I write children’s books. President Trump didn’t receive my vote in 2016 because I felt he would not be a good role model for my grandchildren – for any children. That fear has proven right, I feel, with its evidence tweeted and exhibited almost daily these past three years.

But what really saddens me is that there are decent people who still look past his bullying nature, his dismissal of truths and his personal insults of women, especially – “horse-face” “low-IQ” “sleepy creepy” “dog.” These behaviors are supported by evangelical Christians who know the beauties of the Sermon on the Mount, with its encouragements toward kindness in our dealings with one another.

Trump displays few if any of these qualities, and I would challenge his supporters to give examples of his empathetic nature – his ready compassion, his embrace of Christian principles with its inclining to love, “even one’s enemies.”

“We didn’t elect a pastor, we elected a President,” said one evangelical leader in dismissal of Trump’s past infidelities, and cruel denouncements in the present.

It was a shameful justification without anchorage in any faith.

Joe Biden is not a pastor either, but he is a fundamentally decent human being.

Paul Baribault
Lewiston