“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

Cranbrook lies at least 4,000 miles east of Washington DC, but even that stupendous distance isn’t far enough to make a sane person feel safe from the most dangerous man on the planet – Donald J. Trump.

Surely the bizarre events Saturday would be enough to shake anyone’s confidence they were “safe” in what should have been one of the safest locations in the land, the Washington DC Hilton. But as the bullets exploded just outside the ballroom of this otherwise grand edifice and hundreds hit the floor, one thing became shockingly clear to all the guests in attendance.

They were in Amerika, one of the most dangerous and perilous locations in the world to escape from and filled with heavily armed guards, lawyers and sharpshooters. And lest I forget, the room was also awash with politicians, cabinet ministers and no less than President Trump himself as he was hustled out of the chaos swirling around them.

Talk about irony. It doesn’t get any more ironic than this.

How many shots were fired? A dozen? Fifty? No one knows for sure. But you can bet we’ll find out soon enough and why no one was killed. This being the case, how can anyone say they feel safe in Trump’s Amerika? They can’t, but they’ll say it just the same especially after Trump said it is just “part of the job.”

I beg to differ.

There’s got to be a reason why there’s been at least three assassination attempts on Trump’s life and no doubt more we haven’t heard about.

He’s catching up to Hitler in assassination attempts and that should worry us all. Why is such an appalling situation allowed to continue? Could it be because both major American political parties are contaminated by weak-kneed politicians, extreme ideologies and fanatical religion that makes it impossible for them to do the right thing.

This is particularly needed at a time when the world faces two of the greatest challenges in its history, namely climate change and rapidly growing technologies that are just as rapidly spinning out of control. I agree that Artificial Intelligence could do a lot of good things for humankind. But will it? Last night, thank God, we dodged the bullet. But what will happen next?

I certainly don’t know and I don’t think Trump does either.

Trump recently threatened Iran by saying “a whole civilization could die tonight” if Iran didn’t reopen the Hormuz Strait on the terms he desired. Well, the Strait of Hormuz still remains mostly closed and Trump keeps changing his mind and sounding like he’s batshit crazy uttering threats one day and reversing them the next.

Annexing Canada isn’t the answer either. Nor uttering similar threats against Greenland, Denmark and Cuba. These are the ravings of a crazy man, yet to date no American politician has seriously challenged him on his dire threats even though he could be impeached or arbitrarily removed from office for mental health reasons under Section 21 of the US Constitution.

Time is running out and even though Trump is now dropping drastically in the polls he’s still president and could incite more assassination attempts. Some historians say Hitler gained power because the extreme right-wing politicians supporting him thought they could control him. They turned out to be wrong.

Could it be the same now with Trump?

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist who thinks solving the problems of climate change and creating peace is more important than “making deals.”

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