How do thoroughly abusive people give themselves away, Mr. Trump?

We hold that the quality of a society is given by the way it treats the socially weak. The same is true for a person.

You want to know if your date is a kind person or just faking it? Look at how he treats powerless people like the waiter or a beggar.
You would want to know how friendly the one giving you a job interview is as a boss? Chum up with his secretary and then ask her.
You want to know if your nation’s president has the best interest of people at heart? Look at how he treats women, Muslims, transgenders, crippled and sick people, people with mental illness — underdogs of society.

It’s not out of generosity or magnanimity that we should protect the little ‘guy.’ Rather, we may do so out of empathy. We recognize them as fellow humans. Our blood is not redder than theirs (or they may need a blood transfusion – if that’s still affordable). We would not be our true selves if we would reject them.

As I mentioned before, not many people know too many transgenders or too much about transgenderism. The advantage of this wide-spread ignorance is that thus not as much nonsense is said about them as is about homosexuals.

Not so by President Trump. With his sharp intuition, in a shameless three-fold early-morning Twitter feed, breaking his election promise to protect GLBTQ rights, in one stroke he dismissed 15,000 trans Service people, making clear that he intends no respect for them whatsoever. He also showed who’s the boss. Abusive people have a great need to do so.

(BTW: In his mind, this does not break this election promise. He would say that President Hillary Clinton would have flooded the US with fanatical Muslims who would throw gays from rooftops, so, just firing a few weirdos, in comparison is then still protection in his book!)

It’s clear that saving money or the military are just pretexts here. So what could be a real reason? Well, if too many people would make too much noise about this, he’ll ‘reconsider.’ But he’d still have gained great distraction from his concurrent unashamed, persistent but faltering attack on the most needy healthcare consumers. And in any case, such bigotry preserves the loyalty of his most-intolerant voters. For him, that is 100% profit at least.

The nice thing though is that also people with not a lot of social conscience will still hesitate to support anti-social personalities and their muggings.

So call your Congress persons, also if they are ultra-conservative or loyal to President Trump, and flat-out demand solidarity with the poor, sick, crippled, Muslims and transgenders. Most of them want to be known as decent people – which they actually may be. And do follow up on their voting and get back to them – with more demands or with compliments. Give them honor as your representatives and be frank about your emotions.

Last but not least, is it and how is it possible that a president of a so-called democratic country (“the world’s Greatest Democracy”), which even has the concept hate crimes on the books, could announce that all members of a certain oppressed group are fired from certain work? I watch this in utter astonishment. How is this different from declaring everyone who had cancer, could get pregnant, or is spastic unfit and excluded from the military? Of saying that blacks, women, Jews, and red heads are not longer allowed to work as civil servants meeting the public? Am I then the only one who’s shocked beyond belief?

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1