At this writing, the president-elect’s inauguration looms.
If this piece is published, it pains me to say that it contains many negative comments. He is being labeled an illegitimate president by a sitting Congressman, John Lewis, who is widely admired as a moral hero for his experience as a fighter for civil rights.
Lewis has been called the conscience of the Congress. Lewis has declared he will not attend this inauguration.
Technically, by the laws of our country, Trump has been elected to the office, but it must be recognized that Trump’s character, his lack of knowledge of our country and the world, make him inadequate to serve in the most powerful position in the world.
His behavior throughout his campaign, and indeed up to one week before his inauguration, provides evidence that at the age of seventy, his erratic behavior, his narcissistic nature is fully formed, and even if, by some miracle, he allows some of his advisors to prevail, he considers himself the last arbiter and will claim their opinions as his own.
But since we are a country of laws, we must define the problems we face if we want to save President Obama’s legacy and meet the many challenges that prompted half of our nation to vote for changes.
This will not be easy by any means.
We are an immensely divided nation and our priorities must be defined and attacked without delay, Trump will probably be sued because he has arrogantly decided he can defy the Constitution and blithely serve as a businessman and a president.
His version of dealing with conflicts of interest will not fly. He has selected Cabinet members whose opinions are already at odds with his views, as well as the opinions of the electorate.
Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, which some do not even realize is the name of Obamacare, is a promise he made to the Republicans.
If an act repealing the act without an immediate alternative passes, and millions lose their health coverage, the Congress will have to find a place to hide for their safety, and I cannot even imagine what kind of chaos in the insurance market will ensue.
And when will Trump’s promise to increase good jobs be fulfilled?
What plans does he have to create the kinds of jobs that will pay a comfortable wage? Browbeating some corporations to change their minds about sending a few hundreds of jobs abroad will soon be understood by unemployed or underemployed as grossly insufficient.
His Republican congress is of a mind to save money and he is likely to have a hard time passing a budget to allot billions to repair our abysmal infrastructure. Ironically, his candidate for secretary of the Department of Education is a proponent of charter schools, whose track record for superior schools is shaky, at a time when we must think of training our young people for the jobs of the future.
And I have not dealt with international affairs.
Trump is having a bromance with a dictator who has invaded two adjoining countries, and he is considering dispensing with the sanctions we have placed to discourage his friend and admirer, Putin, who has invaded Crimea and hacked the DNC, joins him in threatening NATO.
And while he is involved in annoying China by making overtures to Taiwan, he does not seem perturbed about non-nuclear powers acquiring the bomb.
Are you having palpitations?
Take a deep breath and recognize that there are about 325 million of us and only a few thousand of them.
Don’t accept vague promises. Many of us realize that we can do something about our problems.
First, no matter how loudly Trump yells about the lying free press, he can’t shut them up, and he needs our very competent and devoted intelligence agencies to discover who are planning or committing bad things.
In addition, there are lots of people willing to write, petition, boycott, demonstrate and sue.
We still have smart lawyers who are willing to fight before judges who love to deter, punish, and fine evildoers. Set a good example for your children by explaining how to think about what we need and asking for it peaceably, firmly and constantly. It takes persistence but there is ample evidence that it pays.
The protests have begun, and much more pressure is in the offing to awaken Trump to the real opinions of the nation.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
