Betraying the staff

I served in the White House for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush for 3½ years as both an active duty military officer and as a civilian presidential appointee. Itwas the honor of a lifetime.

One of the greatest privileges, for me, during my White House years was getting to know the hundreds of people who selflessly dedicated themselves to the president and the Office of the Presidency. I was able to get to know people holding the highest positions down to the folks who ran the emergency generators in the “shelter.”

The staff is an amalgam of political appointees, military personnel, Secret Service, permanent civilian employees, detailees from other agencies and even some unpaid volunteers. Regardless of position, they all had one thing in common — an absolute dedication to the commander in chief. No doubt, the same is true today.

President Donald Trump’s Mussolini like, mask-less, performance on the South Balcony following his return from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center sickened me like few things in my life. His stunt the previous day of demanding to be driven past adoring supporters, in a hermetically sealed vehicle, accompanied by the requisite Secret Service detail was equally troubling. On both occasions,

Trump was infected with COVID 19 and unarguably infectious to those he might come in contact with.

These actions are merely the latest examples of this President’s careless disregard for the well being of others. Most gallingly, in many cases, he is the most reckless toward those whose sole purpose in life is to take care of him.

Trump continues to betray the principles that have governed the actions of virtually every former President and ceaselessly demonstrates that he is unfit to lead our great nation. He only cares about himself.

Retired Coast Guard Capt. ROBERT W. KELLY

Annapolis