Eliminate ‘Trumpism’

Dear editor:

Recently, The Sentinel-Record published a “Quote of the Day” by American journalist, Helen Rowland. It reads, “A man can become so accustomed to the thought of his own faults that he will begin to cherish them as charming little ‘personal characteristics.’” To me, this quote helps to define the current occupant of the Oval Office, except the president’s “charming little personal characteristics” reflect those of a Castellano crime family “mob boss” from the 1980s.

I know this, due to the fact of an individual, whom I know who was an outside, up-close observer of the Castellano crime family in the 1980s in south Florida. This individual recently told me from his observations that the president acts “exactly as the Costellanos did then.” Both the Costellanos and the president’s “characteristics” are defined by what can personally be gotten out of any situation and the “devil take the hindmost.”

For the president, the “hindmost” may be a Latino child being forcibly taken from his parents, a contractor never paid for an honest day’s work or anybody who may have been so hapless as to join his administration. The president doesn’t really care who is the hindmost; they’re all the same to him. Some people see what the president is up to and think, “He is just putting on an act and being funny,” and these onlookers remain quiet about whatever is going on.

As the once “Grand Old Party” of Sen. Robert Taft is being torn asunder, what’s left of it is now divided into two segments, as I see it, the “Hide-Keepers” and the “Half-baked.”

The “Hide-Keepers” are the elected Republican officials in the states, including Arkansas, and their compatriots in Washington, D.C., who wake-up every morning not knowing what will happen next with their “dear leader,” but whatever happens, they say nothing.

The “Hide-Keepers” and the “HalfBaked” are very much alike, except the “Half-Baked” are more cowardly and play more on the base instincts of the human condition and they, as the “Hide-Keepers,” will pay their dues at the ballot boxes. To call them only cowards is high praise indeed and, of course, either group can be in found in any level of government.

All vestiges of “Trumpism” must be extracted from every level of government by using our right of suffrage. It is still within our reach to “leave them neither root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1) to sustain their doctrine, so we can begin to regain what we have already lost. This must be done before it is too late and the power of the ballot is lost to us. Make no mistake, this is a goal of “Trumpism” that is already in the works. We either do this or after we are long gone, our descendants will ask of us “Why did they let it happen?” John S. Polk Hot Springs