Letter to the Editor: We Cannot Suppress Our Memories of the Past Four Years

A common human reaction to traumatic stress is involuntary suppression of the event that caused it. For many of us, the election of Donald J. Trump was an event that caused a great deal of stress. It would be easy to suppress the memory of his time in office, but he reminds us every day of our cause for trauma. 

How are we, the people, served by his betrayals, mendacity, retributions and challenges to the rule of law? It’s noteworthy that Mike Pompeo, during the Republican primaries, said that Trump would be an “authoritarian president who ignored our Constitution.” In the early days following his election, his supporters and pundits predicted that he would pivot and leave behind the vulgar, coarse and narcissistic behavior and become presidential. Alas, that has not happened. 

Are we better off when he insults the families of our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country? Are we better off when he belittles our intelligence services, members of law enforcement and the commanding officers of our military? Are we better off when he seeks to divide rather than unite America?

During the past six weeks or so, it has become ever clearer that what he demands is loyalty – not to the country, an oath or a Constitution, but to himself personally. Let us not draw a veil of forgetfulness across his reign and the perils we face if we suppress our memories of the past four years.

By the way, much has been written about Hunter Biden and his business dealings. I’m wondering about the role of Donald’s work on a controversial deal to drop barriers on Chinese cell-phone manufacturer ZTE and Ivanka Trump winning approval of trademarks from the Chinese government. Oh, and the coincidence that three of the trademarks were granted on the same day when she dined with the Chinese president at Mar-a-Lago, of all places. Nothing fishy about that, is there? Clearly, all the aspects of that deal are making America great again.

Sam Carmen

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin