The House hearing on the Jan 6 insurrection made the point that former President Donald Trump was guilty of dereliction of duty during the 187 minutes in which hoodlums stormed the Capitol, killing people as they went on a rampage against specific politicians. The riot, animated by Trump, was to interrupt and prevent the certification of the presidential election, which he had lost. He watched the violence unfold on his TV.
Our president takes an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Trump’s passivity and inaction during this obvious threat amounts to a crime. But doesn’t this characterize his entire term as president? He constantly watched TV, monitoring political talk shows to see what friends and foes were saying about him. He hatched plots to punish foes and reward friends. He articulated no cogent foreign or domestic policy. He cared nothing about actual problems the country faced: climate, a raging pandemic, declining public school performance, rampant, destructive inequality; a crumbling physical and social infrastructure. He did what he perceived to be in his own personal interest.
He had powerful supporters to keep happy, large corporations who backed him as long as he cut their taxes and lifted regulations on their behavior. He kept the gun lobby, big energy, Big Pharma and the religious right happy by appointing judges who were anti-regulation, anti-abortion and anti-firearm restrictions. Under the rubric of “foreign policy” he coddled and appeased Vladimir Putin to protect future business deals.
All this self-aggrandizement, self-promotion and self-enrichment was the core of his presidency. Yes, he should be punished for dereliction of duty on Jan. 6, but he should also be held accountable for abandoning his responsibility to the United States for the entire four years of his presidency.
Susan Levin Wessels
Rindge