Each morning I wake, hoping the Orange Menace is gone and alas he is still there doing something else crazy. The president’s quixotic behavior has us worried. The president of the United States should not have the freedom of a high school sophomore. We might turn a blind eye when some kids’ rants on twitter; we tell others, ‘Oh, don’t take him too seriously. He doesn’t really mean what he tweeted.’ If we are the child’s parents, we take his words down and try to work on teaching him how to communicate his anger in a more appropriate way. We are less forgiving of adults who do this, but the president’s words have more importance. They influence world events, and they need to be measured and thought out.
My Republican friends ask me to give Trump a chance; after all, he is relatively new to politics. He doesn’t know what he is doing yet, so we shouldn’t take what he says too seriously. But when my child’s elementary school has received a bomb threat, it is hard to be patient. I don’t accuse The Donald of placing the calls, but I do accuse him of giving a platform to Neo Nazis and other white supremacists groups that are fermenting hate online. Trump retweets from white supremacists sites, and pointedly did not mention Jews in relationship to the Holocaust. He does little of substance to block future attack. Little is required on his part, but he is not insisting on civil behavior or even forcefully condemning anti-semitic or other racists statements and acts .
When I sit in a room with an Indian, an Iranian, a Muslim, a Jew, and someone with cancer, I hear each one express their fears. We used to be a country of hope, now we are one of fear. Yes, I say j’accuse! Legal immigrants and green card holders don’t feel safe leaving the country, for fear that they may not be able to return --despite our president’s assurances. After all, we are told not to believe what he says even by his supporters. The Donald ran for, and won the presidency, he needs to be ready for the job or quit. The Presidency is not a beginner’s position.
Is Trump a man we can trust with the nuclear code? He knows how to promulgate hate, but has done little to show his ability to unify the country.He knows how to vent his anger on twitter. He has expertise in minimizing the expertise of others--the press, judges and even past presidents, which we saw even in his inaugural address. But he has not shown us how he can promote unity. Unless you count the fact that Physician organizations, hospitals, nurses,Pharma and insurance companies and even Breitbart, the ultra right site are all against the repeal of the Affordable Care act and its suggested reforms.
People throughout the world are already coming less often to the United States. If you say good riddance, you are not in the hospitality industry, these business need visitors to stay afloat and to provide jobs. If they close down or downsize there will be more of your neighbors without work. We are dependent on their tax dollars to fund our roads and school. Other industries are affected, too.There will be fewer truck drivers delivering linens to the hotels, fewer, people working in the laundry industry washing those linens, less food bought, which will affect the farmers, fewer farms, fewer cars sold, and ultimately we will all suffer the consequences. Our economy is so intertwined that the loss in one sector affects all sectors.
So no, we can’t just give him a chance. Particularly when there are moves to cut down on our right to demonstrate; when there is an attack on the 4th estate--the press; when the bedrock of democracy is being threatened. We have learned from other totalitarian regimes that if you don’t stand up and stand up quickly depots consolidate their power. This is not your normal new president. We must all stand up and be counted. We must insist on a bipartisan special investigation of Trumps connections to Russia and into his business empires potential conflicts of interest without that we fear we will never believe his “truths.”