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On August 4, 2025, I posted a graphic on Facebook asserting that Donald
Trump is a hateful president. Here is the image I posted:
The design of this post was rather arbitrary. I wanted the post to be
eye-catching, but I didn’t think deeply about how it looked. There is no
specific meaning to the hexagonal frame. On the other hand, I did spend
a good deal of time thinking about the content.
I cannot know what is in Mr. Trump’s heart of hearts. I can, however,
observe his actions: what he says, what he does, and and how he talks
about others and about issues he seems passionate about. I cannot
prove that the president actually hates anyone or anything. I
wrote what I wrote, however, believing that anyone who pays attention to
U.S. politics and reads my graphic would either readily accept most of
my assertions or would at least understand how someone could believe
most of them.
i expected only a modest reaction to my Facebook post, and that mostly
from my friends. Remarkably, however, the post, as of today, has gotten
31,835 views! I’m not sure how that happened. Either (1) Facebook, in
its inscrutable wisdom, showed my post widely, or (2) The 57 shares of
the post reached many people indeed, directly or indirectly.
Given the political division of the country, I would have expected
reactions to the post to be divided—perhaps evenly so—between positive
and negative. I was quite wrong about that. Fewer than 8% of the people
who saw the post, selected one of Facebook’s standard reactions. Here’s
a tabulation of how many visitors selected each reaction:
 |
Like |
260 |
 |
Love |
6 |
 |
Care |
8 |
 |
Haha |
2,171 |
 |
Wow |
6 |
 |
Sad |
4 |
 |
Angry |
36 |
One can never be sure just what these reactions
mean. (See my essay
Inadequacy of Available Reactions to Facebook Posts.) Does a
click on Angry, for example, mean that the reader is angry at me for
saying what I did, or does it indicate anger that what I said is
understood to be true? In any case, what was remarkable is that a
majority of people found my post funny. The 1,862 comments suggest
that this is not what it might seem to be.
Of course, Haha could mean funny, or it could mean
ridiculous. Here are some of the comments I received on Facebook (I
have redacted posters’ names):
| Clowns Make 51k A Year and Here You Are Being One
For Free You got me on the last item. Lol. I
thought you were being serious until you said "Truth",
then I knew you were joking. It pays to read the whole
post.
Is this a parody page?
That was funny! Say some more stupid shit! MAGA!!
Now that IS funny!
Totally laughable
Koo Koo.
***This is so wrong it's comical.
All the misinformation is hilarious
Hilarious!! Smoke some more dope, dope. |
There is no need to go on. I clearly have no
future as a Facebook humorist. I was not, of course, trying to
be funny.
A vast majority of comments were postings of graphics
with pro-Trump, anti-Democrat, or personally insulting
messages. Apparently, many posters did not think of anything
original or relevant to say. (If you want to see all the
comments I received, you can do so
here. Nearly of the text-only comments were like these
typical examples:
| Projectionism. You are blaming Trump for hating
which is what you actually do, but you irrational
blinds you to your own guilt! and i suppose you
have a boyfriend,,,
TDS [Trump derangement syndrome, a
pejorative term used to describe negative reactions
to President Trump] is outta control these days
Someone has a few marbles for brains.
What a DUMB FUCK post!
So you expect people to believe you - in your
certainly unbiased way - have a single clue about
what Trump or conservatives think? Please, continue
to beclown yourself like this. Soon no one will take
you seriously, as opposed to most people's current
disregard of you. LMFAO [laughing my fucking ass
off].
Another rant of a commie moron
STFU [shut the fuck up]!
How can someone with a PH D be so stupid?
Education, titles and status are not a substitute
for common sense, of which you demobstrate [sic] very
little
Posting a raging meme full of idiocy doesn’t look
well for you Mr. Deimel.
Everything in your amazing list is a parrot of
liberal media and lying Democrat rhetoric. Fueling
lies doesn’t look well for your side either.
