Racist Trump keeping promise to destroy everything President Obama had achieved

Republicans haven't been able to agree on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, so President Trump is trying to destroy it on his own, as seen in this cartoon by Dave Granlund.

Cartoonist Jimmy Margulies notes Puerto Ricans want the same treatment as other Americans as they try to recover from Hurricane Maria, but not when it comes to health care.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

President Trump is finding new ways of exacting revenge for the humiliation he suffered at the hands of Barack Obama, our first black president.

Last week, he added the North American trade agreement, the Iran nuclear deal and the Affordable Care Act to his hit list.

According to a PBS documentary aired 17 days before his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump's burning desire to be elected president can be traced to the April 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Obama had provided his birth certificate to the news media, and set out to humiliate Trump, who was in the audience after spending weeks attacking the president for allegedly not being born in the United States, and possibly being a Muslim.

"But that night, in front of Washington's journalists, politicians and power brokers, Obama would hit back," FRONTLINE reported:

Humiliated by Obama at press dinner, 

Trump is getting his revenge

Obama's race a factor

"Trump's entire political life -- dating all the way back to his adoption of birtherism earlier this decade -- is positioned against all things Obama," Chris Cillizza of CNN reported on Friday.

"Why? Because for many Trump supporters in this country, Obama -- and his beliefs about society and government -- were the antithesis of what they believed.

"(Yes, Obama's race -- and multicultural vision of the country and the world -- were part of that mix as well)."

Court challenges

An especially weak area in the news coverage of Trump is the lack of reporting on all of the court challenges to his executive orders and other actions, and where those lawsuits stand.

Reporters also are reluctant to challenge Trump in person.

That allows him to make it up as he goes along -- exaggerating, fabricating and lying outright in the sound bites we are assaulted with whenever we watch TV or listen to radio news.

I actually heard him say one reason he is trying to eliminate the subsidies health insurance companies get from government is because the insurers don't support him.

He also claimed they are using the money to boost their stock prices.

Puerto Rico

Nor have many reporters stated flatly that Trump's mistreatment of the 3.4 million Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria was motivated by the quirky fact that although they are U.S. citizens, they can't vote for president.

More than 700,000 Puerto Ricans left the island between 2006 and 2015, fleeing the economic decline and mounting debt crisis, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Some people also moved back, but the island saw the total number of residents drop to 3.4 million from 3.8 million -- more than 10%, the newspaper said.

Cartoonist Pat Bagley of The Salt Lake City (Utah) Tribune questions why Donald J. Trump was treated differently than Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, a big Democratic donor.

Cartoonist Monte Wolverton of The Plain Truth magazine highlights one of the many ways Trump and his family have profited from his election.

Humiliated by our first black president in 2011, Trump has finally gotten his revenge

Michael D'Antonio, author of "The Truth About Trump," told FRONTLINE journalists, "Donald Trump's fantasy is to be the guy who takes the key to the Oval Office from Barack Obama's hand in 2017. This is a burning personal need that he has, to redeem himself from being humiliated by the first black president."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 -- when racist Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States -- is a date that will live in infamy.

In a Jan. 3 documentary on PBS that has been largely ignored by the news media, FRONTLINE traced Trump's burning desire to be elected president to the April 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner.

"Trump's invitation to the exclusive gathering came after weeks of attacking President Barack Obama on television" for allegedly not being born in the United States, and possibly being a Muslim.

"You're not allowed to be president if you're not born in this country," Trump said during one appearance. "But there's something on that birth [certificate] -- maybe religion, maybe it says he's a Muslim ...."

'Treated like a pinata'

"But that night, in front of Washington's journalists, politicians and power brokers, Obama would hit back," FRONTLINE reported.

Obama, who had provided his birth certificate, showing he was born in Hawaii, said:

"No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. [laughter] And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter -- like, did we fake the moon landing? [laughter]

"What really happened in Roswell? [laughter] and where are Biggie and Tupac? [laughter]

"All kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience," the president continued, before relating how Trump had fired someone on the "Celebrity Apprentice" TV show.

"And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night," the president said to more laughter and applause.

"And he's being treated like a pinata by the president of the United States, and I think he felt humiliated," said Timothy O'Brien, author of "TrumpNation."

"Donald dreads humiliation and he dreads shame," said Michael D'Antonio, author of "The Truth About Tump."

"And this is why he often attempts to humiliate and shame other people. So in the case of the president ridiculing him, I think this was intolerable for Donald Trump."

At the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner, one attendee recalled, President Obama took the microphone and declared, "Donald Trump is here tonight!" before he "proceeds to filet Donald publicly."

"Trump was steaming," one participant noted. "His face was all locked in. He was not having a good time."

'Maybe I'll show them all'

"I think that is the night that he resolves to run for president," Trump political adviser Roger Stone told FRONTLINE.

"'Maybe I'll just run. Maybe I'll show them all.'"

Omarosa Manigault of the Trump '16 Campaign said:

"Every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump. It's everyone who's ever doubted Donald, whoever disagreed, whoever challenged him. It's the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe."

Grew up in Queens

FRONTLINE begins a discussion of Trump's formative years in Queens, where he grew up "in a posh suburb of Jamaica Estates," in a huge house with columns called "Tara" that was designed by his father, Fred Trump, a real estate developer.

Donald and his brothers and sisters, including Maryanne, now a federal appeals court judge, were raised in luxury.

"When it rained and he had to deliver his papers," author D'Antonio recalled, "the chauffeur would take him around."

Donald Trump was mischievous, though, and when he was 13 years old, his father sent him to the toughest boarding school he could find, the New York Military Academy.

"The New York Military Academy was no-nonsense, heavy on discipline, over the years home to the children of gangster John Gotti and Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista," the narrator says.

"He was a star athlete," the narrator says of Trump. "But his classmates agree he was proudest of winning the ultimate accolade in the all-boys school:

"He was named 'Ladies' Man' in the school yearbook.

"Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy magazine, was a role model for many of the boys."

Enriched himself

After a spectacular series of businesses successes and failures, Trump began selling shares in his struggling Atlantic City casinos.

"Trump paid himself $44 million for services, and he'd been reimbursed millions in expenses even as the stock price began to fall," the narrator said.

"The company filed for bankruptcy three times. Investors lost billions."

You can see a full transcript or view FRONTLINE's "President Trump" here.