Last week, I wrote about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s leadership during the Depression and World War II. I feel compelled to write about the lack of leadership, on so many fronts, of America’s current president. This president has fostered division while proclaiming that he is the only president who has ever done anything for this country. True leaders foster unity and help Americans to achieve their highest potential while caring for them as individuals. They raise us up to climb the tallest of mountains and to swim the fastest moving rivers.
Americans are desperately seeking a leader who stands for more than the economy; it appears that’s all this president cares about. For every other crisis, he seems to either not want to talk about it, as though he doesn’t care, or he claims to know nothing about the issues. Any president who hides behind his own inabilities should not be our president. He certainly has proven many times that he doesn’t care about all Americans, only a small group that is willing to agree with him or has something to gain by associating with him.
To be respected, a leader needs to be respectful of every group of people under his protection. In the images we have seen this past week, how did the president get to the other side of the road in front of the White House? He used force to push peaceful protestors aside. This is not respect. Once he walked in front of St. John’s Church, he used an upside down Bible as a prop and the church as a backdrop for his photo shoot. As a Christian, I felt defiled by his mockery of the Christian symbols I hold dear to my heart. I believe the only reason he went to the church was to try to regain the votes of the southern Christian right for his re-election, not to the stop the burning of churches. My heart belongs to Jesus Christ, not to this man who would be king. Those who use Christianity and its symbols for their own personal gains are not Christians. The darkness this president is spreading can only come from one source.
Reacting to the peaceful protestors around the country concerning the death of George Floyd by a White policeman using excessive force, this president chose the words, “dominate the streets,” as he said he would use our military forces to face down the protestors. Unfortunately for these peaceful protestors and those around the country, there appears to always be those who mean to use violence instead. History has witnessed images of this kind before; the 1930’s and 40’s in Germany heard a man demand, “Heil,” and everybody bowed to his wishes. The rights of every man, woman, and child were usurped with that man’s use of military power and that of small communities. Let’s not forget how much our armed forces have worked to create a positive image since the debacle of Vietnam. We are not at war, and we, the American people, are not the enemy.
The president did not act responsibly when COVID-19 arrived and did everything in his power to say it was a hoax perpetrated by the news media and China. Over 100,000 people have died, and he still says it will go away by itself without a vaccine. He did nothing to prepare our country for this disease; our industries were not ramped up for proper medical and protection equipment. Ventilators should have been built and stock piled for future use. Because he so callously thinks he knows everything about anything, he openly disagrees with our highly trained medical experts. By his misinformation and actions, thousands of Americans feel they can ignore wearing masks, can ignore keeping six feet apart, can be in large groups, and drink bleach to kill the disease. In his mind, his re-election convention must go on, despite the fact that hundreds could die from attending such an event. Everything must re-open right now in our country because the economy is tanking; the well-being of our people seems to be secondary to him. He sounds like a two-year old who is having a melt-down and not getting his way.
My response to the peaceful protestors across our nation is based on this principle. As long as we use our race, color, creed, or religion as weapons against each other, change will not happen. Change can only happen when we love, when we respect, and when we care for each other as equals. While I support peaceful protesting for equal rights according to the Constitution of the United States, I do not support those who seek to destroy the rights and property of any American for their own selfish gains. This goes two ways: I do not support the violence like we have seen as anything but violence. Those who perpetrate these crimes must be treated as criminals. I also do not support those who seek to take our rights away by force, as per our president. No man has a right to usurp the rights we have so valiantly fought and died for around the globe. In my impassioned view of America, the America I was born into, the America my grandson is fighting for today, we should still be saying, “In God we trust.”
Although the president thinks he is a leader, he hasn’t shown leadership of any kind through his entire presidency, only when it suits himself. Just as Harry Truman had a sign on his desk in the Oval Office that said, “The buck stops here,” Donald Trump should have a sign that says, “Money Before People.” To get respect, a leader needs to be respectful. This president has a long way to go before he can even begin to touch the shoes of real leaders such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Anna Hartt
