The Daily Ant

It is not news that U.S. President Donald J. Trump is no friend of the media or, in fact, any other group of humans. But on Monday, in a shameful statement to the National Governors Association, Trump expanded his attacks on all that is noble by insulting the great ant. This moment was captured well by noted insect photographer and entomologist Alex Wild:

https://twitter.com/Myrmecos/status/836249050794061825

Dr. Wild correctly notes that this statement betrays just how ignorant Trump really is when it comes to issues that matter. As a self-described Christian, the president would do well to heed the words of Scripture and consider the ways of the ant.

But we at The Daily Ant confess we are none too surprised that the current helmsman of the GOP is so aggressively anti-invertebrate. Over 52 years ago, in his “A Time for Choosing Speech” speech, GOP poster child Ronald Reagan conducted a similar assault on our dear insect counterparts:

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down—[up] man’s old—old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

Contrast all this with what founding father Benjamin Franklin had to say, in his Poor Richard’s Almanack:

None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing.

Enough said.