Sorry, Canada: It’s him, not us

As an American I feel I owe Canadians an apology after the unconscionable actions by our president at the recent economic summit.

From the untruthful claims about abuses by Canada and other allies to the false charges made against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by Donald Trump and his advisers, the U.S. president has embarrassed me and the many Americans who value truth and decency.

Our president seems intent on redefining the meaning of a term coined by a previous and much better president, Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy was fond of using the bully pulpit of the presidency as a way to promote many good things. Trump uses his bully pulpit in very different ways.

I hope this president will leave the office sooner rather than later so that we can undertake the work of rebuilding great relations with the good people of Canada.

And we must all hope that Canadians will not permit one particularly ugly American to do serious damage to what a large majority of Americans know to be a par- ticularly important international relationship.

Jim Stiles, St. Albans, Vt.