Guest Opinion: Wake up, Trump supporters

Dear Brother,

I remember when you returned from your stint in the U.S. Army as an MP (Military Police). You’d been stationed on the DMZ (demilitarized zone) in Korea. Maybe you stood on the exact spot where former President Trump stepped over to shake the hand of the Dictator Kim Jong-un and call theirs a "great friendship."

You are among those who love, respect, and most of all, trust, former President Trump. And, because I don’t see him in the same way you do, we don’t talk much anymore.

We text respectfully about the weather. We’re up in age, so we keep it enough for one or the other to visit in our final days.

So, I’m writing this letter that you will never get.

There are bills and executive orders passed that you will have missed and/or will dismiss that President Biden and the Democrats in Congress have done to help you and the country: The American Rescue Plan Act and extending existing COVID-19 programs; Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; bills to avoid a government shutdown and keep the federal government running; Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. Bills passed this year include the CHIPS and Science Act that will increase manufacturing of computer chips for electric cars; the bill to fund medical help for veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits; the Inflation Reduction Act, that will benefit the climate, lower healthcare costs, allow Medicare to negotiate prescriptions, and improve tax fairness. Republicans blocked a measure to reduce insulin to $35/mo.

I’ve heard people say that President Biden "hates this country and wants to destroy it."

But, it’s not true. It just isn’t.

You’ve defended the most egregious actions and statements when any other person saying them would have lost your respect forever.

He made one of the most indecent statements against women by any man, let alone someone who'd run for the highest office in the world. Even some mesmerized women defended him. It was "locker-room-boy-talk." It wasn’t. It was disgusting.

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters," he said soon after the tape was released.

“He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” He was referring to Sen. John McCain. One of the most respected veterans of our country. Up to that moment, no one would consider such an insult to that good man. No one.

He refused to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris. Four people with firsthand knowledge quoted him: “Why should I go to a cemetery filled with losers…and suckers for getting killed.” (The Atlantic, 9/30/20).

To think that a sitting President of the United States of America would say such a thing about our most cherished veterans who died for our country in defense of decency and honor is lower than dirt.

He turned his back on the Queen of England. He shoved the leader of Montenegro at the NATO Summit in Brussels.

Olivia Troye, a top adviser to VP Mike Pence, reported that, in discussions about the COVID pandemic, former President Trump made the statement that, the virus might be a "good thing" because it would save him from having to shake hands with “disgusting people.” (Sept. 2020 Politico)

He was talking about you.

It was he who announced that the FBI conducted a search and seizure of documents that he kept in his possession after he left The White House on Jan. 20, 2021.

With help from pseudo-fact-spinners and those in Congress willing to do whatever it takes to keep your vote and their lucrative salaries (while doing nothing for you), “his people” are rallying around him and furiously clicking the "Donate" button.

“Don’t believe what you see or hear, that’s not what’s happening,” he said.

You think you see a smart businessman, while I see a man who stiffed small business owners and regular working guys just like you when his casinos went bust in New Jersey.

But you have, and always will, find a way to defend him.

“I love the poorly educated,” Trump said.

Only when you and all of you who adore him wake up, will this nightmare end for the rest of us.

Barbara Stakes lives in the Oakford section of Bensalem.

This article originally appeared on The Intelligencer: Guest Opinion: Wake up, Trump supporters