There are myriad reasons why Donald Trump shouldn’t be president, but this past week really demonstrates a big one: nothing he does, nothing he says, is about anyone other than himself.

Even when he talks of helping others, it’s only for his own benefit. You simply can’t trust the guy to offer one iota of care for others, especially if it’s toward people who disagree with him. Take every well wish, every prayer of support, with a huge grain of salt, because it’s wholly dependent on those in need not being people he dislikes.

To Trump, a disagreement with him (real or perceived) is a cardinal sin that is unforgivable, and requires vengeful payback.

This is a guy who, as president, considered holding off federal aid for people who were victims of wildfires simply because they lived in California, and that state is a Democratic-leaning state. Only after his assistants assured him that the federal funds to help these people would go to Republican-leaning areas of the state did he relent.

Now, we have two hurricanes that have resulted billions of dollars in losses for people living in the southeast. More devastatingly, hundreds of people lost their lives due to the storms.

This was an opportunity for the Republican candidate for president to say, “We must do what we can, and put politics aside, to help the people in the region.”

What did he do instead?

He has spread false conspiracy theories alleging, among other things, that the Biden administration was withholding funds to Republican-leaning areas, and wrongly claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris diverted funds from FEMA to help immigrants (a lie from Trump that includes xenophobic sentiments, just for good measure).

He also told his supporters to just wait until he’s president, because he’ll give them aid, then — a comment that, if read wrongly, could be interpreted as telling them not to accept or trust necessary aid from FEMA now. At the very least, it again implies that the federal government NOW isn’t doing anything, which again, is a blatant lie.

As I said before, Trump’s words are only to benefit himself. Telling these lies, in order to capitalize politically, at the expense of those suffering near the Gulf Coast, is indefensible.

Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr