Convicted felon Trump says he prefers to be electrocuted rather than eaten by sharks

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

The news about the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of the Normandy beaches by allied forces on June 6, 2044 was breaking as I was finishing my column last week. I was not able to do full justice to the celebration of the greatest military operation the world has ever seen. A joint endeavor carried out by the Allies, led mainly by the United States, Britain, France and the USSR, which saved the world from the threat of the monstrously evil ideology of fascism. Which would have taken human civilization back to the feudal ages, had it been successful. D-Day marked the beginning of the end of World War II.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said at the onset of the Normandy invasion, “They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate”.

Fascism is a system of domination by one section of humanity over another, which has existed throughout history under different labels: Nazism, totalitarianism, communism, fundamentalism, colonialism, imperialism, and other -isms, plus the monarchy and the caste system, which have tyrannized human activity through the ages. World War II may have defeated the latest of these incarnations, but they have merely moved on to the next stage, just as humanity itself is evolving.

Today, we have the feudal, religious monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the autocracies of Russia and China, the poverty-stricken, the so-called Banana Republics of the Third World, the unique, kleptocratic democracy of the United States of America, and the more compassionate socialist democracies of Scandinavia, Western Europe, and other developed nations. These will also evolve, as the human race either achieves “the perfect society” or self-destructs. The fate of the planet will entirely depend on the decisions we make today.

Today, we face the struggle and greed of white European capitalist powers, struggling to preserve their superiority in wealth and privileges, against the nations and the immigrants from nations, whose wealth they had plundered over the centuries, who are demanding their share of the world’s wealth, land and resources which had been plundered from them.

A danger of far-right religious radicalism that threatens not only the United States of America but independent democracies throughout the world. Indeed, extreme far-right elements in France and Germany, to name just two NATO allies, even the European Parliament, have recently been showing significant resurgence.

This swing to a conservative, white, Christian nationalist movement in the USA is spearheaded by a convicted felon, a white supremacist madman, who aims to destroy the core principles of the Great Experiment of Democracy that the USA, a nation of immigrants, has been striving for over two centuries.

The Prince of Wales, Prince William, standing in for King Charles, who is suffering from cancer, joined French President Macron, US President Biden and a host of NATO leaders at the international commemoration of the anniversary of the Normandy landings at the American cemetery off Omaha beach. President Zelensky of Ukraine was an honored guest, as his country is embroiled in a bitter war against the Russian invaders. But the real guests of honor were the dozen or so survivors of the June 1944 invasion and about 200 World War II veterans. Most of them in their 90s, a few past the century mark, they continued to show their bravery and resilience by attending the historic event in person.

President Macron made the keynote speech at the international ceremony with an address honoring the soldiers who fought in the greatest air, land and sea operation in military history. He also drew parallels with current wars, notably in Ukraine, raging in Europe.

Macron said, “Here, 80 years ago to the day, these men defied all odds to liberate our soil, our nation…We know that liberty is a fight for every morning. For everyone in this world that lives hoping for liberty, for equality, for fraternity, the sixth of June is a day without end, a never-ending dawn”.

Ending his speech with a reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Macron said, “Faced with the return of war to our continent, faced with the questioning of everything they fought for, faced with those who claim to change borders or rewrite history, let us be worthy of those who landed here. Your presence here today, Mr. President of Ukraine, says it all”.

President Biden and First Lady made America proud that day with their presence in Normandy. With his distinguished deportment, President Biden made fools of those who dare to insult him as a stumbling old man who couldn’t string two sentences together coherently; who cast doubts on his physical capacity and mental acuity.

An old man he is, physically frail he may be, as many 81-year-olds are. But stumbling he is not, intellectually challenged he is not. He is a decent man, who displayed the dignity expected of an American President during the closing ceremonies with a speech that challenged the oratorical skills of a Reagan. A speech made with the beautiful backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, honoring all those heroes who played a part in what Winston Churchill called “the greatest, most complicated operation ever”.

Biden’s address resonated with many of the points made by “The Great Communicator” during his speech at the 40th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1984, when Reagan said, “You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man”.

Below are a few extracts from President Biden’s speech:

“From the sea and air, nearly 160,000 troops descended on Normandy. Many never came home. Many survived that ‘longest day’, kept on fighting for months, until victory was finally won. And a few, a noble band of brothers, are here with us today”.

