When Gov. Paul LePage announced his support of Donald Trump, he noted that, “ I was Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular.” LePage made that boast with pride, as a badge of honor.
It is no badge of honor to brag about your similarity to Trump — the least prepared, most bigoted, mendacious and divisive presidential candidate in American history. Not surprisingly, LePage this week defended Trump in an appearance on WVOM in the wake of the video that revealed Trump’s predatory behavior against women, saying “we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power and bring back the rule of law.”
It says something about your character if you support a candidate who noted historian David McCullough calls “ a monstrous clown with a monstrous ego”; who former Secretary of State Colin Powell calls “ a national disgrace” and “ an international pariah”; who gives fact-checkers apoplexy; and who the last five American presidents (including two Republicans) believe is unfit to serve in the office.
Not surprisingly, Trump enthuses about LePage: “ He is a great person, a tremendous person.”
LePage and Trump do make good bedfellows. But the bed reeks, the bed sheets need changing, and it’s time to fumigate the room.
Both men have made horrendous statements about people of color. LePage snarls that out-of-state drug dealers with names like D-Money and Smoothy come to Maine and impregnate young white girls before they leave. Trump calls Mexican immigrants criminals, drug dealers and rapists.
They have treated President Barack Obama with utter disrespect. During his 2010 campaign for governor, LePage said, “You’re gonna be seeing a lot of me on the front page saying, ‘Governor LePage tells Obama to go to hell.’” Trump gushes about Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, calling him a stronger leader than Obama.
They freely incorporate sexism into their noxious repertoire. After a debate, Trump said about Fox reporter Megyn Kelly, “There was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.” In discussing the possible dangers of BPA, a common additive to plastics, LePage said, “If you put it in a microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen, so the worst case is some women might have little beards.”
Guns and violence figure into their slimy schtick. LePage left a venomous voice mail threatening a Maine legislator. Trump suggested we take the guns away from Hillary Clinton’s security detail to “ see what happens to her.”
They disdain efforts made on behalf of the environment. LePage has referred to the Natural Resources Council of Maine as public enemy No. 1. Trump calls climate change a hoax.
Neither LePage nor Trump believes in the “freedom of the press,” which is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. LePage will no longer talk to the media. He’s no doubt concerned that the media might actually report what he says. Trump has banned several news outlets, such as the Washington Post, from attending his campaign events.
This bromantic duo even dissed the parents of a deceased Muslim captain in the U.S. Army. After the father spoke at the Democratic National Convention, Trump charged that the mother had remained silent because she had nothing to say or, if she did, wasn’t allowed to say it. Later LePage called the grieving father “ a con artist.”
A message for LePage and Trump: Being a thin-skinned bully isn’t admirable — it’s deplorable. Sending out angry tweets or leaving angry phone messages doesn’t show strength. It proves weakness. We need leaders today who build bridges rather than walls, who unite rather than divide, who are guided by vision, not venom.
Saddest of all, LePage and Trump in their quest to blame “the other” for all the ills of the state and the nation have ignored the message at the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.”
They have forgotten the darkest periods of American history in their zest to demonize today’s immigrant populations. The days when “Irish need not apply” signs appeared in store windows; when waiting rooms had separate sections for whites and “colored”; and when Italians, Jews and French-Canadians all were slandered.
I hope that the citizens of America slam the door shut on Trump in the presidential election in November. The United States is better than that. And I implore the Maine Legislature to stand up and say, “No more,” to LePage. Maine is better than that.
David Treadwell is a Brunswick writer.