A year ago at this time, no one could have imagined America as it exists today. Donald Trump’s total disregard for the ethics, morals and laws that sustain our government undermines us as a nation as he continually incites violence, anger and hate on a daily basis. He refuses to acknowledge or simply doesn’t understand that what makes America great is that we are a country based on laws enacted to serve the public.
I have always revered the United States Constitution. This brilliantly conceived document has successfully served as the supreme law of our country since 1789, when its framers made it clear that our government stood for liberty, freedom and equality and would protect the rights of all law-abiding citizens. The Constitution has heretofore provided the basis for balancing the distinct powers entrusted to the three branches of the Federal Government and the State Government. It has effectively been the source of established laws, which every elected official must swear to preserve, protect and defend to the best of their abilities.
Until now.
Donald Trump has exposed the vulnerability of the Constitution to a national leader with limited respect or regard for rules and regulations, even if they are the supreme laws that guide and govern our country. There are multiple reasons for his Constitutional disdain, but first and foremost is that he considers himself “not prosecutable” (i.e., above the law) while in office, so he has little fear of consequences.
Trump pokes, prods and stretches every law he can in order to advance his own self-interests. His rhetoric has provoked a wide range of “forgotten” Americans, all hoping to experience a better way of life based on his empty promises of walls, immigration bans and jobs that he has yet to and never will deliver. President Donald Trump does not act like a leader who strives to govern fairly and honestly, but instead behaves as if he were a third world despot demanding the adoration of the very people he exploits, abuses and feigns to represent. This mad desire for dictatorial rule will ultimately end, just not as quickly as many people expect or demand.
President Trump has surrounded himself with aggressive, privileged, and competitive sycophants who routinely cannibalize their peers. Unlike the patriots who conceived and created the Constitution of the United States of America, most of Trump’s minions have never personally put their lives in harm’s way to protect their country. Historically, nepotism and the drive for personal power and wealth often lead to circumstances wherein the trail of evidence consumes everyone involved, especially the leader they all served. Reince Priebus, the final remnant of the mainstream Republican Party in the White House, has fled to save his honor and career. This Administration’s bizarre combination of subterfuge and incompetence is unprecedented in the history of our nation; Trump’s key appointments of family and toadies follows a pattern closer to Sadam Hussein’s and Muumar Kaddafi’s fallen plutocracies than the precedent set by any of his predecessors in the White House.
Like a Banana Republic, Trump has filled the White House with a cadre of fawning, yes-people, all embarrassingly ill-equipped for their positions. Despite Trump’s promises of Carl Icahn and other top people culled from the best and the brightest our country has to offer, his staff of lightweights includes former caddy Dan Scavino, former bodyguard Keith Schiller, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump (his son-in-law and daughter) and Omarosa, a former reality television show contestant.
As for the future of our country, there are numerous hypotheticals that we can ponder, but assuredly, none of them will end well considering we are guided by a group of D-listers. There are multiple variations of worst-case scenarios, many of them resulting in a constitutional crisis, but none ending expeditiously. As a private citizen Donald Trump made a career of abusing and exploiting as many laws as possible and he continues to do so as president, endangering an entire nation challenged by limited legal options.
Trump delivers tumult on a daily basis – some of it absurd and ridiculous but much of it dangerous – and in doing so he continually chips away at our democracy as he slowly leads us to ruin.