Does it stink with your head that far up your
ass?
Another bullshit lie from a despicable leftist
scumbag .
here we have another highly indoctrinated,
clearly under educated fucking libtard |
I need hardly go on. Only a handful of comments could
be considered supportive, such as this one:
| He hates anything that doesn't give him more
power. Trump is a narcissistic psychopath. |
A few readers challenged me to provide
justification for my assertions. Most of these messages were
clearly from people who did not like my message, but a few were
supportive and honestly wanted public arguments for my
assertions, something requiring a book, rather than a Facebook
post. A few people cited “evidence” to contradict a particular
point I was making. One person, however, attempted to rebut my
entire post:
|
Across Donald Trump's presidential terms, his
administration enacted a range of legislation,
executive orders, and policy initiatives spanning
tax policy, criminal justice, environmental
conservation, health research, and judicial
appointments.
Below is an overview of major policies, legislative
acts, and executive actions taken by Donald Trump
across these categories:
1. Women
* Paid Family Leave: Signed the Federal Employee
Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) in 2019, which provided 12
weeks of paid parental leave to over 2 million
civilian federal employees for the first time. The
administration also included a employer tax credit
(Section 45S) in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for
businesses offering paid family and medical leave.
* Global Economic Empowerment: Established the
Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP)
Initiative in 2019, aiming to assist 50 million
women in developing countries by workforce training,
entrepreneurship support, and addressing legal
barriers.
* Women Entrepreneurship Law: Signed the bipartisan
Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment
Act of 2018, directing USAID to prioritize
micro-loans and business assistance for female
entrepreneurs globally.
* Pre-Pandemic Employment Record: Prior to the 2020
pandemic, female unemployment reached 3.6% in 2019,
the lowest rate in nearly 70 years.
2. Legal Immigration
* Shifting to a Merit-Based Framework: Proposed and
pursued reforming the legal immigration system away
from family-based chains toward a point-system
prioritizing high-skilled labor, education, and
specialized job offers.
* H-1B & Wage Protection Reforms: Issued regulations
requiring employers hiring through the H-1B
high-skilled visa program to pay higher minimum
wages to prevent systemic wage suppression and
protect American tech workers.
* Public Charge Rule: Implemented a modernized
"Public Charge" rule requiring legal immigrants to
demonstrate financial self-sufficiency before
acquiring legal permanent residency (green cards).
3. Non-White & Minority Communities
* Criminal Justice Reform (FIRST STEP Act): Signed
the bipartisan First Step Act of 2018, considered
the most significant federal prison reform in
decades. It reduced mandatory minimum sentences for
certain nonviolent drug offenses, expanded
good-conduct time credits, and retroactively
addressed crack/cocaine sentencing disparities under
the Fair Sentencing Act.
* Opportunity Zones: Created Opportunity Zones
through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, providing
capital gains tax incentives to drive private
investments into over 8,700 economically distressed
communities.
* Permanent HBCU Funding: Signed the bipartisan
FUTURE Act of 2019, permanently restoring $255
million in annual mandatory funding for Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and
minority-serving institutions.
* Record Pre-Pandemic Lows in Unemployment: Between
2018 and 2019, unemployment rates for Black,
Hispanic, and Asian Americans reached historic,
record lows.
4. Education
* Career and Technical Education (CTE): Reauthorized
the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for
the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) in 2018, expanding
funding for hands-on vocational training and
technical education pathways in high schools and
community colleges.
* School Choice & 529 Expansion: Expanded 529
savings plans under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
to cover up to $10,000 per year in K-12 private
school tuition.
* Title IX Due Process Guidance: Revised Title IX
regulations in 2020 to establish clear procedures
and live cross-examination protections for accused
students in campus misconduct hearings.
5. Science and Medicine
* Operation Warp Speed: Spearheaded Operation Warp
Speed in 2020, a public-private coalition that
funded, produced, and distributed COVID-19 vaccines
and therapeutics in under a year.
