President Trump undermines faith in many vital institutions

Editor:

Not to worry that Thomas Jefferson said, “If I had to choose between a government without newspapers and newspapers without a government, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter.”

Ignore the fact that the Orleans economy has essentially depended on “chain migration” for many decades. Imagine railing against those who feel “entitled” to disability while you “reform” the tax code and give yourself and your fat cat pals tens of millions in tax breaks.  In the President’s words, “My accountant tells me I will get killed by this bill.” Of course, we won’t know until we see his tax returns. Don’t hold your breath.

The seriously naïve among us should consider the grave risks implicit in restricting their television news viewing to what I often refer to as DNN, the Disinformation News Network. Of course, keeping the blinders on will permit them to feign surprise when everything hits the fan. Much of the American electorate appears to have an elementary concept of citizenship in a republic.

Why does the President persist in efforts to undermine public confidence in the judiciary? Why does he often question unfavorable election outcomes? Why does he often attack the media and label fact-based truth “fake news”?  How does it help the American people to undermine the professionalism of the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Does ignorance alone explain why a President would act to sabotage public faith in so many of the institutions vital to the very existence of our republic?

Why do our intelligence agencies agree Russia sought to influence our 2016 Presidential election in favor of Donald Trump? Does Vladimir Putin have something on his “friend”? What does it mean to be “played”? Why has Russia/the Soviet Union been committed to the use of “disinformation” for decades? What is the Constitutional definition of treason? What did presidential historian Douglas Brinkley mean when he noted eight, or nine, months ago that, “The smell of treason is in the air”? Why did conservative republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona say Donald Trump reminded him of the “Biblical Flood”? Is “fake news” a euphemism for inconvenient truth? Was President Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky consistent with “other high crimes and misdemeanors” under Article 2, Section 4, of the Constitution?

Do you think the Constitution’s author(s) would view at least some of what is going on today as consistent with language included in Article 3, section 3, of the Constitution? Or, are you for “loose construction” only when it suits you and applies to Democrats? Are you patriotic?

We had all better hope Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a George W. Bush appointee and life-long Republican, succeeds before the President, his Machiavellian allies, and DNN does him in. Finding God soon might make it more likely any desperate prayers get answered before the greatest nation on earth gets taken down. Or did teaching American History and the Constitution for 34 years just make me hopelessly alarmist?

Sincerely yours,

Gary F. Kent

Albion