I have never been more tired of writing about anybody or anything than I am of writing about Donald J. Trump.  I’m completely exhausted.  I think maybe this might be a part of his strategy for all of the news media in order to accomplish his goals.  Wear them down and they will begin covering, what he considers to be, his accomplishments and stop covering what he feels is the negative stuff; stuff that he calls ‘Fake News’.  Because, you see, in Mr. Trump’s mind, the president cannot have any conflicts of interest and he or she can do no wrong.  It is unfortunate but, based on the way that Mr. Trump comports himself,  I would not feel at all uncomfortable in leaving out the ‘she’ in the last part of the previous sentence because I doubt that he could actually envision a woman in that position.  And if he could, based solely on statements he made during his campaign, everyone knows that he certainly believes that she could do plenty of wrong.

But just like he sucked all of the oxygen out of the room during the presidential campaign and all of the news stations and other media had to all but ignore all of the candidates other than him, he has continued to do the same thing since he was elected.  He is keeping the world’s attention focused on him.  He is not accomplishing much beyond that but, without a doubt, he is still keeping all eyes focused on The Donald.  It does not seem to matter to him that the news coverage about him is negative as long as all eyes are focused on him.  He needs this and he would be hard pressed to survive without it.  For some of the pundits to say that Mr. Trump is mentally unstable and for some in Europe to say that they believe that he is insane might be unfair but, nonetheless, they are saying it.  Never before can I remember a time when the President of the United States has been referred to in this way.  We have always been looked upon as the world leader in the eyes of the world and perhaps this has spoiled us.  On the other hand, this change and current situation is an embarrassment to America!

Unfortunately, virtually every US Republican congressman is continuing to enable Mr. Trump by continuing to support him despite the controversy that is swirling around him regarding Russia that involve words and phrases like collusion, treason, aiding and abetting the enemy, and high crimes and misdemeanors.  It doesn’t matter to them that Mr. Trump, many of his current and former high-level advisors, cabinet members, spokespersons and, perhaps even the Vice President himself, have been caught up in bold face lies and that many of them have been caught up in one lie after another.  And that, in fact, many of these people are continuing to lie.

Instead of abandoning him, putting the country first, standing on principle and standing up for America, they have chosen to stand up for themselves and the Republican Party.  Instead of standing up for their constituents, they have chosen to stand up for big money and their donors.  Case in point, many of them are supporting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his efforts to pass a bill that will repeal and replace Obamacare even though it will devastate their constituents by stripping almost 800 billion dollars from Medicaid and leave millions of them without insurance.  Not only are they supporting this bill but many of them are spinning it, at every possible opportunity, to the media in such a way as to convince their constituents that it will be good for them and will not devastate them or Medicaid.

Many people throughout the country might choose to ignore what Mr. Trump is doing because they believe that his antics only effect things at the federal level and that it is a problem that needs to be dealt with at the federal level by our elected officials there.  While it is true that this is a federal level problem it is also a state, city and local level problem (hello Colorado, Denver and all of Colorado’s other cities and local governance bodies) and all of us need to be aware of this.

When Mr. Trump employs a continuous effort to trample on and discredit the media at the national level, we should not think for one minute that this has no effect on the media at the state, city and local levels.  We must also realize that, ultimately, it is our input at the state, city, and local levels that will dictate the way that our politicians behave at all levels of government.  Too often we feel that politicians like Mr. Trump and those elected officials who support him ultimately control us and our behavior.  That is only the case if we do not recognize the power of our vote and allow them to deceive us into believing that that is actually the case; if we allow them to intimidate us with their high visibility and power that comes from sitting in high places: the high places that we as voters have put them in!  With the way that things are going in America and around the world now, each voter needs to take their responsibilities seriously.  We cannot afford to stand on the sideline and let the other guy deal with the problem.

There was a time when if things were going bad in the world and in America our president could always speak to the nation and calm our fears.  His voice was somehow a soothing and calming voice that Americans could always believe in and count on.  No matter how great and unsettling the storm, that voice calmed us.  Perhaps because we have shirked our responsibilities for so long now, that is no longer the case.

As I said at the beginning of this article, I am exhausted from writing about Mr. Trump and would love to be writing about other things.  But the fact of the matter is that he is continuing to dominate the news.  Therefore, whether I want to or not or whether I am enthusiastic about it or not, I am obligated to write about him.  I have tried very hard not to write about him because it seems that I constantly end up repeating myself.  The reason why I end up constantly repeating myself is because Mr. Trump somehow manages to always create news; and it is usually mostly negative news.  Besides, look where trying to avoid writing about him has gotten me; here it is beyond mid July and this is my first article for the month.  How can I keep you informed if I do not write about The Donald?  Go figure.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line