Mr. Trump – one man. Cliché – power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Shattered Icons – U.S. Speaker of the House, U.S. Senate Majority Leader, U.S. congress, U.S. congressional statesmen, U.S. prestigious (plum assignment) committees, Supreme Court Justice, and Supreme Court. Mr. Trump is just one man. And never in my wildest dreams did I see one man – especially this one man – in America becoming president and taking America hostage while all of our elected so called powerful statesmen not only would allow it but would assist him in doing it! The U.S. congress, its leaders and all of the prestigious committees that are supposed to provide checks and balances that prevent the president from abusing his power have failed miserably; they are completely shattered. This is truly a wakeup call for all American citizens who love democracy and want to see America remain a democratic country!
One man is taking over America. Whether or not it is with the help of a foreign adversary remains to be determined. Either way, this should not happen at all let alone because Americans who are eligible to vote, for whatever reason, fail to fulfill their civic duty to vote. Voter turnout in many other countries around the world is much higher than that in America, which was 56.9% in the 2016 elections. We have taken our right to vote far too lightly for far too long and long ago became lackadaisical about our freedom in this great country. If we continue in this vein and fail to challenge those who would take this freedom – and the rights that go along with it – away from us, we will lose them. And by the time that we realize what is happening to us and decide to fight, it will be too late.
It is no secret that Mr. Trump is stacking the federal courts, including appellate courts, with judges that, based on his behavior and track record since he has been in office, will be loyal to him and support whatever decisions he might make. He has already placed one of his nominees (Neil Gorsuch) on the supreme court (a selection that was in essence stolen from President Barack Obama by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell) and now, with the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, he will have the opportunity to place a second nominee on the Supreme Court.
This ought not be; especially since Mr. Trump is still under investigation in connection with Russia’s meddling in the U.S. 2016 elections. And especially in light of the fact that if he is indicted the matter certainly would end up being adjudicated by the supreme court. And especially since he has made statements like ‘I’m the president, I can’t have any conflicts of interest’ and ‘I can pardon myself.’ What will become of our great country if we as citizens do not do everything that we can, without violence, to force our elected officials to effectively address these blatantly un-American acts, in which far too many of them are willing participants? And if they will not address them, then we need to vote them out of office and replace them with officials who will uphold their oath to the Constitution!
Mr. Trump becomes more bold each time that he acts irrationally, congress winks at it and the American people ignore it. I believe that the vast majority of those American people who ignore it do not do so because they don’t care but because they believe that they have elected officials who should and will address these problems before they become a real threat to the American people and our national security. They are putting entirely too much trust in our elected officials, especially in light of how these officials have been conducting themselves since Mr. Trump was elected president.
All Americans should do whatever they can to bring attention to what is currently happening in our country. And they should encourage all other Americans to get informed, get involved and always participate in our precious democracy and do their part to help keep America great. Americans do not need a major platform in order to do this. No contribution to this effort is too small. We do not need Mr. Trump to ‘make America great again’ because we, as a country, have never stopped being great! We do not need to march backwards to the drumbeat of racism, misogyny, Islamophobia and hate to Trump’s America! We must not take Mr. Trump’s bait to engage in any form of divisiveness! We must resist the invitation to become a divided America! Instead, we should work together as Americans – as we always have in the past, and resolve these problems and our differences.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are extremely powerful men. To be more incisive and accurate in my description of them, they are extremely powerful politicians, emphasis on politicians, and they are playing political games while Mr. Trump leads America down the primrose path. But America does not have to put up with this because Americans can find politicians who will be loyal to the Constitution and their oath to it and who will put this ahead of their loyalty to party and personal ambition. What is required is that we become informed and remain informed when it comes to politics and then vote for politicians based on their records rather than on their political election cycle rhetoric.
Be sure to keep this in mind as we approach the 2018 and 2020 elections. And always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line