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Just imagine it: you are standing there, holding a microphone, the world is listening, and you think, \u201cYou know what? Now is the perfect moment to inform humanity that I am better than the two most defining presidents in American history.\u201d Not, \u201cI hope one day to live up to their legacy.\u201d Not, \u201cI admire what they achieved.\u201d No. \u201cI AM BETTER.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a level of self-delusion for which there are hardly any words. It is like someone saying, \u201cI cook better than a Michelin-star chef\u201d while sliding a frozen pizza into the oven. Washington refused a third term to show that America does not need a king. Trump tried to overturn an election he lost. But sure, better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lincoln delivered a speech in Gettysburg that was 272 words long and is still considered a masterpiece. Trump tweets \u201cFAKE NEWS!\u201d in all caps. But sure, better. What is disturbing is not only the statement itself. What is disturbing is that he means it. That in his mind this assessment is completely logical. That he genuinely believes if he says it loudly enough, it becomes true. What is disturbing is that no one throws tomatoes or calls an ambulance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington was called the \u201cFather of the Nation\u201d by others. Lincoln was called \u201cHonest Abe\u201d by others. Their greatness was confirmed by history, not proclaimed by themselves. Imagine Lincoln saying after the Emancipation Proclamation, \u201cThat was brilliant of me. I am the best. Better than all before me.\u201d Imagine Washington declaring after the Revolution, \u201cNo one could have done this better. I AM America.\u201d They would have been declared insane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But today? Today someone can seriously claim to be better than the founders of the nation, and half the country nods and applauds. That is the truly satirical part: reality has become so absurd that it can no longer be exaggerated by satire. Trump has already pushed satire to its maximum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe is a better president than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you hear that sentence, you have to ask yourself: how distorted must a person\u2019s self-image be to claim something like that? How broken must something be in that mind? How deep must the narcissism run?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington and Lincoln have been dead for more than a hundred years, and their legacy is carved in stone on Mount Rushmore and in history books around the world. Trump had a Twitter account suspended and founded his own social network, where mostly he posts about himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he is better. He said so himself, the man with a complete absence of humility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n In our own matter\n <\/div>\n\n
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\n Dear reader of the Kaizen Blog,\n <\/div>\n\n
\n right now, at this very moment, all of us are everywhere, in many places, on the ground, witnessing history firsthand. This is possible in part because readers like you understand that someone has to be on site - not reporting from afar, but experiencing events, documenting them, bearing witness. Support independent journalism that defends human rights and stands up to right wing populist politics.\n <\/div>\n\n