Trump’s cheat code

To the editor:

In each of Barack Obama’s first 13 months in office, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job losses. The largest loss, 825,000 jobs, came in March 2009; in total, the BLS reported 3.6 million jobs lost over those 13 months. 

What did Obama do? Did he fire the BLS commissioner? Of course not. Obama rolled up his sleeves and went to work. That’s leadership. By the time Obama left office in January 2017, he regained those 3.6 million lost jobs and added 11.6 million more. 

This past week, we witnessed Donald Trump react to unfavorable data; he whined, scapegoated and falsely claimed to be the victim of politically motivated fraud. True leaders cringe at the tactics that come naturally to Trump.

Unfortunately, Trump’s claims are about as reliable as his golf score. Recently, cameras caught this serial golf cheat in action in Scotland and again in Bedminster, New Jersey, during a tournament Trump claimed he “won.” Bryan Marsal, a Winged Foot Golf Club member, described his golfing experience with Trump: “We go to the first tee … he said, ‘You see those two guys? They cheat. See me? I cheat. And I expect you to cheat because we’re going to beat those two guys today,’” summing up “he believes that you’re gonna cheat.… So if it’s the same, if everybody’s cheating, he doesn’t see it as really cheating.”

Trump isn’t a leader, he is a liar and if you are on his side, Trump demands that you also lie.  After telling reporters why he “had” to fire the BLS Commissioner, Trump said that grocery prices have fallen and “gasoline is way down. It’s gonna soon be less than $2 a gallon.” I must be shopping at the wrong supermarkets and gas stations.

Joseph Cannisi