Editor,
I can’t sleep well anymore.
I think about what is happening to our country under the Trump administration, and I can’t sleep. I think about all the so-called Republicans who betrayed our country by not pushing back at this president, his abuse of the Constitution, his abandonment of international agreements promoting peace and dialog between nations, his firing of anyone who disagrees with him, his installation of unqualified cronies, his continuous lack of compassion for the millions of Americans who are suffering and dying because of his utter incompetence, and his sycophancy toward Putin.
Worse still, I toss and turn when I think about the people who imagine a permanent Republican majority or a forever Trump presidency. They wave the GOP flag, and yet I wonder whether they secretly sleep fitfully dreaming their dreams of another four years of Trump’s autocracy.
More deaths from coronavirus, more trashing of hard-won environmental protections for our shared air, water, park lands, and oceans. Our descendants may not be able to live in a country that greedy, dishonest people leave behind. The middle class is disappearing. Racism is resurgent. Decent health care for all is vilified as socialistic.
I really do hope that the souls of Trumpsters do not rest in peace and that they lie awake night after night thinking about what they unleashed in their cowardice.
More recently, my night terrors are becoming less dreamlike and more realistic, when I think about the end times. I don’t think of this time as the coming of Christ, but more as the end of democracy and the United States.
When people who support Trump believe he is making America great again, I want to ask if they might wish to swear off “alternative” facts, Russia-sponsored bots, and the Fox News entertainment channel? Will they will ever return to their senses and understand that facts are real, that conspiracy theories and alternate facts are just propaganda intended to perpetuate fear and division, all to Vladimir Putin’s benefit?
Trump has shown that he has virtually no grasp of medical matters; his Wharton School degree cannot compare with years of study by dedicated physicians like Anthony Fauci. Would any voter in his/her right mind consent to surgery performed by someone who never studied surgery?
Trump represents the dimwit who thinks he validates himself through bully and bluff, but who has no real credibility or integrity.
Why are Americans so easily convinced that science is a fraud; why are so many holding different views reviled as “the enemy?”
I stay awake with worry that Americans will be fighting each other in a civil war, where differing viewpoints are regarded as threats to others. The extreme right wing, the QAnon believers, members of the Nazi movement and others who don’t believe in a diverse society will march against citizens who still want and believe in our democracy.
What shall we do then? Gun sales are up. Our economy is in danger of regressing into a depression. Millions are already out of work, and their jobs may never come back. The rich have sailed through this turmoil virtually untouched by it. Their tax breaks have increased their wealth. They are blessed with good health care, good retirement benefits and live a comfortable life.
Change for good requires your vote.
Paulette Becker
Langley
