My friend came through the door smiling. “Well, is Donald Trump still president?” While my neighbor himself doesn’t waste time watching television he knows I am addicted to the pictures flickering on the screen.
Recently President Trump offered the opinion that the Clintons played a part in Jeffrey Enstein’s death in his jail cell. Another announcement followed – the president is thinking of buying Greenland! President Trump never runs out of ways to keep us distracted and off balance.
President Trump began his campaign for office by claiming that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Becoming president hasn’t stopped his campaigning. Holding rallies is what he loves to do. He feeds off the energy of enthusiastic crowds. In his “spare” time he turns to Fox “news” for advice on national security and keeps in touch with the public and his base with the help of Twitter.
While he is good at creating problems and unrest, he has never solved any problems unless you consider tax breaks for the “rich,” appointing a number of judges to the Federal Circuit courts and installing two conservative judges to the Supreme Court; progress!
Republican leaders in Congress appear to believe nothing is possible. We can’t afford health care, Social Security, education and feeding the hungry. Instead of confronting serious problems they pretend they don’t exist. The Russians aren’t disrupting our election process, Global warming is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Democrats, and families fleeing from violence, escaping persecution, are a threat to our national security! President Trump has cut funding for disaster relief and removed regulations to protect the environment and ensure clean water. He is dragging his feet when it comes to regulating guns.
Military spending needs to be examined. Our troops should have the best training and equipment and healthcare but bombs are expensive. It’s possible that the greatest threat to our country today is not conventional warfare but cyberspace and hacking computers.
President Trump has been successful in his quest for power because he understands that many Americans are anxious and insecure. He uses fear and intimidation to manipulate citizens. He insults our leaders who have dedicated their lives to public service, he undermines our institutions, and has pulled our country out of alliances established with friends, isolating us and making us more vulnerable to attack.
The president loves to brag about our great economy. When the stock market is up he takes credit for it’s performance. When its down he blames the “Fed.” Many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, some working more than one job in order to pay their bills. Assuming that we have a “great economy” – there is no reason to assume that incorporating morality, truth, facts and compassion into our lives would cause our economy to collapse.
We have a lot of personal freedom in this country. If we take this for granted we can lose it. Our slogan for the coming election can be “Yes, we can!”