No.Nonsense.

President Harry Truman famously had a plaque on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that read “the buck stops here”. From all I have read about him, he had a notorious temper and was known for not having much of a filter when he spoke. He was a tough taskmaster. He was also one who said he was going to take responsibility for all the good and bad that happened during his tenure because he was the one in that office and every decision, every action, stopped there.

President Donald Trump has never had that kind of integrity.

On Thursday night, a video appeared on social media that was supposed to humorously depict Trump as “King of the Jungle” and then showed Barak and Michelle Obama as apes. It was supposed to be an exposition in voter integrity. I personally don’t get the correlation, but okay, if you say so.

To liken a black person to an ape is one of the most offensive and racist characterizations, going back to slavery when so many whites viewed blacks as lesser creations who had not evolved past the stage of a monkey. It is as bad or worse than if that white person looked his black counterpart in the face and called him the n-word.

I was a child in the 70s in the South where I regularly heard blacks be described in such terms. I was taught in church that they were descended from Noah’s son Ham who looked on his father’s drunken nakedness and was cursed by God, him and his future generations to be forced to serve his brothers. And I grew up inherently knowing that all of it was wrong.

And then I was privileged to become the mother of a mixed race child who is the most beautiful and precious thing in the world. I am not a person who will claim racism or micro aggression in every word or action. But if you come at me or my son with something clearly in that realm such as this post, I will shred you to your face. No one will ever characterize my son as lesser in my presence.

And the worst part of this whole story? When questioned about it, his staff defended the video. Trump said he wasn’t going to apologize for it because he wasn’t the one who put it up on the site. Mr President, let me say this loud and clearly. It was YOUR social media site. It is your name on it. It is your staff. It is YOUR responsibility. Where is that one person who has the spine to look at you and say that is wrong? Where is that one person who isn’t kissing your ass so much they fail to make you accountable?

Apparently that person doesn’t exist.

Do I think Trump is a racist? I actually don’t. I do think he’s tone deaf and doesn’t care how his words and actions are received. Do I think he’s a pedophile because he associated with one? I don’t think he’s into kids though I can very much believe that he might have engaged in other sexual perversions. Again this is an example of not taking responsibility for anything. He did himself no favors in saying he would release the Epstein files and then backtracking. He got angry when called out on it and said there’s nothing to see here. Gaslighting and trying to redirect attention when someone questions you is the mark if a child.

During the 2016 campaign Trump was asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness. He said no because he’d not done anything needing forgiveness. Mr Trump, ask your three wives if you have anything to atone for.

I voted for Trump because of his policy positions, not because he was a paragon of virtue. It has consistently rankled me with the way he talks to and about others. We all must realize we are not perfect and surround ourselves with people who will hold us accountable when we step off the path of what’s right. To engage with only sycophants who will try to justify your wrongness is the most narcissistic action you can take. Maturity is saying that the buck stops with you.

With each instance of his viciousness, whatever good he might have done is shrouded by the controversy. And with each move he’s making, whatever support he has had from me diminishes. This video and his gaslighting about it puts the period on whatever defense I might have mounted for him. I’m done.