by Ginger Marin

It was truly unexpected but on Friday, October 16, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, tacitly endorsed Joe Biden to become his successor.

It came in the form of his publicly posted Proclamation on on National Character Counts Week, 2020. You can tell it came from him, not only because he signed it with his name in all caps but because of the double word “on” in the title. By Monday, Oct. 19, the title typo was still there.

It begins “The foundation of any free and virtuous society is the moral character of its people.  Personal responsibility, integrity, and the other values which define our unique American spirit underpin our system of self-government and inspire us to continue working toward a more perfect Union.“

Yes, Mr. Trump, the moral character of ALL PEOPLE. That would include you but doesn’t since it has long been established by just about everyone, including many thinking Republicans, that YOU have no character. Therefore we cannot have a free and virtuous society with you at the helm. You take no personal responsibility for anything and have no integrity as expressed by yourself and people you have put into positions within your own administration. “I take no responsibility” were the words you uttered about your handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Your former Chief of Staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, told friends that you are “the most flawed person” he’s ever known. James Mattis, the Marine general who resigned as your Secretary of Defense, said “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.”

Trump’s proclamation continues “…we recognize that character is a learned attribute acquired through consistent, purposeful action, not an inherent trait.” 

Yes, WE do recognize that character is a learned attribute. Your niece Mary Trump described your upbringing and attested that you have no character because you learned nothing but purposely how to cheat, steal and degrade from your father, the apparently lousy, cheater Fred Trump.

And “From small acts of kindness to supreme selfless sacrifice, everyday heroes and larger-than-life American historical figures have deepened the roots of freedom of our Nation.”

You have sacrificed nothing, Mr. Trump, and throwing rolls of paper towels at desperate Puerto Ricans does not count as “small acts of kindness”.

It ends like this “NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 18 through October 24, 2020, as National Character Counts Week.  I call upon public officials, educators, parents, students, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.”

Now, therefore, Donald J. Trump has called upon everyone in the country to go out and vote early for Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States because CHARACTER COUNTS. Joe Biden, the man who has spent his whole life acquiring character through consistent, purposeful action; the man who takes personal responsibility, has integrity and performs small acts of kindness again and again.

General Mattis said “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.” Trump has taken purposeful, consistent action to mock our constitution and the norms that actually do matter since even before the day he took office. So, we must reject Trump en masse in order to regain some semblance of our free and virtuous society.

Ginger Marin is a former journalist, current Los Angeles-based actor-writer.