It’s difficult to avoid responding in kind to Donald Trump’s name-calling and vituperation. And while it is a continuous challenge to describe 45’s persona as accurately and concisely as possible, one hits a wall after a while.
The endless shameful tweets emanating from the White House almost leave one exhausted of ways to continue the verbal resistance. The recent Trump tweet excoriating “the Squad” (four female congresswomen of color) harks back 50 years to the “America, love it or leave it” mantra of 1969. These exact words were emblazoned in red as a front-page newspaper headline, I vividly recall from my collegiate teaching days in New Hampshire. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
Then, William Loeb’s Manchester Union Leader newspaper represented to New England what Fox News represents to the U.S. today. We marched en masse, peacefully and silently (save for a haunting single drum beat), more than 5,000 anti-Vietnam war protesters, past Loeb’s newspaper building — sand-bagged and posted with armed guards. Six years later the “mistake” of the Vietnam War ended.
How long will it take to overcome the “mistake” the Trump presidency has inflicted on our republic? Will it take six more years? I am not sanguine that we will witness a turnaround with the 2020 election, what with the blindness and misplaced loyalty of the Trump supporters in the face of near daily evidence of Trump’s unfitness for office.
Meanwhile, buckle up. Keep the faith. Keep up the resistance. Time wounds all heels.
Robert Jedrzejewski
Tarentum