Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 8-10-18

Editorial/Columns
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
(USPS 202-140)
2207 21st Avenue, Tampa Florida 33605 • (813) 248-1921 Published Every Tuesday and Friday By
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHING Co., Member of National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
S. KAY ANDREWS, PUBLISHER
C. BLYTHE ANDREWS III, PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER ALLISON WELLS-CLEBERT, CFO
GWEN HAYES, EDITOR
IRIS HOLTON, CITY EDITOR
BETTY DAWKINS, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR HAROLD ADAMS, CIRCULATION MANAGER TOYNETTA COBB, PRODUCTION MANAGER LAVORA EDWARDS, CLASSIFIED MANAGER
Subscriptions-$44.00-6 Months Both Editions: $87.00-Per Year Both Editions.
Opinions expressed on editorial pages of this newspaper by Columnists or Guest Writers, do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Florida Sentinel Bulletin or the Publisher.
Trump’s Bitter Pill
f there's one thing I give
Donald Trump credit for, it's that he's consistent when it comes to spewing his B.S. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world around him, trade wars, catastrophic wildfires, hundreds of de- tained immigrant children separated from their parents or a Department of Justice investigation into Russian collusion with his campaign, nothing seems to keep him from his twitter account and throwing shade toward the legion of individuals who dare disagree with him.
Last week the targets of his angst were CNN An- chor Don Lemon and NBA superstar LeBron James. After the airing of an inter- view where Lemon and James discussed the open- ing of James' new I Promise school in Akron, Ohio, a place where underprivileged children are provided with free tuition, free lunch, bicy- cles and a full scholarship to the University of Akron upon graduation, Trump wasted no time hurling insults into the direction of both men.
In a tweet that has been the subject of constant criti- cism for days, Trump stated: "LeBron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man in television, Don Lemon. He made Le- Bron look smart, which isn't easy to do." He then ends his tweet with the sentence, "I like Mike."
The "I like Mike" refer- ence was a direct shot at James whose accomplish- ments in the basketball world are constantly com- pared to those of Michael
Jordan.
Using thinly veiled racist remarks to attack people of color, in this instance refer- ring to two Black men as un- intelligent, is nothing new for Trump. And bringing Jordan's name into the equation, a person notorious for never speaking up on so- cial issues, was his not-so- subtle way of showing his preference for Blacks who quietly go along with the pro- gram regardless of how ugly things become.
This, of course, is all a part of Trump's devious strategy. He continues to stir the pot by making these types of controversial com- ments because he knows they please a majority of his supporters who never get tired of hearing their leader place ‘uppity Negroes’ in check.
Trump embraces the in- evitable backlash because he understands that when his followers see him being lam- basted by the, so-called, lib- eral media they view it as him taking one for the team for speaking their truth. To them it's like watching their savior being crucified on the cross of political correctness.
This time though things turned out a little differently. While there were still the usual number of celebrities, political pundits and athletes who came out to condemn Trump for demeaning James during a moment when the newly minted Los Angles Laker was being ap- plauded for helping kids in his community, there was one voice that joined the cho- rus of chastisers that I'm
sure Trump wasn't expect- ing..... His wife, Melania.
When the First Lady im- mediately tweeted her sup- port for James' initiative and even suggested that she would visit the school, I'm sure Trump was beside himself. I mean it's one thing for someone inside of your inner circle to show approval of the other team, that's pol- itics. But, when it's the per- son who you share a bed with every night, that's an entirely different story.
To put it into perspective, what Mrs. Trump did was equivalent to a woman pur- posely sleeping with her hus- band's enemy out of spite. It is a level of betrayal and dis- respect that speaks volumes about the state of their rela- tionship.
The beauty of it all was that, because of the First Lady's outspokenness, Lemon and James didn't even have to respond to Trump's diss. After Mrs. Trump, basically, told her husband to kick rocks, the fight was over.
There is no doubt that Trump's fragile ego was se- verely bruised by the fact that his significant other went out of her way to show the world that she truly does- n't have his back. But, unfor- tunately, that's what typically happens to bullies. They end up being brought to their knees by the most unlikely of opponents.
There is a biblical verse in Mark 8:36 that reads: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Though Trump may never admit it, he's probably starting to realize that the answer is one he wishes he never knew.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
POSTMASTER: Send Address Change To: Florida Sentinel Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3363 Tampa, FL 33601 Periodical Postage Paid At Tampa, FL
C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
Danger Of Attacking The Media
rump’s feud with America’s press reminds us very
much of parallels with the media in the 1920’s and 1930’s in Nazi Germany.
American journalist, Dorothy Thompson’s words in 1935 ring true today . . . “No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. When our dictator turns up, you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditional Americans be- lieve.” Thompson was talking about the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.
Hitler was not expected to win the election and was referred to as duping “impressionable voters” with radical doctrines and “quack remedies;” having a “keen sense of dramatic instinct;” having a “lack of gravity and profundity of thought;” and a master ma- nipulator of supporters and media outlets.
Believing Hitler would sooner or later show himself to be a failure when it came time to govern and that his inadequacies would be exposed to the German people, no one took Hitler seriously.
By the time American and German journalists real- ized their mistakes in understanding Hitler and just how badly things could get, it was too late. Even though Hitler was continuously portrayed as “something of a joke,” “Charlie Chaplin-like,” “insecure,” “nonsensical screecher” and in caricature, the Nazi Party enjoyed stunning leaps at the polls and won the majority of seats in Parliament.
If any of this sounds familiar then we are certain you will vote during the midterm elections this fall.
By the way, the Nazi Party ended up seizing and owning every media outlet and newspaper in Germany, using the media to promote the Nazi Party and to per- petrate the downfall of German Democracy.
America, is that what looms before us?
T
I
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A