Our country, The United States of America, is at a very dangerous point right now. We have a president who not only can’t deliver on all of the promises he made to his supporters, but is taking our country to a place our founding fathers feared could happen when they drafted the Constitution. And, this is happening very quickly.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book, The Tipping Point, he says, “The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the “Tipping Point.” He uses “epidemic” to describe these changes and says, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.” We are now dangerously close to a “tipping point” in our country because of Donald Trump’s irrational behaviors.
I remember writing an essay just before the presidential election in November 2016 about my concerns with Donald Trump, and vividly remember how horrible I felt back then. Unfortunately, I feel worse now, sick in fact, that my concerns are playing out. This is happening faster than most think because we can’t or don’t want to digest all that is happening every day.
As I listened to Rachel Maddow (TRMS, MSNBC) so eloquently describe our president’s behaviors in a recent show, I had a big aha moment. I believe Rachel is looking at this situation through the wrong lens. Her assessment of Trump’s behaviors were correct, the basis for the assessment was not correct. This is because Donald Trump assesses his behaviors and actions on the basis of an Autocratic leader, like Vladimir Putin.
We can laugh and be disgusted all we want about the behaviors of our President, but keep in mind, we are judging him against the standards for a U.S. President that have evolved over the past 200 years.
The current President of the United States is an Autocrat, not the leader of a democratic society. Being the leader of the free world, like his predecessors, is of no interest to him.
I’ve been chided for my conspiracy theory ideas for a long time; however, my concerns and fears continue to come true. I won’t use the time to list all of the things that have happened already to de-construct our government and change the balance of power to the Executive Branch and, more specifically, the President. But, there are many more things than most people see.
Think about what just happened when a request went out to every state requesting voter information. The Executive Branch wants to know if you voted and who you voted for, plus all kinds of other personal information. This is what happens in Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Please don’t underestimate what is happening and will happen if we allow this to continue much longer. Could I be intimidated or coerced in the next election to vote for someone or thing that I don’t believe in? Will my freedoms and right to vote be minimized?
I fear the outbreak of a big war, maybe even initiated by our President, to take the emphasis off all that is going on. At the end of a big war we would wake up to an Autocratic leader in power. I know that is what this is what Trump would love: He and his family in charge.
I saw situations like this when I worked in the corporate world and there were issues where CEOs were not performing their jobs. In those cases, especially in public companies, the board took action. It was their fiduciary responsibility to do so. Their shareholders could hold them responsible if the company lost value because of a poor performing CEO.
Congress is our government’s Board of Directors. They have oversight responsibilities. Congress has many issues to address that are important to our country, but nothing can happen with an incompetent leader. For the sake of the bigger whole and the integrity of our Nation, Congress must step up and take action now! If Congress doesn’t do something soon, I fear we will need to go to the second possibility of major protests, which would get very messy.
We have two possibilities right now. Congress can act or the majority of citizens who did not vote for Trump can stand up and protest. Having Congress act would be my preference. It’s time for our Republican led Congress to step up to protecting the future of our country. Donald Trump is not fit to be the “CEO” of the United States!
The President’s approval ratings, over the past several months, have been ranging from 32%-40% at best. This means the majority of Americans are not happy with our President. If those of us who are not happy make a public display of our displeasure there will be pressure on Congress to act. I saw this happen during the Vietnam War when students protested on college campuses all around the country.
I saw the government try to shut down these protests, even by killing innocent students. In the end, the world learned what was really going on. We learned that Nixon had been lying about invading Cambodia. The protests made a difference.
The Viet Nam War was a huge issue for that time, it unfortunately took many lives and ruined many more; however, it was not as dramatic as the current state of affairs. Our Democracy, our leadership in the world, and our way of life are at risk.
Congress, don’t let this become an epidemic of insanity and chaos that causes a “tipping point.”