It was English philosopher John Locke who inspired Thomas Jefferson’s use of the words “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence.  

The most coveted aspects of liberty entail not only freedom of thought, but also the right to give public expression to thoughts. There is likewise a freedom of behavior―however bizarre or antithetical to public norms ―and a right to associate with others of the same ideation. These freedoms are codified in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  

These so-called “unalienable rights”  have allowed America to flourish, but they have also come at a very high cost. Without interference from government, citizens can be racist, misogynist, communist, or neo-fascist, and are allowed to admire and support hate-mongers, so long as they do not advocate violent overthrow of the government. They can even join subversive associations or white supremacist hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan.  Thus is exposed the decidedly evil and decaying underbelly of a free society, and now, it can be stated that no leader in the history of the United States has gorged more on the rotted flesh of democracy than Donald Trump. Look to the source of the stench emanating from the Beltway these days, and you will find a maggot thriving in its life-sustaining cycle.

Unless you have been living under a rock, it is obvious that any person who has been requested  to work in the Trump administration must first deliver a boot-licking pledge of loyalty…not to country, as the oath of office requires,  but to Donald Trump. Trump was never a politician of any stripe. He was, and is, simply a grifter and carnival barker who migrated from reality television into the political arena.  While Trump claims to be a member of the Republican Party, most of his political donations were made to democrats.

It was genetic code and environmental experience that gifted Trump with his impoverished persona, and an ever-present psychotic impulse which drives his bizarre and unpredictable behavior. Trump’s racist lineage is legendary.

Trump’s father, Fred Trump, who died in 1999, was arrested at a KKK rally in New York City in 1927.  Donald Trump proved that he inherited his father’s racist tendencies when he publicly prosecuted a group which would come to be known as the “Central Park Five.”

They were five young black and Hispanic men ranging in age from fifteen to eighteen years old who were arrested and convicted in the 1989 beating and rape of a 28-year-old jogger in New York City’s Central Park. Trump took out full-page ads in four New York newspapers demanding the death penalty for the convicted offenders. In 2002, a new investigation revealed beyond all reasonable doubt that serial rapist Matias Reyes alone had committed the crime.  All five of the convicted offenders were exonerated and freed after serving between six and thirteen years in prison. The city of New York paid the wrongly convicted five a total of 40 million dollars. Out of racially motivated hatred, Trump refused to apologize for the ads, or to even admit that the teenagers had been wrongfully convicted. Instead, he doubled down, and continued to press the “alternate fact” that the five were guilty, and should have been executed.

During the presidential election campaign, Trump touted himself as a successful businessman.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Trump is a failed real estate investor who used a variation of the Ponzi scheme to cover his failures; he simply borrowed more money to cover his massive losses and bankruptcies, and when U.S. bankers denied him credit as a toxic risk, he went overseas to foreign money managers. Obviously, some of those bankers were connected to individuals who demand quid-pro-quo as a condition for releasing funds.

The infamous and well-traveled Access Hollywood tape exposed Trump as a misogynist and predator.  On the tape, Trump indicated that he might start kissing a woman he was about to meet during filming, and then said:

“I don’t even wait.  And when you’re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything…grab them by the pussy.”

Following release of the Access Hollywood tape, the New York Times on October 16, 2016 published an article detailing how Trump had degraded and marginalized women over a period of four decades.

Trump is a con man without a conscience. His so-called “institution of higher learning,” Trump University, was brought to court on two class action lawsuits originating in California, and was sued by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for fraud, and running a “phony university.” In November 2016, Trump settled the cases for 25 million dollars, with an additional one million dollars in penalties to the state of New York for violating state education laws.  Quoting Eric Schneiderman:  “Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6000 victims of his fraudulent university.”

In August 2017, white supremacists held a torch-lit rally in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. Inspired by white nationalist Richard Spencer, the rally touched off 24 hours of racial hatred, violent clashes, and ultimately, the death of a counter-protester.  Donald Trump drew praise from hate-mongers when he referred to the “blood and soil” chanters as “fine people.” However, he incurred the wrath of decent people everywhere.

In late September, Trump used a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama to attack NFL players and Arizona Senator John McCain. Ostensibly, Trump was there to urge support for Republican senate candidate Luther Strange, but a typical Trump sideshow emerged.

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began protesting over the shooting of unarmed blacks by police about a year ago by kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick has often stated that he never meant any disrespect to people who died defending the principles of freedom. Nevertheless, Trump seized the occasion to conflate the issue and fire up his core supporters with a racist taunt:

“Wouldn’t  you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired."

The NFL is primarily a league comprised of black athletes. Thus, in the foregoing statement there is no distinction to be made between “son of a bitch” and the n-word.

John McCain is fighting for his life; he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Nevertheless, Trump ridiculed McCain during the rally for his vote against a draconian health care proposal by senate Republicans, and on cue, Trump’s admiring supporters soundly booed McCain.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough called out these rally-goers as something less than humane.  Scarborough explained that he was raised in the same Southern region, went to the same public schools, went to the same Baptist church and the same public colleges. Then he asked: “Who raised these people?  Who have they become that they would boo a man who is fighting for his very life?” He closed with:

“If you still go to church, you need to pray for yourself this Sunday morning in church. And then, when you get your head screwed on right, and you start putting humanity ahead of politics, against stupidity, against the tribalism that is destroying this country, go home and tell your children the story of John McCain.”

Thank you, Joe.

Donald Trump is the very last person in this country who should be complaining about what some might perceive as an insult to the individuals who died while serving honorably and faithfully under the American flag. Those of us who wrote a blank check to the government by voluntarily serving in the military during the Vietnam era had to suffer the indignity of fellow citizens spitting on our uniforms as we passed through airports, while the cowardly Trump enjoyed numerous deferments orchestrated by his rich father. Furthermore, standing before a national audience, Trump invited foreigners to interfere in our last election, and following their successful intervention on his behalf, attempted to sell our government to the Russians. Only a vigilant Congress foiled his treasonous plans. Thus, as a former soldier, it is an incredibly galling experience to watch this traitor offer a hand-salute to current members of the military.

Those who continue to support Trump―excluding Russians, of course―do not think right, and probably never did. These purveyors of hate and division are not in any sense true Americans. Such individuals seem more like the inbred offspring of incestuous relations: emulate the leader you adore. Indeed, during an interview with radio personality Howard Stern, Donald Trump agreed to a description of his own daughter as “a piece of ass.”

This is the most powerful man on the planet; it would be difficult to imagine a more revolting specimen of humanity.

RESIGN