I respond to the Aug. 16 letter from Christopher Acker headlined “Time to support our President.”
This letter also was published July 27 in The Columbus Dispatch. We know, therefore, that Mr. Acker wrote it before Donald Trump publicly struggled to say he rejects the beliefs and actions of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations who armed themselves with guns, shields and tiki torches to march in Charlottesville Aug. 12.
After making appallingly equivocal remarks about the march and the resulting tragedy, Trump was propped in front of the cameras Monday to read from the teleprompter a message that — since it lacked Trump’s familiar speech patterns or any semblance of sincerity — was virtually certainly written by his aides. Of course we all know that 24 hours later, he was back at the microphone to repudiate Monday’s statement. Actually, he did more than repudiate it. He poured gasoline on it, lit several matches and threw armloads of further comments to guarantee a enormous bonfire.
As I say, none of this had happened when Mr. Acker wrote his letter. But he might have anticipated a conflagration of some sort, since conflagrations are Trump’s specialty: Treat the presidency as if it’s a reality television show, pit his Cabinet members and other close associates against each other so he can watch them duke it out for his favor — cock-fighting comes to mind — name-call, rehash the election and refuse to learn even the first thing about the presidency, American history, global relations, protocol or even simple human decency. That last was evident during the campaign, when he insulted a prisoner of war, mocked a disabled person, fought with Gold Star parents and talked endlessly about one of his favorite topics, “fake news.”
I see Mr. Acker has adopted “fake news” himself, although when he wants to share his opinions of this president, he takes that opinion straight to not one but two newspapers. What to make of that, except to assume he understands, on some level, that Donald Trump trumpeted “fake news” hoping that enough people would fall for it to protect him from the truth that was sure to come out.
Well, it’s coming out. Trump has shown he can’t bear to be seen as betraying the white supremacists, racists and bigots who voted for him. Trump voters who do not fall into those categories should feel betrayed themselves.
Meanwhile, Robert Mueller and his ever-growing team are preparing for what reality TV star Trump would probably call “the big reveal.”
I could not, will not and have no obligation to support this unstable, childish caricature of a leader. As an American citizen, I am free to protest with all my heart, and I do.
One more thing: those GOP “prima donnas” to which Mr. Acker refers are in fact Congress members who could not in all conscience take vital health care from American citizens. I salute them.
