44 Presidents served America prior to Donald John Trump. The reason I will always oppose ‘Presidents Day’ is because many of them do not deserve to have a holiday which praises them. About one-third of our nation’s leaders placed their personal ambitions ahead of our nation and are undeserving of respect for their failure to serve the American people. Trump is far worse than any of his predecessors. He does not love his country and has proven time and time again that he is unfit to claim the title of President of the United States of America.

The evidence and testimony which resulted in only the third president in history to be impeached is undeniable and must be punished. Trump believes that he is above the Law of the Land; the Constitution; and committed heinous crimes against our nation with an attitude of arrogance and defiance never seen before. No punishment is too severe for this illegitimate president who refuses to serve all 330 million Americans; his first and foremost directive.

Because I am an old fart; born in 1946; I remember the sins of prior presidents and legislators. Although I was only eight years old when McCarthy began his purge of anyone who he deemed to be a “communist,” I learned about the severity of his fascist investigations when I was in high school. As a junior in 1962 I became aware of the power and corruption which can be achieved by a single Representative or Senator who has the ability to convince the American people that fear and hatred of the unknown and unproven can alter reality and create emotional response without proof. I also learned that Dwight D. Eisenhower was a racist and a man suffering from homophobia. Whenever emotions negate facts, weak-minded men and women become members of a cult and are blind to the truth.

I graduated high school in June of 1964; less than a year after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Just months later our government decided to fully engage in military action in South Vietnam. To this day not a single politician or historian has offered a valid reason why our government allowed more than 58,000 Americans to die halfway around the world. This was the decision two presidents and their administrations who believed in war; a war they or their loved ones would never be forced to fight.

In 2001, I was 55 years of age when Bush 43 decided to invade Afghanistan. Two years later he and Cheney decided to engage in military action against Iraq based on false allegations related to “weapons of mass destruction;” lies to the United Nations and the American people. Because of rash decisions to engage in two unwinnable wars thousands of lives and trillions of dollars were lost. America’s longest war; the war in Afghanistan; continues today; nearly 19 years later.

Trump’s damage to our nation is far more egregious. He has reversed the accomplishments of his predecessors over the past 60 years; divided our people more than at any other time since the Civil War; destroyed the respect America had around the world; supports white supremacy, Islamophobia, homophobia, and misogyny; and increased the national debt by more than one-trillion dollars in less than three years.

I believe that some of the damage caused by Trump, the Trump Party, and his circle of sinners is irreversible.

Impeachment was the right thing to do; following the guidelines in the Constitution perfectly. Sadly, today’s Republican Party in name only will refuse to do the right thing and remove this blight on our nation from office.

Therefore, every real American is obligated to vote on November 3, 2020. Trump, and all members of the Trump Party must be removed from office.

“The Truth Lives Here”

Op-ed by James Turnage

Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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