Remembrance of Republicans Past

Dear Editor:

Bear with me while I reminisce in ancient times, “senior moments” bestowed to aging citizens. Share with me, if you will, please, and believe me, there was once a Republican Party, and a commonwealth of practicing church families, that would not have conceded to Donald Trump the proverbial time of day.

Entire generations of Americans believed (as Gandhi surmised as gospel), that “the outward behavior of a man is at once the sign and proof of the inner state.” Granted, politics strange bedfellows make. However, it is entirely incongruous that any thinking American (much less citizens even marginally inspired to practice Christian teachings) will find compatibility with Donald Trump.

Past generations clearly understood mankind’s flawed human condition and imperfections. The purpose was to try and improve, not to strive for unattainable perfection, but simply to be a better person today than you were yesterday and to leave the world a better place than you found it.

Normal people don’t brag about their imperfections but are prone to try and correct them, not cultivate them. Donald Trump is a shameless conman, a textbook narcissist. His outrageous claims, misleading statements, conspiratorial theories, inaccuracies and endless lies are legend.

He surrounds himself with dishonest, divisive, mean-spirited and corrupted people, firing anyone who isn’t. He inspires violence and when pressed to denounce groups that do likewise, he refuses, more likely, praising them. What is a nation to do when the greatest danger to its national security, the greatest threat to its sovereignty, and the greatest menace to democracy itself, is its own president?

It’s not just the endless lying, it’s that Trump’s lies matter. His fabrications and untruths are echoed by his allies and the millions of people who naively or willingly believe them. What would America be like today had Trump acted responsibly when Covid-19 first arrived in America? Had he followed the advice of experts who knew what to do, the United States (with 4 percent of the world’s population) wouldn’t be mourning 22 percent of the deaths attributed to the virus.

My father’s generation fought WWII and Korea. My generation fought Vietnam. The courage it takes to fight and die for one’s country is not always easy for civilians to understand. For draft-dodging, money obsessed men like Donald Trump, words like dignity, honor, heroism and sacrifice have no meaning at all. That’s why Trump feels free to refer to men like George H.W. Bush and John McCain (who were shot down and/or captured) as “losers,” and those of us who served our country in uniform, as “suckers.” Nor does this president have to concern himself that Russia is paying the Taliban to target American soldiers.

How long will Americans continue to excuse this misfit as simply a flawed human being, pretending he’s not a grave threat to the electoral process, representative government and the future of our nation? How long will Americans continue to write off inconvenient truths as “fake news?”

America, right now your silence is truly deafening.

David L. Snell

Franklin, NC

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