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All my adult life I have looked up to the office of president of the US with a mixture of awe and respect, even in those times when the office was occupied by someone I neither approved of nor cared for–think Nixon, Reagan or Bush II. That all ended suddenly with the highly questionable “election” of the man who currently holds this office. All the others who came before him, even when I found their actions despicable, performed their duties with what appeared to be a respect for the office that somehow mostly transcended whatever differences existed between us. Even when certain actions of particular Republican presidents set in motion forces whose effects still resonate today with, I would argue, extremely negative consequences for the majority of the public–largely, I would further argue, without their awareness–I was able to maintain some degree of respect for, if not them, at least the office they occupied. Prior to this past January 19, certain actions of the younger Bush strained my faith in the office nearly to the breaking point, but, even then, I was able to glimpse moments, even if they existed only in my imagination, that seemed imbued with the power and prestige of the office in a way one might correctly perceive as “presidential.”

The current occupant of that office–a man I have not, cannot and never will bring myself to address as president–has made it abundantly clear to anyone who is paying attention and hasn’t lived under a rock for thirty years that he is the very antithesis of what is required of anyone aspiring to be the president of these United States. This man has consistently proven his unworthiness to serve with every deceitful utterance that falls from his ugly, sphincter-like mouth. His very presence in the White House is an obscene reminder of the fragility of democracy and how quickly 200 plus years of democratic governance can be swayed toward totalitarianism and, because of Twitter, Fox Views, conservative Christianity and just plain general ignorance, his supporters continue to pledge their unwavering support for him.

Until recently, moral leadership was a hallmark of presidential action. This man lacks a moral compass–another of the myriad ways he is abysmally unsuited to his job.  Lost in a narcissistic fog, he eschews security briefings for twice-daily updates on news items designed to assuage his monumentally fragile ego. And yes, we taxpayers are paying for his twice-daily ego boosts. He concocts fictions to shore up his ego (think the election results) in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and then, not content with merely inhabiting these fictions, crafts actions based on them that have no relation to fact, no respect for propriety, no regard for history and no indication he has any understanding of psychology.

He, and, apparently his supporters, are living in a fantasy that bears little semblance with the reality in which the rest of us participate. Someone needs to tell him he has no clothes!

But for me, after the events that unfolded yesterday regarding the response of the leader of the Republican party in seeking to draw a moral equivalency between peaceful left-leaning demonstrators and hate-filled racists and neo-Nazis, I am left with a sense of profound disgust bordering on all-out rage toward this idiotic excuse of a human being posing as a “leader.”

So I say to you, mr. trump, you’re fired! You were never  my president anyway, but whatever claim you might imagine you have on the office you pretend to occupy, you forfeited that right with your embrace of KKK and Nazi groups. Please do the right thing and stop soiling my newsfeed with your verbal and emotional effluent! You are about as American as borsht!  Your concern for the common man rivals that of Putin! You are an affront to decency, motherhood and apple pie and you need to stop!  Just go away, for Heaven’s sake!!! There is nothing for you here!

There. I feel better. Well, a little better anyway! How was it for you?

Tim Konrad

Petaluma, CA

August 15, 2017