Opinion: Trump cares nothing for us, the country or the world (2024)

I remember vividly when the World Trade Center fell in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Hundreds of innocent people were killed, injured and traumatized that day. Millions more were left heartbroken, myself included. The impact it had on so many people is undeniable. It was a dark day in our country’s history.

On April 4, 1968, a man who fought tirelessly for justice and equality, who challenged our country and the world to be more righteous and dignified, Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated. MLK Jr. represented hope and love for so many and. in an instant, his life was cut short by violence and hatred. That too was a dark day in our country’s history.

At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, more than 150 years ago, tens of thousands were killed, and thousands more were maimed in just three days in the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War. Thousands of Union soldiers died to free our fellow Americans from the bondage of slavery. The blood quite literally flowed in the streets. Years of carnage followed before slavery was finally defeated. Those were dark days in our country’s history.

Now, a contender for the presidency claims that none of these events were the darkest, most tragic, or most harrowing moments in our history. Former President Donald Trump does not recognize these days as our worst or our darkest. Instead, he claims that our darkest day was only a few days ago – the day of his conviction on 34 felony counts by a jury of his peers.

Nothing in our country’s history is more important to Trump than his personal grievances.

What about the people in Maine who experienced their darkest day last October, hearing that their loved ones were gunned down in Lewiston by a mass shooter? Would they agree with him? What about all the Americans lynched simply because of the color of their skin? What about the Native people who were marched from their homes, only to perish from hunger, heartbreak and murder? What about the people who labored for years, lifetimes and generations in bondage and oppression? What about those who cried themselves to sleep knowing they would never see their loved ones again because they died making the ultimate sacrifice for our country and its values?

The sad reality is that Trump cares nothing for us, nothing for the country and certainly nothing for the world. He cares nothing for our democratic allies fighting life-and-death struggles. He has divided us in the nastiest and most egregious ways. Like all demagogues and usurpers, he has turned people who have so much in common into enemies, pitting us against each other for no other purpose than to save himself.

He should never be anywhere close to political power again. If not for the sake of the country and the future of our world, then for the sake of the spirits of history who cry out for justice, truth and reason in the face of the injustice, lies, and treachery that surround us.

All reasonable and clear-minded people know what they must do on Nov. 5, 2024. There may be setbacks that are destructive and demoralizing, and he may very well win the presidency in November. But the best of us can never surrender our resolve and vision for a better world.

Trump wants us to give up our hope, our compassion, and our ability to think for ourselves. It is up to each and every one of us, with every fiber of our being, to act in every possible way to ensure that he and the cause he represents are vanquished. It will require the collective power of millions of people in our country, and billions around the world, who yearn for truth, justice and liberty. The spirits of the past, who truly lived through our country’s darkest days, walk alongside us. History is counting on us. He must be defeated.

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