Unless the United States has contracted a case of pandemic amnesia, there should be no reason for the collective shock and awe occasioned by the attack of Donald Tinyhands on NFL and NBA players. It is amazing that anyone should be amazed that the President of the United States who has proven himself to be a liar, a bully and an inveterate hatemonger, would harangue and insult young black men who do not support the status quo.

Donald Trump is who he is and has always been who he is. What is odd is that there are politicians, media commentators and journalists and ordinary citizens who keep waiting for him to – mature – evolve – transform – or all of the above and then are shocked when he proves time and again that he will never change.

What is even more interesting is that the current shock and awe at his crude antics and attacks are treated as if President Trump has somehow crossed an invisible line of decency by attacking professional athletes. The considered opinion of many is that now he has gone too far. And that is truly amazing.

Obviously Donald Trump did not go too far when he serially and constantly insulted, demeaned and degraded the first black President of the United States by leading the so-called birther movement, calling into question the citizenship and legitimacy of President Barack Obama. And he did not go too far in refusing to ever apologize and own up to spewing a torrent of lies about President Obama for years.

Clearly he did not go too far when he publicly announced that it was just fine to sexually assault women and then excused his self-described behavior as just “locker room talk” for which he has never apologized. This, despite the multiple charges of sexual assault that have been directed at him by seeming busloads of women.

And it appears that President Trump did not go too far when he hung up on the Prime Minister of Australia, insulted the leader of North Korea, the craziest head of state to be in possession of nuclear weapons, or when he pushed the President of Montenegro aside in a photo shoot, or when he tried to arm wrestle the President of France. And there is nothing that has been reported to believe that he thinks that there is any aspect of his behavior that he needs to change.

The point is that Donald Trump has been who he is for decades. It is improbable that at the age of 70 he would change, even upon his election as President of the United States. He remains the crass, obscene, self-absorbed, narcissistic and childishly cruel individual that New Yorkers have always known.

So while it is a good thing that Trump’s attacks on NBA players, NFL players and NFL owners has brought about a certain level of outrage, it is still odd that these attacks may turn out to be the tipping point in helping Americans know what we should have known all along. This country has placed an irredeemable miscreant in the White House and provided the entire world with a textbook example of why elections matter.

Hopefully we have learned our lesson.