America first? It’s all about Trump first

In grade school, there’s always one kid who needs to be first. He cuts the line for lunch, with a hard shove. In class, even if he doesn’t have a clue about the answer, his hand shoots up first.

He owns the big box of crayons, the one with the sharpener, and he guards it. He doesn’t share. If your green crayon is a nub, and you ask to borrow one of his four, his answer is always, “They’re mine.”

The grown-up version cuts you off with a high-speed veer into another lane avoiding a construction zone. He steals the last parking spot while you’re inches from pulling in. He flashes a smirk.

What happens when the adult version is elected to lead the most powerful country in the world?

He peddles Trump First, as America First. It’s not.

Make America Great Again, the slogan rebranded from Ronald Reagan, is false advertising especially for Trump’s second coming as President. It should be Make Trump Great Again.

I once believed David Copperfield was the master of distraction, but Copperfield has nothing on Trump. His distractions illustrate the Trump First brand.

When he wants to avert American eyes from the economy or lawless deportations, he focuses attention on himself. When he wants us to forget about the White House Tariff Chaos, he sends out an image of a muscle-bound Jedi Trump.

Qatar understands it’s about Trump First. It didn’t offer a $400 million airplane dubbed the “floating palace” to the United States. It offered it to Trump to stroke his ego.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, and technically not a gift to the government, Congress did authorize the gift in a joint resolution in 1877 to comply with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, (Article I Section 9, Clause 8.) Simply put, the Statue of Liberty was not a gift to the president, and Congress followed the Constitution. That appears to not be the process in the Trump First White House unless his own party forces him to ask Congress

Trump is throwing a $45 million taxpayer funded military parade on Flag Day to commemorate the Army’s 250th Anniversary. Not coincidentally it’s also the79th birthday celebration for, you guessed it, Trump.

In 7th grade civics class I learned there were three coequal branches of government. The Founders must have envisioned a time when a president or another branch might try to dominate the other two. What they didn’t anticipate was a majority party in Congress too afraid to confront an out-of-control President.

They also were petrified by partisan divides. John Adams said, “There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.

America needs a moment where Republican leadership has a serious discussion regarding the balance of power. Congress needs to do its job.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City. He taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. BruceLear2419@gmail.com