{"id":124347,"date":"2024-04-21T12:35:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T17:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=124347"},"modified":"2024-04-21T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T17:35:38","slug":"the-donald-trump-interviews-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=124347","title":{"rendered":"The Donald Trump Interviews&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300; font-size: 14pt;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=124347\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=124347\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-124348 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Mark-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Mark-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Mark.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300; font-size: 14pt;\"><em><strong>Mark Slouka Speaks Out<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mark is 66 and lives in New York. He is a writer and author of several novels.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Why do you dislike or even hate Trump?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let me put it this way: When Leslie and I were raising our kids, we tried to give them values that would make them decent human beings \u2013 values most parents would agree with. Basic things like, \u2018Don\u2019t lie, don\u2019t steal, don\u2019t cheat. When you fuck up \u2013 own it. Try to help those who are weaker than you. Stand by your friends. If you\u2019re successful, show some humility. Do the right thing because your self-respect demands it, not because somebody else might approve. Stuff like that.<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019m saying is that, as a father, I can\u2019t imagine a greater personal failure than raising a son like Donald Trump. There\u2019s no honor to this man. He lies, he whines, he cheats, he promises worlds and delivers nothing. He stiffs the people who work for him, he throws those loyal to him under the bus, he ridicules and humiliates anybody who disagrees with him. He\u2019s the guy \u2013 we\u2019ve all met him \u2013 who cheats on every point because he can\u2019t win a fair match, then screams that you\u2019re trying to cheat him.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, what can you say about a man whose whole life is one big grudge, who\u2019s always punching down, then hiding behind his money and his lawyers, who never earned his own way (his father was giving him 300k\/year from birth). A man who ridicules war heroes after paying to get a deferment from the draft? A man without a shred of grace, or empathy, or honor? Unless those words don\u2019t mean anything anymore, you\u2019d call him the truest kind of loser.<\/p>\n<p>The mystery is why behavior that most Americans would be ashamed to see in their kids (or in themselves) is acceptable to them in a President.<\/p>\n<p>But even if all this was excusable (it\u2019s not), how can we consider putting the nuclear codes in the hands of a man sliding into dementia? I mean, just listen to his \u2018speeches.\u2019 Americans are paying 8 bucks a gallon for gas? Really? Where? Migrants are \u2018sacking\u2019 American cities? Which ones? Biden beat Barack Obama? What? He confuses Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi and thinks the woman he raped is his ex-wife. Now throw in his prediction that his loss in November would mean a \u2018bloodbath\u2019 for America. It\u2019s time to wake up \u2013 this ain\u2019t good.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: How do you view his supporters?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>You can\u2019t generalize about 74 million people \u2013 the number of votes Trump got in the last election &#8211; but I\u2019m guessing that most are people who really want to fix some things in America and believe his promises \u2013 remember when he promised to \u201cfix health care on Day One\u201d back in 2015? Or when he said that we\u2019d win so much we\u2019d get tired of winning? Basically, they\u2019ve been conned by an expert &#8211; a reality TV star who\u2019ll do anything, say anything, to get what he wants. There\u2019s no shame in this \u2013 everybody\u2019s been conned at one time or another. The shame is in continuing to be conned, or, worse, in letting his hate color your world so much that you\u2019ll excuse anything just to stick it to whoever he\u2019s told you to stick it to.<\/p>\n<p>I guess to these people we could add those who find him entertaining, those who think he\u2019ll \u201cclean things up,\u201d and those who, like Susan Sarandon in 2015, hope he\u2019ll bring everything crashing down so we can begin over. I don\u2019t know what to say to those who find this clown entertaining. Will he \u2018clean things up?\u2019 Sure, right into his pocket, like he always has. As for those who hope he\u2019ll bring everything down, they might want to book a flight to Haiti to see what a failed state looks like. I don\u2019t think they\u2019d like it.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Why is America better off without Trump?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Simple. Because in eight short years he\u2019s managed to divide us \u2013 friends, families, communities &#8211; like we haven\u2019t been divided since the Civil War. Because he\u2019ll keep doing just that for as long as he can \u2013 it\u2019s what he does. Because if you listen to him rant about American carnage and corruption, you realize that he\u2019s not interested in fixing anything. He\u2019s just interested in getting back at his enemies (anybody who doesn\u2019t bow down to him), enriching himself, and praising murderous bastards like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and the broken countries they command. Because, given a second chance, he\u2019ll mold himself in their image and America will begin its long descent.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Why should Trump never be President again?