Like most of us who are native Mississippians, (220 years for my family, before this area was a state), I consider myself a conservative, but unlike the majority, I saw Trump as a con man and egotistic huckster from his first election. Because of the respect we have for the Presidency, we get numbed by the repetition of lies he continually makes from the podium almost daily. But in this day of easy access to information and factchecking via Google and various AI’s, a person has no excuse for not doing minimal research to see what damage he has done to our country.
Check out his inexcusable attempts to overturn the 2020 elections, pressuring officials to get more votes and encouraging the insurrection at the Capitol…. even later pardoning the folks who broke windows and attacked the police! He is the first president to be a convicted felon for falsifying business records. He chose not to divest himself of his business interests after his election and has used his office to enrich himself and his sons by billions.
My friends point to the improvements at the border, which I applaud, but I cringe at what he has unleashed with ICE. We have never in this country seen masked armed government officials pulling folks off the streets, not “the worst of the worse,” but many who are in this country legally, working, paying taxes, often at jobs many Americans won’t do. He then exports these people around the world to countries they have never visited, where they can’t speak the language, and causing untold pain to families. It is reported that, in the USA, undocumented people have a lower rate as criminals than citizens!
The same friends point to his “embracing Christianity.” This is a man who has never been a churchgoer, is a thrice-married guy with the morals of an alleycat, and can’t quote a single verse from the Bible, which he only uses as a prop at rallies.
It may take decades to repair the damage he has caused our diplomatic corps by turning his back on our allies, removing us from international organizations and his cozying up to his friend Putin. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that Russia invaded Ukraine! We all watched it happen! Innocent Ukrainians, even children on the streets and in civilian housing, are being killed because of Trump easing the support we were giving Ukraine.
Meanwhile his friends are trying to settle deals with Russia for oil businesses. Even his so-called ‘negotiators’ are in on these deals. What President would send his inexperienced son-in-law to be a diplomat for something as important as ending the Russia-Ukraine war?
Trump must assume the average American is stupid to believe that he is not responsible for the pain we see at the gas pump and the grocery store. Some are reluctant to hold their nose and vote for a Democrat, but an alert must be sent to our elected Republicans. I have no love for the memory of Biden but I also know that the great majority of Democrats are not Democratic Socialists, as the Republicans want us to believe. Screaming “Biden, Biden, Biden” (however much you disliked him) and loudly waving the flag (however patriotic that may be) is not solving our problems. Connect the dots, people. We know who has been in charge.
Meanwhile, off my soapbox, I want to congratulate you for your courage, in this sea of Trump, to stand up for truth.
Jim Sones, Professor Emeritus, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, is a Northsider.