* Right to Try Act: Signed the Trickett Wendler,
Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina
Right to Try Act of 2018, allowing terminally ill
patients to access experimental drugs and treatments
that have passed Phase 1 FDA testing without waiting
for full FDA approval.
* Healthcare & Drug Price Transparency: Issued
executive orders requiring hospitals and health
insurance companies to disclose upfront negotiated
pricing to patients to lower medical costs and
incentivize market competition.
* Establishment of U.S. Space Force & Artemis
Program: Created the U.S. Space Force in 2019 (the
first new military branch since 1947) and launched
NASA’s Artemis Program targeting a return to the
Moon and future crewed missions to Mars.
6. Rule of Law & Judiciary
* Judicial Appointments: Appointed 226 federal
judges, including 3 Supreme Court Justices (Neil
Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett) and
54 appellate judges, prioritizing textualist and
originalist judicial philosophy.
* Support for Law Enforcement: Issued executive
actions reinstating the 1033 Program to transfer
surplus federal equipment to local police
departments and establishing task forces targeting
transnational criminal organizations like cartels
and gangs.
7. Democracy & Foreign Diplomacy
* Abraham Accords: Brokered historic peace and
normalization agreements between Israel and several
Arab nations (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan,
and Morocco) without entering the U.S. into new
armed conflicts.
* Cybersecurity Agency Creation: Signed the
legislation creating the Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in 2018 within
the Department of Homeland Security to protect
critical U.S. infrastructure and election networks
from cyber threats.
8. Environment & Conservation
* Great American Outdoors Act (2020): Signed
bipartisan conservation legislation providing $1.9
billion annually to repair infrastructure across
national parks, while permanently funding the Land
and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million
per year.
* One Trillion Trees Initiative: Signed an executive
order committing the U.S. to the international One
Trillion Trees Initiative to support carbon
sequestration through reforestation and forest
management.
* USMCA Environmental Provisions: Enacted
enforceable environmental standards within the USMCA
trade agreement targeting illegal fishing, marine
litter, and ozone-depleting emissions.
* Superfund Cleanups: Prioritized the accelerated
cleanup of hazardous waste sites listed under the
EPA's Superfund National Priorities List.
Sources & References
* U.S. Congress (Legislation): First Step Act (P.L.
115-391), Great American Outdoors Act (P.L.
116-152), FUTURE Act (P.L. 116-91), Right to Try Act
(P.L. 115-176), Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97).
* Federal Register / White House Archives: Executive
Orders on Operation Warp Speed, Women's Global
Development and Prosperity Initiative (EO 13857),
and Establishing the United States Space Force (EO
13860).
* U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):
Pre-pandemic unemployment historical data
(2017–2019). |
I have to appreciate such a valiant attempt
to justify Trump as an effective president. I note that (1)
many of these reputed accomplishments were the product of
Trump’s first term, and (2) I have quibbles about the
desirability of much of what he has done. For example, I
believe his judicial appointments have been disastrous,
though I understand that some may think otherwise. It is
ironic to tout accomplishments related to USAID, as he
essentially wiped out that agency in his second term. And
the commenter does not mention Trump’s graft, favoritism,
military exploits, disdain for our traditional allies,
ignorance of how tariffs work, and
disregard of the Constitution.
I don’t understand how I tapped into the
mother lode of MAGA hostility. My typical posts seldom do. I
cannot tell, of course, if any posts were from bots or from
foreign provocateurs. They seem to be from real people.
But reactions to my post were discouraging. It is difficult
to imagine having an intelligent and productive conversation
with nearly all the people who commented on my post. I
attacked a cult leader, and the cult members, who identify
with that leader, lashed out at me. Several comments pointed
out that Trump received the most votes in the 2024 election,
a thought that intensifies my concern for the country I
love.
— LED, 8/24/2026 |
