Project 2017: Justice, Peace & Planet

Letters

1/24/17

Donald Trump lost the election. In fact, he is the biggest loser in American history to ever attain the presidency. He is only there through our peculiar and undemocratic electoral college.

His loser status bothers him deeply, which is why he keeps making up massive voter fraud and exaggerating his crowd size. His normal tactic of flooding the air with lie after lie is already starting to catch up to him. The press is struggling, calling them falsehoods, or misrepresentations, never having seen such disregard for even little truths. He is trying to create a reality distortion field where facts are not real. Staging “standing ovations” or blatantly denying his smaller crowd size is symptomatic of a disturbed personality. He is already trying to rule by royal decree and slight of hand rather than legislative initiative and building consensus. We are in deep trouble.

A minority president is in the Oval Office. His views represent less the half the people that voted, probably around 20% of the citizenry. Instead of trying to win over an American majority, he whines like a child and is more popular in Russia than in America. We are in deep trouble.

This will be a dangerous test of the institutions we’ve built over 200 years to survive this man’s term. The Bill of Rights looses in opinion polls, the Affordable Care Act is popular, but Obamacare is much less so, conspiracy theories cloud many attempts at honest discussion, and our corporate owned media’s bottom line is making a buck.

Will people of good character stand up? Will truth win out in the end? Do facts matter? Will integrity be put ahead of personal advantage?

Stephen Johnson