No, I didn’t vote for him, but I WAS willing to give him a chance. Mostly because the stakes were so high and I really did not and still do not relish the thought of watching ANY American President fail.
Responding to one of my letters, the senior Republican Senator from my state wrote to me shortly after the inauguration to say that the newly elected president deserved our respect and the right to choose his cabinet, (although he seemed to be picking people intent on destroying the very institutions they were supposed to be leading). I had my doubts, but figured that the well-respected and very experienced Senator probably knew more about the situation than I did.
When the Speaker of the House assured the country that the president was just unfamiliar with the legal, moral, and ethical standards required of ANY elected official in this country I was, I admit, more than a little skeptical, put trusted that the Republicans (several of whom I have voted for on many occasions) wouldn’t jeopardize the survival of our Democracy for any perceived short-term political advantage.
As the unyielding assault on every value that we as a Nation share and hold dear continues from the Oval Office, I have been waiting for the fabled “Party of Lincoln” to rise above their partisan bickering and vacuous posturing to take a united stand against the barrage of lies and atrocities being committed daily in their name by their standard bearer.
Until a couple of weeks ago, one true American Hero, John McCain was the only Republican Senator with the courage and conviction to stand consistently against Trump’s malicious lies and mean-minded, dearly held ignorance. Now, freed from the need to run for re-election, Senator Bob Corker seems to have simultaneously found his moral compass and his voice of reason.
Both of these gentlemen are to be commended for having the courage to face the Truth and address the very real danger that Trump’s continued occupation of the Oval Office poses to our country and the World.
To those timid Republican souls who profess to be our elected representatives but refuse to accept the responsibility implicit in the solemn oath they swore upon taking office:
You may have forgotten your pledge, but “We the People” have not.
Perhaps you have calculated that your egregious abdication of responsibility will be forgiven if only you can continue to deal with the devil in the White House long enough to move ahead with a few favored pieces of your conservative agenda.
Will you still feel the same way when this wreck of a president whom you have been implicitly supporting and enabling finally faces his first serious, Life or Death test as our Nation’s leader?
Whether it be on the Korean Peninsula. in the streets of Tehran, or somewhere else that isn’t even “on the radar” yet, you know that test is coming and so do I. You know with the same dread certainty that I feel in my gut, (and that is shared by John McCain, Bob Corker, Rex Tillerson, and most other sentient beings on the planet) that Trump’s abject failure in the face of such a crucial test is a foregone conclusion.
A man so accustomed to and comfortable in the gutter cannot be expected to rise any higher.
As a truly concerned citizen of the Nation that was once considered “Indispensable” for the continued peace, prosperity and well-being of the civilized World, I ask that you dispense (at least temporarily) with your ill-fated quest for short term political advantage.
Act now for the common good and the general welfare of the country. Use the power that has been vested in you by your fellow citizens. Break the grip that this unaccomplished parasite has on the very throat of our Democracy and return him to the gutter from whence he came.
“We the People” are waiting and the World is watching.
Bridges-Not-Walls 