On Nov. 17, 1973, Richard Nixon stated, “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.” Indeed, the American people have a right to know whether or not the person who swears to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution is nothing more than a confidence man on the make.

The modus operandi of Donald Trump has not changed over the years. In the New York metropolitan area, where I grew up, Trump was accepted as a cartoonish lout – the Queens version of “all hat, no cattle.” Given his penchant for flagrantly violating principle and law, it was safely assumed that any endeavor to which his name was attached was, essentially, a criminal enterprise. It took the smoke and mirrors of a reality show to create an artificial image of a successful businessman.

Presumably some voted for Trump thinking that the gravity of the presidency would moderate his behavior. But, as the saying goes, as at 7, so at 70. Trump’s conniving, self-obsessive temperament has remained constant.

John Adams stated: “Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”

During the summer of 2016, a Republican in his 30s expressed to me his dismay about his father’s support for Trump. He said he told his father, “Trump is not the kind of man you raised me to be.”

Hopefully, the words of our Founding Fathers and those of our children will resonate more strongly in November 2020.

Joe Wagner

Lyman

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