It’s not about Trump

To the Editor;
This isn’t about President Donald Trump, though he has become the news cycle, created a dangerous social movement and now embodies America. Democrats and Republicans aren’t resurrecting this flawed democracy. They are complicit in a partisan, fantasy game of politics that is truly dangerous to any hope of meaningful public discourse.

Among Trump’s rivals, he is the one highlighting what increasing numbers of Americans now believe: that our country is in decline. The opportunities and safety nets that were there for the past generations are gone, while our leaders are more interested in the welfare of corporations and billionaires instead of the majority of citizens.

We must realize that the two dominating parties are not honestly concerned about the working-class folks who have lost meaning and purpose in their lives. Every day is a struggle to survive, and this has especially affected the lives of those who watched their jobs head overseas to increase corporate wealth. A significant number of them feel there’s nowhere left to go, and so they voted a tragic character into the White House who provides them with an alternate world of false hope.

Maybe, they think, he really is the one who can make sense of an unstable world and guide us through it. Maybe they are willing to take a chance on the country becoming more unstable, even if it is destructive or suicidal.

Voting for Trump was an act of desperation in the shadow of a country in decline.

This is really about America, not Trump.

Linda Bennett
Charleston