Editor,

Now that this surreal election is behind us, try this little mind fantasy. Imagine that Barack and Michelle Obama were white and Donald and Melania Trump were black. Let that gel for just a bit. Now in this scenario, do you think that Donald Trump would have been given any support whatsoever after he had made just one of his thoughtless, disgusting remarks from the relentless unending stream of all those that he has uttered? Would the fact that Melania has had pictures of her nude and nearly nude published or the fact that she sounds like a character in the movie ”From Russia with Love” weigh on people’s minds as to her suitability to represent this country as First Lady?

The fact is Barack and Michele Obama are two people with true class, well-reasoned, capable and of the highest integrity. Barack got elected because of these qualities and not because of the color of his skin. Of course his job would have been so much easier if he had not been black. And if the Trumps were black they would not have gotten to first base in this election. Not even at a local precinct level. But alas no, Trump is white just like his bigoted, fearful, xenophobic supporters. So he was able to prey upon these qualities and say unimaginably crude, offensive, and yes, deplorable things and still get elected. It helped that many of these things were outright lies. But lies that lots of people wanted to hear. And lies that were repeated often enough that those people believed them. Especially when constantly reinforced by the propaganda hate voice of ultra-conservatism, FoxNews.The result is that we have the unbelievable situation of having a completely unqualified, uncivilized and utterly irredeemable person being elected president of the United States.

Believe me, I get it when people say he’s not my president. He’s not my president either, never will be, does not deserve a chance, and needs to be removed from office as expeditiously as possible. He’s an aberration and an insult to the greatness of this country.

ROBERT JOBE

Freeland