When a new president takes the oath of office that states he “will to the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” it is more than just a general oath of allegiance and fidelity. It is an affirmation that all citizens of this country will be treated equally, under the laws of our Constitution.
However, it seems that Donald Trump has succeeded in pulling the wool over his sheep-like followers’ eyes – making headway to forming an authoritarian government where strict obedience to authority is the norm at the expense of personal freedom.
What do we do with a would-be-tyrant who embraces people like Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines who compared himself to Adolf Hitler and called former U.S. President Barack Obama a “son of a bitch?”
Another celebrity favorite of The Donald is Kim Jong Un, the dictator of a country that hates the United States and makes no qualms about it, either. Trump has bragged on his alleged friendship with Kim since meeting him earlier this year, assuring the country North Korea was “denuclearizing.”
Now, with ample satellite imagery proving our leader is wrong, again, Trump has the audacity to plan another “summit” with Kim, this time in New York City – and as Vanity Fair is chortling, -“his closest advisers are playing along, despite abundant evidence that Trump is getting played.”
Then, there is Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader, who Trump apparently has a crush on. I believe he really wants to get close to Putin and is hoping to learn all the Russian leader’s tricks on how to create the same kind of authoritarian regime here in the U.S.
Trump has succeeded in setting this country back 150 years when it comes to where our society should be today. We are losing equal rights, civility, decency, and a moral anchor under this man. And a large percentage of white Americans think this is just fine.
I’ll say this now – thank God the man did not win a majority of the popular vote – at least this reminds me that most of us knew what was coming if he won the election. But it is clear the man is a racist. The New York Times has documented this fact – dating back to the 1970s.
Trump’s real-estate company tried to avoid renting apartments to African-Americans in the 1970s and gave preferential treatment to whites, according to the federal government.
A former hotel executive remembers Trump criticizing a Black hotel employee, saying: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. … I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks.”
But it’ not just Blacks Trump doesn’t like. In 2016, he started out his campaign by telling his followers’ Mexican immigrants were criminals and “rapists.” Trump somehow managed to disrespect the Obama-era Dreamers Act as nothing more than a vehicle contributing to the spread of MS-13.
I could go on, but intelligent readers have heard all the disparaging remarks Trump has made against women, people in federal positions, NFL players, the leaders of countries who have been our allies for years, and who knows who else… It doesn’t really make any difference anymore because it has become a constant buzzing in the head.
Yet we have a man who says he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself, and anyone else, for that matter. He doesn’t like NAFTA, NATO or the World Trade Organization (WTO). He wants the world to bow down to his demands, in oil production, trade, and nuclear weapons.
Now, he has children and families of asylum seekers behind bars, planning on putting them in internment camps on military bases. This is Trump’s America, and it is not mine. It is a country kept in a constant state of chaos, and it is not mine.
I say this with pain in my heart because I have served my country and have loved what it stood for my whole like. I only hope it can earn my respect and love again.
