to all.

BTW, Trump is hardly a new generation - and we need new, younger outlooks nationally as well. I'm looking for candidates that are able to embrace new ideas, but are informed, intelligent, and capable of understanding the role of science, international cooperation and economies, and the importance of allies.

Someone else commented:

I totally agree with the above commenter. Trump didn't like Rep Cummings questioning (his job, btw) the administration's handling of the southern border. The crybaby in chief then lashed out in the only way he knows possible... Dividing the people of this country, not uniting them. Yes, Baltimore needs fixing. For G-d's sake, offer solutions! You live in Baltimore city, right? It is inhabitable! It's not all rodent infested! 40,000 Billy Joel fans came out on Friday night and 20,000 Ravens fans came out on Saturday night!

These are Dan Rather's remarks:

"Does Baltimore have problems? Of course. And so does Appalachia, and Beverly Hills and every part of this nation. We have struggles with disease, and addiction, and poverty, loneliness and job insecurity, education, health care, child abuse and natural disasters. And so much more. Some of the problems are concentrated and some are more diffused. Some are new challenges and some are the result of systematic abuses, like white supremacy, with deep roots in our national fabric. But the very notion of our nation, the very ideal enshrined in that beautiful phrase e pluribus unum (out of many, one), is that we are one nation and the struggles of our citizens are the struggles for all of us.

There are many reasons why President Trump’s attacks on Congressman Cummings were bigoted and thus un-American. Why are the struggles of some Americans in the president’s eyes to be blamed on forces such as immigrants or unfair government practices while others (and mostly those of minority districts) are to be blamed on the diverse politicians who represent those districts? The answer obviously speaks for itself.

President Trump does not view himself as the President of the United States, or at least the United States of 2019. He views himself as the president of his base. He sees his path to reelection as stoking the indignant outrage of enough Americans to overwhelm those (at least in the right battleground states) who believe in a pluralistic and more just America. For someone who sanctimoniously lectures on not hating America, to love to or leave it, the president spends a lot of time saying how horrible this country is. His is of course a grossly distorted view but it will be on center stage in the upcoming campaign.

The great sadness is that we do have challenges, we do have problems, we do have needs. From climate change to income inequality to health care, we face forces that we will have to face together if we have the courage to move beyond the dangerous rhetoric meant to divide us, shame us, and diminish us for short-sighted political gain."

Someone else Commented:

He is a very trashy man

My Response to all 3 comments:

Thanks everyone for sharing your views. I know this remains hard to believe and believe me I am not trying to have you understand it but at the very least it is a reality you have to deal with. You are only focused on President Trump and his “all the bad things” and are consumed with it. I respect that. What the US electorate has done by electing a President Trump is bring out clearly and sharply the philosophical differences that are now clearly defined in our country and were not when in the past the “establishment whether “republican or democrat” were not that off philosophically as they have been the past 10 years to where it never showed and boy today does it ever. You see you are only laser focused on President Trump. Because of your ideological difference, you cannot possibly understand that as badly as you feel against President Trump a lot of this country felt the same way (for different reasons but nevertheless as passionately) against the 8 years of President Obama. No, it was not about that President Obama being arrogant, politically incorrect, or could care less about political damage opening his mouth might cause or racism against him G-d forbid but simply because too many people in this country were passionately and diametrically opposed to his policies so much so that they had to keep their mouths shut or otherwise be called a racist, homophobe, etc. That passionate dislike (and again I know you cannot and will not understand this and that is ok) is what brought President Trump into office. No, many like me hate many of things President Trump says but given the alternatives the democrat party is giving us and with all the hatred being spewed (not by you) but by too many people in this country who try to shut down other views they disagree with, look out and we may just be having this conversation again in 1 ½ years. Please let’s not continue. I respect your feelings. I really do and let’s move on as friends that will continue to respectfully disagree with one another. If we as a society can get there, President Trump just may not get re-elected. I do not believe as a society that will happen unfortunately and things are going to get worse before they get better. The pendulum is a major force in politics and we will just have to see what is next. Thanks again for sharing.