Before members of the local MAGA tribe get their knickers in a twist, I desire that the end of Trump comes about peacefully and legally, unlike Jan. 6, 2021 when his violent mob tried to overthrow our government. But over the course of 2026, Trump has to go. His recent actions and odious statements make it obvious that he is too mentally, physically and morally degenerate to continue as president of the United States. At this point, Donald Trump is fueled only by his own hate, anger and thirst for vengeance. His pathological narcissism is a cancer. Nothing else matters to him, certainly not the welfare or needs of the American people. As Trump’s derangement syndrome gets worse, it will only further imperil our nation. The White House will begin to resemble Hitler’s Berlin bunker in April 1945, filled with fanatics and sycophants surrounding a madman.
Let’s face it, 2025 was terrible and I would rank it as one of the worst since 2001 when we were attacked by foreign terrorists. Now the terrorism is being committed by our own leaders. I’d have to do some serious digging to chronicle all the appalling crimes Trump and cohorts have committed since taking office last January although some immediate ones come to mind. To begin, he assembled the most dissolute group of individuals ever to form a presidential cabinet. Steven Miller, Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth are examples of what happens when you give unlimited power to people of low morality. It unleashes their inherent cruelty and viciousness. Miller is the perfect example of a monster in a suit while Noem is a criminal against humanity for sending the innocent to a notorious El Salvador death camp. RFK Jr. is off this list because he is just flat-out crazy. His anti-vaccine crusade could sicken or kill untold numbers of American children.
And then there is Elon Musk, the Trillion-Dollar Man, proof that you can be both utterly brilliant and depraved at the same time and to whom, empathy is a weakness. His DOGE managed in a few months what the German Nazis and Soviet Communists failed to do in so many years; namely destroy the government of the United States as an enlightened entity that once inspired the world. Now we’re a nation that no sane Asian or European would want to emigrate to. Thanks to DOGE, 150,000 federal workers lost their jobs with many replaced by incompetent Trump boot-lickers. The poster boy for this downward spiral is 22-year old Thomas Fugate, a former grocery store clerk who now leads a Department of Homeland Security terrorism prevention unit.
To me, Musk’s major crime was destroying USAID, thereby condemning millions of children around the world to starvation and possible death. His crippling if not outright destruction of necessary governmental institutions will take years to repair.
Enough has been said on these pages about the racism-based persecution of Hispanic immigrants by ICE goons and the militarization of our cities based on the big lie of fighting crime. It would not surprise most of us if this last is a prelude for canceling the midterms under a false pretext and stamping out dissent.
I could go on. However, as a teacher and parent, one of the worst sins Trump has committed is how his toxic language and disgusting behavior is influencing our children. It’s difficult to instill the positive values of honesty, fairness, kindness and generosity when the “Leader of the Free World” is manifesting just the opposite. Even the most hard-core Trump cultist would have to admit that they would not keep a friend or invite a family member if they behaved like him.
It’s particularly disconcerting how the Republican Party has degraded itself before Trump. While some have belatedly found their voice, too many have not and continue to grovel before him. I am waiting for a current version of Joseph Welch, the brave military lawyer who famously ended Senator Joe McCarthy’s reign of terror in June 1954 by asking him, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
Trump’s sense of decency left a long time ago. It’s time for America to remove him and bring back decency, as well as a government that serves the American people, not the billionaire elite who enable him. When he is gone, I trust that the Trump name will be struck off every building in Washington D.C. while historians will continue to condemn him as the worst president in our 250-year epic.
Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and has written a monthly My Turn column for over two decades. He lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Lisa and dog, Cody.