Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today, we discuss Donald Trump and his supporters taking cheap shots seeking to blame President Biden for inflation. They are doing this despite the overwhelming evidence that countries around the world, regardless of whether they are led by very conservative or liberal governments, have been experiencing inflation. Moreover, it is factually undeniable that the annual inflation rates for dozens and dozens…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. This week, I witnessed a guy saying he respected Donald Trump because he is a fighter against the establishment. A skeptic nerve in my body, like an overheated teapot, started going wild. Upon thinking about this, it occurred to me that Trump is a big time businessman whose main businesses are high end hotels, residences, and private golf clubs. Doesn’t…
Welcome to From Insults To Respect. This week, I received a letter from a wonderful pal of mine, Mike Gilmartin, a retired English professor who dabbles in the fine art of poetry. His letter included his most recent effort, which he titled, “The Art Of Trumping The Deal.” To me, it powerfully expresses Mike’s emotion that comes with his disrespect for Donald Trump’s bullying behavior. Mike…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we explore the wisdom of flinging two related insults at Donald Trump’s supporters–insults that fall under the general headings of “crazy” and “mental illness.” Let’s begin with the “crazy” insults. The “Crazy” Insults Trump, by all authoritative analyses, lost the 2020 election by approximately seven million votes, as well as an ample number of electoral votes. Despite this, he…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. As some of you may know, my previous post is titled, “Bragging Versus Helpful Self-Promotion.” In discussing this topic, a friend of mine asked, “Why didn’t you bring up in the post, Donald Trump, since he is the perfect example of a braggart?” Although I have taken pains to make the case in this blog that we are better off…
An Exercise for Deepening One's Understanding of the Nature of Respect
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. As I write this post, Election Day, with all of its turbulence, has now passed us by. Perhaps now is a good time for us to take some deep calming breaths and reflect on all that transpired. Along this line, I’m thinking it would be a useful exercise at this point if we attempted to integrate what we have learned…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today’s topic, a problematic condolence call from President Trump to a grieving soldier’s widow. What Happened Myeshia Johnson’s husband, Sgt. La David Johnson, died in an ambush in Niger on Oct. 4, 2017. Shortly afterwards, Mrs. Johnson received a condolence call from President Trump. Mrs. Johnson then told ABC news that the president struck a callous tone during their conversation–telling…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Recently, I wrote a post titled “On Being Gullible,” the goal of which was to guide gullible people we care about toward more discerning ways. We focussed on three sets of skills that people use to avoid being gullible–Plausibility Checking, Trust Calibration, and Assessing Argumentation. In my earlier post, I…
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. One day I was watching Donald Trump’s first news conference since he became president. There, the remarks that I found most interesting had to do with his expressed outrage about how hateful the press has been toward him. The first time it came up, he was asked the following question by a reporter: “I just want to get you to…
By now most of you have seen numerous examples of Donald Trump taunting rally interrupters. If you haven’t, there is a collection of them put together by the New York Times that you can see HERE. Early on we see Mr. Trump stating, “I certainly don’t incite violence.” But then there is a video clip showing security going through the process of removing an interrupter…
