RAMJAC #rejoin #FBPE #FBNHS #ElectoralReform #FBPA

Trump, "Are you a stupid person? Who do you work for?" Journalist, "ABC News" Trump, "You're a stupid person" My view: When the president of the United States responds to a journalist with a schoolyard insult, he does more than demean her. He diminishes the office he holds and the public’s ability to take it seriously. The presidency carries authority because it represents more than the person occupying it. Trump has treated that authority as a weapon for personal grievance: mock, belittle, demand deference, and cast scrutiny as an enemy act. The spectacle may be designed to look like strength. But it reveals something smaller: a leader unable to meet a question with an answer, or a critic with an argument. This is populism eating itself. It feeds on contempt for institutions, then hollows out the institution it commands. It claims to speak for ordinary people while making public life meaner, cruder and less capable of honest scrutiny. The damage reaches beyond one exchange or one presidency. When the most prestigious political office in the world is reduced to insult and grievance, the standing of the office—and the country it represents—suffers with it.