Recent news accounts report that George Zimmerman, the so-called neighborhood watch coordinator, who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, was sucker-punched in a Florida bar. According to the reports, Zimmerman approached another patron and commented favorably about the Confederate flag tattooed on the fellow diner’s arm — an apparent unsolicited compliment. The latter-day Johnny Reb then asked Zimmerman if he was the guy who killed Martin. Zimmerman answered in the affirmative and then took out his ID to prove it.
As he gratuitously elaborated on the events of that fateful night when he killed the unarmed teenager, another patron overheard his remarks and asked Zimmerman if he were bragging about what he did. Apparently not happy with Zimmerman’s response, the patron hauled off and punched Zimmerman. The next documented account of the events is that Zimmerman made a 911 call asking for police assistance — a call that Trayvon never got to make.
Like Donald Trump, Zimmerman must have lived his whole life without hearing the sage advice of Kenny Rogers’ song “The Gambler” — “…you got to know when to hold, know when to fold….” These two blowhards have not been able to figure out that sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut.
The examples of Trump’s inability to hold his tongue are so numerous that it is almost impossible to pick out just one example. However, the one that stands out most prominently these days is the now familiar story of Trump’s comments regarding the Kahn Family after Khazir Khan’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention. Had Trump said nothing, the speech would have been old news by noon the following day.
The pocket version of the U.S. Constitution that Khan exhibited would not be jumping off the shelf at Amazon and Khazir Khan, who has more knowledge of the American way of life in his little finger than Trump has in his ever-growing head, would have walked off the stage as an important but not the most memorable speaker at the convention.
When Hillary Clinton made no response to the personal attacks made against her by Gold Star Mother Patricia Smith at the Republican National Convention regarding allegations that Clinton caused the death of her son, the story was not repeated. Like Kahn, Smith exercised her freedom of speech and the Democratic Party and its nominee respected that — without comment. Why give the media occasion to stir up the Benghazi debate again?
But the thin-skinned Trump must respond to every attack. And his sycophants that populate the airways insult every voter in America by insisting that they didn’t properly understand the meaning of Trump’s remarks or they didn’t see what they saw when videos are shown of Trump’s numerous gaffs. Excuse me, folks, but I heard what I heard. What part of “John McCain is not a hero” don’t I understand?
What Trump apparently can’t get through his thick skull is something that an old politician once told me when I felt aggrieved about a political attack — “you stir up fecal matter and it stinks more.” Had Trump not attacked the Khans, the issue of his draft status would not have come up. His comments gave rise to legions of investigative reporters reviewing his numerous draft deferments and watching to see if Trump has at least a slight limp. Since he was unable to serve in the military during the Vietnam War era because of bone spur — an injury that did not keep him off the golf course and out of New York night clubs — inquiring minds wonder who the friendly doctor was that attested to Trump’s incapacitating malady, especially those who have vivid memories of tromping through the rice paddies of Vietnam.
To add fuel to the fire, Trump further inserts his size 12s into his oral cavity by accepting a Purple Heart from a wounded veteran and opining that he “always wanted to get one of these — and this was much easier.” Maybe Trump should have taken a few minutes from one of his many business deals and trips to bankruptcy court to walk through any veterans’ hospital. Then he would understand what it means to earn a Purple Heart.
I’m convinced that there are certain people who just don’t know how to stop while they are ahead. Zimmerman is one. He was found not guilty. So please drop off the radar screen and go back into obscurity. But like Trump, Zimmerman thrives in what he considers the limelight. He must enjoy having his every traffic stop and encounter with the law — of which there have been several — make the nightly news. He apparently gloats on his repeated 15 seconds of fame. Frankly, I sometimes wonder how he has managed to stay alive.
Trump is another classic example. As one CNN analyst pointed out, had Trump gone on vacation during the Democratic Convention while Hillary was getting more bad press about emails and firing people at the Democratic National Committee, Trump would have been further ahead. But he managed to upstage that story by calling attention to himself and incurring the wrath of virtually every Gold Star family across the nation.
It appears that this propensity for self-inflicted wounds goes along with certain personality types — making George Zimmerman and Donald Trump kindred souls. Had Zimmerman never gotten out of his car on that fateful night in February 2012 — when he called police to say that he saw a suspicious person that turned out to be Trayvon Martin — had he remained in his vehicle like the dispatcher told him, he would have slithered back under a rock where he belongs and no one would know the name George Zimmerman. But once again, that’s not in his nature. Like Trump, he had to have a confrontation. He had to be the big man. He had to have the last word and the first bullet.
Both Trump and Zimmerman have chronic cases of diarrhea of the mouth. They can’t be cured. Hopefully, that disease and their self-inflicted wounds will take them where they belong — and it can’t be too soon for me — to the footnotes of history.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection and was recently appointed to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.