He honored many of those by name, detailing their acts of heroism, “from those providing direct gunfire support for the Rangers scaling the cliffs of Pointe du Huc on their mission to take out the German batteries…to the medics of the 82nd Airborne, who did their duty, dragging injured soldiers to safety, treating wounds, saving lives, while the battle raged.

“Theirs has always been the story of America…. Different races, different faiths, but all Americans. All served with honor when America and the world needed them the most.

“The men who fought here became heroes not because they were the strongest or the fiercest, but because they were given an audacious mission knowing – every one of them knew the possibility of dying was real, but they did it anyway. They knew, beyond any doubt, there are things that are worth fighting and dying for.

“Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America is worth it. The world is worth it – then, now and always.

“We proved something else here as well: the unbreakable unity of the Allies. …We established the NATO Alliance, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world….Today, NATO stands at 32 countries strong… more united than ever and even more prepared to keep the peace, deter aggression, defend freedom all around the world.

“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and it is not the answer today.

“Let me end with this. History tells us freedom is not free. If you want to know the price of freedom, come here to Normandy…Go to the other cemeteries in Europe, go back home to Arlington cemetery where our fallen heroes rest. Go there and remember. The price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave.

“Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it and fight for it. That’s the test for the ages.

“Let us be the generation that, when history is written about our time….it will be said: When the moment came, we met the moment. We stood strong. Our alliances were made stronger. And we saved democracy in our time as well”.

Reverting from the sublime to the ridiculous, Trump met with his probation officer last week. Yes, the presumptive Republican Party candidate for the presidency, a convicted felon, has a probation officer to whom he is required to report periodically. This officer’s job is to make sentencing recommendations, based on Trump’s answers to questions during this remotely conducted interview. It would then be up to New York Judge Juan Merchan to make a final sentencing decision on July 11.

Trump will, as a first-time offender of a felony, probably escape with probation. However, this minimum sentence does have certain restrictions. If he commits a crime, or associates with other felons (a serious problem for Trump as many of his friends are felons), or incites violence, the conditions of his probation could be revisited to include jail time. I don’t see the desperate and terrified Trump resisting the need to incite his base to increased violence as November approaches, as the economy, especially inflation, is showing marked improvements, and his ratings keep tanking in the polls. Perhaps we may have the great pleasure of seeing Trump in an orange jumpsuit – standard prison attire – sooner than we hoped.

Trump held a campaign rally last Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada. During a three-hour incoherent ramble, he was talking about his opposition to transition to electrical vehicles, when the teleprompter malfunctioned and Trump was left on his unhinged own.

Which forced Trump to go off script. In the scorching Nevada heat, he went on a bizarre rant about a meeting he had with a boat manufacturer in South Carolina. I do not have the space to include the entirety of his deranged comments, which included a story about sharks being hungry enough only to eat a young lady’s leg in Florida. For those of you curious to see true lunacy in motion, I would urge you to type the words TRUMP LAS VEGAS NEVADA RALLY TELEPROMPTER MALFUNCTION ELECTROCUTION BOATS BATTERIES SHARK on your server.

But, hand to heart, these are the exact words he used at the end of his speech:

“So I said, there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking? Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted or do I jump over the boat and not get electrocuted? Because I tell you he didn’t know the answer. He said, you know, nobody has ever asked that question. I said I think it’s a good question. It must be because of my relationship with M.I.T. that I am very smart”.

(Trump claims to have had an uncle who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the foremost universities in America, which relationship made him smart – by osmosis?)

“I said, what if the boat sank from its weight and you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?

“Do I stay in the boat and get electrocuted, or jump off and get eaten by the shark?

“I’ll take electrocution every single time. I am not getting near the shark.

“So I am going to end it for (electrically powered) boats and trucks”.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is Trump’s energy policy in a nutshell. The emphasis being on the “nut”.

President Biden is old, and sometimes gets mixed up with some words. But he always makes sense. These are the words of a raving lunatic.

Trump’s campaign rally rants are getting increasingly unhinged, whining about being a victim of a perennial witch hunt, threatening dire retribution against his imagined political rivals, and packing the federal government with his supporters. Not a whisper about plans for the future except for tax cuts, continued reliance on fossil fuels and opposition to the development of renewable energy in the face of an imminent climate crisis.

Whatever the polls predict, America will never elect an adjudicated rapist and a convicted felon, especially one arrested and facing trial for three more serious crimes, sedition, election interference and espionage, showing signs of maniacal dementia, even foaming at the mouth in a recently televised speech, to the highest position in the land.