President’s behaviors confirm past worries

On Nov. 9, 2016, I walked our farm, wandering and in tears. I knew what was ahead of us. I was not upset Hillary Clinton had lost. I was upset and fearful that Donald Trump had won the election and would become the president of our country.

Donald Trump was never fit to be a presidential candidate. He has no interest in governing, only in furthering his own wealth, fame and power. He has no knowledge or understanding of how our government functions and has shown no desire to learn. He has no interest in the people he governs, attending only to his base of Republicans and evangelicals who follow him like devoted, brainwashed and fearful worshipers. As all Democratic governors have learned, their states are paying a heavy price for not bowing to the demands for praise from this incompetent bully. New York, Washington, California, Oregon, Michigan, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have been denied needed supplies to provide their state residents and medical staff protection, while “red” states have plentiful supplies. It’s pay back. People are dying. Not a word of true sorrow or condolences from Donald Trump. Only hours of daily press appearances giving him time to air his anger and grievances for the truth being printed by journalists.

Dr. Bandy X. Lee of the Yale School of Medicine and many other mental health professionals have now written about the mental instability of Donald Trump. In 2017, I called and wrote to the staff members of Sen. John Boozman, Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. Steve Womack, describing to them the personality disorders exhibited by Trump — narcissistic and antisocial personality — evidenced by the inability to feel empathy or to relate to or understand the needs of any person other than himself. And over these three years, increasing signs of cognitive impairment have become so alarming that many professionals have sounded the alarm of the risk of Donald Trump remaining in any decision-making role. John Boozman’s staff member laughed at me on that day I called. Today I doubt that all the elected Republicans in office are laughing.

Yes, people would have died as this virus spread through our country. But if action had been taken in January when Donald Trump was warned of this crisis, fewer would be dying. And now we know the Bush administration wrote guidelines to meet a pandemic, and later the Obama administration updated and addressed this risk. After that November 2016 election, Barack Obama met with Donald Trump to educate him on this risk and many other issues. But Donald Trump believes he knows everything. Remember? “I alone can fix it.” Arrogance, incompetence, mental instability and greed are the cause of thousands of deaths and we have no idea how this horrible nightmare is going to end.

SARA BARTLETT Fayetteville (Bartlett is a licensed social worker specializing in the care of the aging and adults who have dementia.)