Just a couple of days into the second presidency of Donald Trump, we are witnessing a wrecking ball smashing the government institutions and agencies that were erected on behalf of the American and global populations. Facing elimination or drastic paring are a host of departments and programs, including the Pentagon, Department of Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Planned Parenthood, Internal Revenue Service, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 18 inspectors general (fired illegally), and a host of others. Withdrawal from the World Health Organization, among whose projects are assistance with the development of vaccines against communicable diseases such as polio and the Covid-19 virus, is in limbo. The situation is dire. The letter I sent to a younger relative who voted for Trump has become even more relevant in the days since I sent it. Here it is, the name changed. Photos are added for enhancement:
Hi Kevin,
I received your letter, and appreciate your taking the time to write it. Also appreciate the accolade vis-a-vis my writing. And in all sincerity, not in false reciprocity, I commend you for the clarity and correctness of your writing — word choice, punctuation, syntax, the whole enchilada. Even your arguments have been well-designed as we have disagreed on politics over the years.
That said, you likely will not warm to my response to your latest missive. I had been wondering whether you would depart from your conservative position in the case of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, and conclude that their extremist, dystopian, inhumane agenda was a bridge too compromised for even you to cross. Alas, it appears I was wrong. And I strongly disagree with your observation that people on opposite sides of this issue should be able to put aside their differences and relate to each other amicably. I further find fault with the progressive radio show host for being so forgiving of your stance as to engage socially.
I would never have said this about past political imbroglios, but this one is totally different. Donald Trump is evil. He has made that abundantly clear. I don’t have to run through the endless list of his deeds to prove the point; they’re out there for everyone to see, perhaps the most egregious being his worship of misanthropic dictators and desire to be one. And I think those willing to embrace, or just to overlook, this depravity need to look at themselves and ask: What does my support of it, of him, make me?

How far will you go? Was his separation of children from their parents, an example of his oft demonstrated cruelty, not enough? Can you choose as your leader a man so childishly mean as to publicly mock a person with cerebral palsy, as he did several years ago toward the handicapped journalist? Do you find excusable his indecency in mimicking the act of fellatio with the microphone during a campaign appearance? These are just a couple of his unbelievably abhorrent public acts. His intentions to alienate our country from our allies, bullying weaker nations into submission to the United States, to rob from the poor to make the unconscionably rich even wealthier, to treat women like chattel … the list goes on and on — are these not enough to wrench you free of the grip of ideology and lead you to the trough of compassion and goodness?

Donald Trump is, as his psychiatrist niece Mary Trump has repeatedly testified, an emotional child, the equivalent of a schoolyard bully who behaves callously toward his playmates. Children are egocentric, concerned only with their own wants and desires. As they grow older, they undergo the process of socialization, becoming aware of the feelings and needs of others. This man never reached that stage. He is a sociopath, devoid of conscience. Most children’s parents teach them to concede when they lose, to share and sacrifice. Fred Trump taught his son the opposite of those virtues.
Politics is not like sports, Kevin; it’s not unwavering allegiance to any particular side. It requires common sense, at least a modicum of logic, the requirement to rise above emotion and pay homage to common decency. I truly hope that you are not so imprisoned by ideology as to follow a path beyond the reach of redemption, as happened to the people of Germany who sided with Adolf Hitler.
Think about it.
Bob