My oldest brother is in the Army and serving overseas in the Asian sphere. When I learned that Donald Trump, the president of the United States, was given information that Russia was offering to pay surrogates to kill American troops in Afghanistan and did precisely nothing in response, I was disgusted.
It is not that Putin did this, of who little is to be expected, but rather the complete lack of response by the president to a direct threat on the lives of American soldiers that angers me. His inaction verges on treason.
This is not abstract to me, something to be spun into harmlessness. This is the life of a man I love, a man of integrity and determination, devoting his life’s work to the service of the American people, being carelessly and shamefully dismissed by the president.
I ask myself over and over with each new disgrace what compels any decent American to continue to support Donald Trump and the selfishness of his conduct.
Our founding fathers were great because they loved their country better than their own private interests. This president shrinks as to be incredibly small by comparison.
Americans who serve in uniform and their families (and frankly, the rest of us) deserve better. It is right to remember this as we celebrate our nation’s independence from tyranny and the cause of freedom and justice for all.
Peter Scherer
Buckland