President Harry S. Truman handed out the first Medals of Freedom in 1945 to recognize contributions made by civilians during World War II.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy changed it to the Presidential Medal of Freedom and expanded it to include cultural achievements.  Recipients selected by President Kennedy received their medals from President Lyndon B. Johnson after Kennedy’s assassination.

President Kennedy received a medal posthumously during that ceremony.

While most recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom are American, that is not a requirement. The overriding criteria is that the recipient have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

President Barack Obama honored such individuals as Sally Ride, Tom Brokaw, Ben Bradlee, Sidney Poitier, Maya Angelou, Warren Buffet, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, Sandra Day O’Connor and Newton Minow.

President Obama awarded four medals in the field of Medicine in just his first term. He awarded eleven medals to members of Congress in a bipartisan fashion.

Those medals used to have meaning. They used to have value.

Like many other things in America, this president has cheapened the Medal of Freedom to the point where it is just another worthless, political handout.

Trump has made no awards in the field of Medicine because it would blunt his effort to discredit science. In the Congressional field, he has only awarded one medal, which went to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.

Donald Trump will probably not be handing out any medals in the field of Journalism for obvious reasons, although if there was a medal for hysterically shouting at the camera, Jeanine Pirro would be a lock.

In the field of Racist TV Anchormen, Trump has his pick among Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Steve Hilton and Mark Levin.

The field of Odious Radio Personality had some strong competition, but race baiting, pill popping, conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter, Rush Limbaugh took home the prize.

Limbaugh received his medal in February at the State of the Union address.

Curiously, Trump hinted that Limbaugh’s crowning achievement may have been getting diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Another of Trump’s awards went to Miriam Adelson, wife of Trump mega donor, Sheldon Adelson, who is also the mega-ist of the Republican mega donors (yes, I made up the word “mega-ist”).

Trump’s latest misuse of the Medal of Freedom will benefit Louis Leo “Lou” Holtz, one of the most winning football coaches in America.  His tenure at the University of Notre Dame (1986-1996) was his longest stint.

Holtz did two things last week to earn his medal.

First, he declared that Joe Biden is “Catholic in name only,”  which he might have stolen from the Tea Party, which called moderate Republicans RINO’s – Republicans in name only.

Without doing a whole If-you-don’t-know-now-you-know thing, it’s hard to imagine anyone saying that an amoral, sacrilegious, corrupt man like Donald Trump is more faithful or devout than anyone.

His life has been one of decadence, thievery, immorality, infidelity, lying and greed.

Joe Biden has lived his life in the public eye and has always shown himself to be a man of deep faith, compassion and humility.  You can hate his politics, but you have admire his decency.

The second thing Holtz did was to endorse Donald Trump for reelection.

In one fell swoop Holtz flipped off the pope and fellated Donald Trump.  Could Vladimir Putin have asked for more?

Subscribe to the Chicago Board of Tirade
* You will never get SPAM
* Your email address will never be sold or given away
* You will only receive emails on days I post.
* You can unsubscribe at any time
* You can contact me anytime at: [email protected]
* Just type your email address in the box below and click the “Create Subscription” button.