Tully: America’s horrible president

There’s not much left unsaid, and the words of a newspaper columnist in the middle of Indiana won’t add up to a hill of beans, but I have a little boy and a conscience and a love for the United States and, so, there’s no way I can write about anything else but the damage being done by the madman running our country.

What to say? It’s all been said. But we should all make our voices heard.

So here goes.

The president has spit on the values most of us hold dear. The president has stood on the side of the ugliest forms of hatred and bigotry. This already failed president has disgraced his office and stained our country in ways that will be studied with sadness for centuries. He has put heavy challenges on the long-cherished notion that we should respect the office of the presidency even when we disagree with its current occupant.

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A president should uplift in moments of crisis and division. A president should seek to de-escalate tense situations and calm fears. A president should wake every day with the goal of convincing America that our tomorrows will be better. Donald Trump does none of that. Donald Trump makes so many situations and so many of our divisions worse. Donald Trump has given powerful fuel to racists and bigots.

It’s heartbreaking to think that Trump’s political career has not only survived, but thrived over these past two years — all of the hateful comments, animosity and bigoted policies. I can’t see inside a man’s soul, so I don’t know if the president is or is not a bigot. But he gives voice and cover to those who are, and that’s all that matters.

A U.S. president found himself unable to fully and forcefully condemn those marching alongside morons chanting Nazi slogans and celebrating white supremacist views. A world leader insisted there were good people among those hate mobs, and seemed furious at the notion that so many refused to blame people protesting against Nazis for the tragedy of Charlottesville, Va.

Honestly, it’s hard to write paragraphs like the last few. I don’t want to believe that we have elected such a man as president. I don’t want to believe that our country is capable of making a mistake like this. It’s one thing to fiercely oppose a president’s policies — we’ve all been there. It’s another thing to realize – and many of us realized this a long time ago — that our great country is capable of a mistake this big.

I’ve now watched the footage from Trump’s unhinged Tuesday press conference at least a dozen times. The anger in his voice. The fury in his face. All because too many of us did not offer sympathy and defenses for people who marched alongside self-proclaimed Nazis and white supremacists, or because we will not condemn people who stood up to those groups. It’s hard to fathom how a brain goes to the places his went to on Tuesday.

It’s left much of the country in what appears to be a state of depression. It’s ugly and sad. And it’s pretty clear that Trump’s angry words and mindless rhetoric will lead to more of what we saw in Charlottesville. More division and hate. More Confederate flags. More mainstreaming of mindless views that not so long ago would have ended political careers. More politicians and pundits willing to embrace the worst aspects of America in return for a vote or a buck.

We can and will spend decades trying to understand Trump’s mind and motivations. Historians will peel back layers of complexities to determine what drove him and led him to think the way he does. That’s fine.

For now, though, the real story of Donald Trump is a simple one. He is a horrible president. He is hurting our country. He is making the world a worse place. He is choosing to divide us. And even if it doesn’t change a thing, speaking out is the right thing to do.

Thank you for reading. Please follow me on Twitter: @matthewltully.