I am looking forward to a vacation from all of the lies, insanity of Trump presidency

Cartoonists Milt Priggee, above, and Dave Granlund, below, on President Trump's endorsement of white supremacist groups.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

After the nuclear confrontation with North Korea, the deaths in Charlottesville, Va.; President Trump's defense of white nationalist groups, and the exit of the despicable Steve Bannon, our European vacation couldn't come at a better time.

As far as I know, our destination isn't among the countries Trump has trashed, and I'll be able to watch the news in a language that is totally foreign to me.

Coverage of Trump's failing presidency has been scathing:

On Tuesday, The New York Times Editorial Board thundered:

"Mr. Trump makes a spectacle of himself"

President Trump "simply can't help himself -- especially when cornered," The Times said, adding: 

"Given one more chance to forcefully condemn the neo-Nazis and white supremacists whose rally in Charlottesville, Va., end in violence and a counterprotester's death, Mr. Trump angrily insisted, as he had suggested on Saturday, that both sides were equally to blame -- a false equivalency that not just his critics but also an increasing number of his supporters have urged him to abandon."

Times Columnist Paul Krugman angrily labeled the president as "Un-American" after Trump's first statements blamed both sides for what happened.

'No place in America'

U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, a New Jersey Republican, scolded Trump on Twitter, the president's favorite forum:

"Mr. President, there is only one side: AGAINST white supremacists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semites & KKK. They have no place in America or GOP."

Meanwhile, The Washington Post's Fact Checker examined Trump's claim about the U.S. nuclear arsenal:

"As part of his saber-rattling with North Korea ..., President Trump said: 'My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before.'"

The Post awarded Four Pinocchios to Trump, saying, "No, President Trump, you did not modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal in six month." 

In this cartoon from Ingrid Rice, hate groups crawl out from under a rock resembling Trump's head, likely the one he'll want added to Mount Rushmore.

New media

On Friday, The Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia published an investigation, based on interviews with participants:

How the Charlottesville disaster unfolded

The news media also have been busy interviewing people who voted for Trump to see if they still have his back.

That's a colossal waste of time. Who cares?

The voters they should be interviewing are the millions of Democrats who stayed home last Nov. 8, either because they believed polls predicting a victory for Hillary Clinton or swallowed GOP propaganda about the Democratic candidate.

These non-voting Democrats should be ashamed of themselves in view of the Trump scourge that has been visited on us. 

Charlottesville also introduced new and old phrases framing the violence.

"Antifa" is short for anti-fascists and "emulates historic anti-fascist actors in Europe," The Associated Press reported.

The "alt-right movement," supported by Bannon, "has been described as a mix of racism, white nationalism, populism and anti-Semiticism," The AP said.

"It emphasizes preserving and protecting the white race in the United States."

The Record

At my local daily newspaper, The Record of Woodland Park, the lead story today is the departure of Bannon, the adviser who was the inspiration for Trump's attempts to ban all Muslim immigration to the United States.

The clunky headline:

"BANNON GONE AT WHITE HOUSE"

Any good copy editor knows using "at White House" is totally unnecessary in a Bannon headline, but I guess the Gannett editor couldn't figure out a better head for what is supposed to be the premier page of the paper.

Also on Page 1 today is a teaser promising a recap of "the week that was" in Sunday's paper. 

"COMING SUNDAY"

"From 'fire and fury' to exit of key Trump adviser Steve Bannon, we recap the week that was."

But why wait? Newspapers traditionally consider today as the last day of the week; why isn't the recap running today in the print edition?

Cartoonist Sean Delonas, formerly of the New York Post, invokes Trump's blaming "both sides" for the violence in Charlottesville, Va., comments that generated a firestorm of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.

Robert E. Lee

The focus of the protests and counterprotests in Charlottesville, Va., was removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, a slaveholder who was the top Confederate general during the Civil War.

One historian justified the removal of Lee monuments, noting the general committed what he called armed treason against the United States.

But at The Record, Columnist Mike Kelly had a better idea than writing about Lee or protester Heather Heyer, the woman killed by a car during violent clashes with Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis; or Trump's mixed messages about the hate groups that have been emboldened by his election.

Kelly's front page column on Thursday was about a New Jersey monument totally unrelated to the controversy over the removal of Confederate statues in New Orleans, Charlottesville and other cities.

This monument was erected by the U.S. government in 1910 to memorialize 2,436 Confederate soldiers captured at the bloody Gettysburg battle who died of dysentery, typhoid, malaria and malnutrition in a prisoner-of-war camp.

Readers searching for the "nut graph" -- journalism jargon for the paragraph that provides context for the column -- came upon this on the continuation page:

"An 85-foot granite obelisk offers a nuanced twist on the national debate over whether to tear down Confederate monuments."