Rethinking Trump

IN THE BEGINNING, way back when, a year and half ago, when the interminable presidential campaign began, I supported Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Outsiders with fresh ideas, offering a fresh start, free from political party dogma. Like everyone else, I didn't think Trump would last, but I hoped he would, partly because I thought he would become a problem for the republican party, which he indeed did. Then I, like everyone else, spent the next few months listening to what the various candidates had to say. My suspicions about Trump began when he repeatedly referred to Ted Cruz as "lying Ted". I don't like Ted Cruz, but the fact is that Senator Cruz is an upright Christian man of the highest integrity. Certainly no more a liar, and probably less, than most of the rest of us. Trump's rhetoric kept getting worse. The list of evil expressions grew. Calling women "pigs", the outrageous lies, and all the rest. His ridiculous claims about immigrants, and stated intent to build a needless wall further revealed his fatuous ideology. Conservative republicans with more integrity than party loyalty courageously turned against him. I came to realize that Trump is a severely immoral man who cares only for his own advancement, and has no real desire to serve anyone's interests other than his own. At this point, I question not only the judgment, but also the intelligence and moral integrity of anyone who would support or vote for him. Trump's boast that he sexually molests women with impunity was not the last straw, that happened long before, but it is merely more proof that he is a reprehensible reprobate, against whom criminal charges should be filed. Shame on this country for even considering him as an option to be its president. Make America great again? The slogan of a person who does not believe that America is great, does not believe in the greatness of his own country. When, pray tell, was america most recently great? When public water fountains said "white only"? When America was sending its young men to fight and die in support of a south Vietnamese dictator? Perhaps it was great when Ronald Reagan was selling drugs to raise money to purchase weapons for a right wing revolution in Latin America trying to overthrow a duly elected socialist government. Or possibly it lost its greatness on July 25, 1990, the day President Bush told Saddam Hussein that whether Iraq invaded Kuwait was of no concern to the United States. If America is not great now, it has never been great. But it is, and always has been, despite its huge shortcomings. America is great because it is good, and it deserves a leader who believes in her own country's greatness.