Time for decency, honesty
The State of the Union Address usually deals with the health of the country. It is an opportunity for the president to unify Americans.
President Trump has once again used this speech to glorify himself. The exaggerated claims he made were misleading or false. Economic recovery began under President Obama, but Trump claims total credit. His hubris knows no bounds. There is no limitation to his pride or the lengths he will go to prop up his ego.
Trump did not mention impeachment during his address but made up for that soon after the Senate vote to acquit. The unusual restraint he showed as he stuck to his script was totally lost the very same day of the vote. Trump’s pettiness and vindictive nature exploded like a stink bomb. He fired public servants who testified in the House impeachment hearing, including Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, as well as his twin brother who did not testify. He fires those who do not do his bidding and pardons convicted criminal friends.
There was a brief period of time after the 2016 election when public opinion believed Donald Trump might become more “presidential.” That hope disappeared in a moment, even before his first SOTU address. It became abundantly clear that D.T. would not be the leader of a united country. He solidified his position as the “Divider-in-Chief.”
Yet Trump is insecure about his presidency. He has never ceased running for re-election. Every chance he gets he flies Air Force One at taxpayers’ expense to yet another Trump rally where he stirs up his base, speaking insults, lies and quarter truths. He blames Democrats for every wrong. Sadly, Donald Trump has proved to be president of his Republican base, not the United States of America. The Republican Party follows him slavishly without question, making excuses for his unprofessional behavior, errors in judgment, crude twitter barrages and more.
It is puzzling why they march in lockstep behind him. Is it the enticement of power and that it corrupts? Mitch McConnell, William Barr, Mike Pompeo, Lindsey Graham, William Barr and others in the administration behave like sycophants. The Republicans have become cult-like.
Only one Republican had the courage to censure the behavior of the president. Sen. Mitt Romney, convicted by conscience and faith in God, asserted that, “Yes,” Donald J. Trump did abuse the power of his office. He voted in favor of the first Article of Impeachment. Sen. Romney called his actions an “appalling abuse of the public trust.” Unlike the president, Romney takes his oath of office seriously and his professional life is guided by and his devotion to the truth and his religious faith. In contrast, Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander claimed that, surely Trump has “learned his lesson.” Trump’s appalling behavior at the annual Prayer Breakfast made liars out of them, or at least revealed them to be hopelessly naive.
Trump is not capable of change. He will not learn for two reasons:
• He has no moral compass and he does not recognize the difference between right and wrong.
• He does not want to. Trump has no personal ethics other than loyalty to his family and respect for money and power.
Also, he has no “attachment to the Constitution” which every naturalized citizen must have to pass the citizenship exam. Attorney Don Ayer, former Deputy Attorney General under Republican George H.W. Bush, has called Donald Trump a purveyor of “disinformation and division.”
In order to preserve democracy, rule of law and decency, “we the people” must reject Trump and vote for an honest and capable leader who respects our representative form of democracy.
— Donna Lawson/Vallejo