The company you keep

Igrew up being told that one is judged by the company one keeps. If that’s true, Americans who love their country have a good reason to be distraught.

We have a man in the White House who chooses to surround himself with human detritus. From Cabinet members who demonstrate their disgracefully corrupt conduct,

to friends and family who behave as though they are immune from any consequences, Donald Trump seems to be begging to be judged harshly.

Most of us have friends or acquaintances with skeletons in their closets. But the sheer number of Trump cronies who have demonstrated disdain for others, particularly women, is breathtaking.

The number of Trumpsters accused of inappropriate behavior with women is staggering. Then there are the interviews with Howard Stern in which Trump boasts of his sexist, superficial regard for women, speaking of them not as people, but rather as objects placed on earth to fulfill his carnal desires.

The pattern made public forces the president to clumsily distance himself from these offensive ones. File footage and print interviews attesting to Trump’s friendly relationships with them doesn’t deter the liar-in-chief from bloviating about how he barely knew them at all.

His video confession to Billy Bush revealed how he views and deals with women, and he is loathe to defend others who choose similar paths and are exposed for the deviants they truly are.

If we are indeed to judge this president by the company he keeps, we are compelled to expose his misogynistic nature and deal with him like the malefactor he is.

Jarold Wright

Santa Rosa