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>To what I just said I could add that he\u2019s talked publicly about wanting to suspend the Constitution, that he encouraged an insurrection (and tried to steal an election), and that he\u2019s publicly encouraged Russia to do what it wants with our allies \u2013 the same allies who had our backs after 9\/11. Think about it: He wouldn\u2019t even have to pull us out of NATO \u2013 he could just signal that America would do nothing in order to trigger a global disaster. A disaster that the con man from Queens wouldn\u2019t have a clue how to deal with.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Why should people vote for Joe Biden?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The real question should be: Why the hell wouldn\u2019t they vote for Joe Biden? Seriously, I\u2019m so done with the whole, \u201cI hate them both\u201d routine. Really? Why?<\/p>\n<p>Is Biden the perfect candidate? No, but show me the president who was \u2013 even Abraham Lincoln grew into his greatness. Is he old and getting older? Yep \u2013 get over it. Does he have a stutter? Sure, so what? Do I agree with every one of his policies? No, but I\u2019d never expected to. The Presidency isn\u2019t about perfection \u2013 it\u2019s about competence and integrity.<\/p>\n<p>What Biden\u2019s accomplished &#8211; despite having an entire political party dedicated to undermining him even when it means hurting itself &#8211; is nothing short of a miracle. He pushed through an infrastructure law \u2013 something Trump promised and never delivered \u2013 that\u2019s generated 20,000 jobs a month since January 2021. Last fall, employment in construction set a record going back to 1939 for Christ\u2019s sake. Biden tamed inflation so effectively that economists are still scratching their heads trying to figure out how he managed such a soft landing. He pulled together our allies to resist Russia in Ukraine \u2013 until Trump\u2019s stooges in Congress pulled the plug. He\u2019s worked on lowering medication prices and saving people from crushing college debt. I could go on. Is everything perfect? Hell, no, but the man shows up to work.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I could argue with this policy or that one (I\u2019m troubled, for example, by how long it\u2019s taken him to respond to the crisis in Gaza), but the bottom line is there\u2019s no comparison between the two men. Biden has given his life to public service \u2013 he actually gives a shit about people \u2013 and he\u2019s smart enough to appoint advisers who won\u2019t hesitate to tell him what he needs to hear. Trump is an opportunist sliding into dementia whose only goal is more \u2013 more power, more money \u2013 who surrounds himself with lackeys who are loyal to him, not the country.<\/p>\n<p>One more thing. Though he\u2019s showing his age, make no mistake: Biden is one tough bastard. He survived the death of his wife and child in a car crash. He survived the death of his son, Beau, to cancer. Trump has never survived anything besides his own imagined persecution.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Why are you a Democrat and how do you view the Republican Party?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a Democrat because in Queens, New York, where I grew up, the Democratic party was seen as the party of the people while the Republicans were seen as the party of the country club rich.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I continue to be a Democrat (despite my disagreements with some of its members and policies) because the Republican Party is no longer the Republican Party it was \u2013 a party I could disagree with while still knowing that at bottom it cared about our country and its future. That it respected our democratic values. That it respected the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>That party doesn\u2019t exist anymore. Today\u2019s Republican Party (with some extraordinary exceptions like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger), is a party of liars and contortionists (Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Elise Stefanik, J.D. Vance \u2013 the parade goes on) willing to say anything, to publicly humiliate themselves, in order to please their leader. In other words, a cult resembling the various Communist regimes of the last century.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t believe me? Consider the fact that Steve Bannon, who loves Trump (and whose fraud conviction Trump pardoned before he left office), is a huge fan of Vladimir Lenin. Now consider that Lenin himself once said that \u201cWe have to use any ruse, dodge, trick, cunning, unlawful method, concealment and veiling of the truth,\u201d to achieve our purpose.<\/p>\n<p>Sound familiar? That\u2019s Trump\u2019s Republican Party. That\u2019s why I\u2019m a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: 500 writers signed an open letter to stop Donald Trump in 2016. You were the one who started the whole thing. Why did you do it? Would you do it again this year to stop him?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I was working in the yard in the early summer of 2016 trying not to think about Trump when I thought of getting together a petition. So, I wrote up a statement and then my friend Andrew Altschul and my wife, Leslie, and daughter, Maya, helped pull it all together. Pretty much every writer Andrew and I knew (and didn\u2019t know) in America signed on. A lot of newspapers, both here and abroad, covered it. Obviously, it didn\u2019t do any good, but if my grandkids ever ask me if I ever did anything to try to stop this man, I\u2019ll at least have something to show. Would I do it again? Hell, yes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mark Slouka Speaks Out Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen Mark is 66 and lives in New York. He is a writer and author of several novels. KB: Why do you dislike or even hate Trump? Let me put it this way: When Leslie and I were raising our kids, we tried to give them values [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31887],"tags":[31888],"class_list":["post-124347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donald-trump-interviews","tag-the-donald-trump-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124347"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/124348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}