When is Enough, Enough?

At some point, yes, it is time to say enough.  I reached that point many months ago.  The critical question is when will the American people – and our Congress – arrive at the same position?

Clearly, it was not when Trump was a candidate and attacked John McCain, saying, “He’s not a war hero.  He’s a war hero because he was captured.  I like people who weren’t captured”.  This from a man who never served and received five deferments from the Vietnam War draft – four for college and one for “bone spurs” in his feet.  Yet, we elected him Commander-in-Chief of the largest (or at least the most expensive), best equipped, and most capable military in the world.

We did not say “enough” when Trump mocked a disabled man on National TV.

We did not say “enough” when Trump encouraged his supporters to beat up protestors.

We did not say “enough” when we finally heard Trump tell Billy Bush, “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them.  It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.  And when you’re a star, they let you do it.  You can do anything.  Grab ‘em by the pussy.  You can do anything.”

We did not say “enough” when Trump called Mexican immigrants “killers and rapists.”

We did not say “enough” when Trump said that the neo-Nazis and white supremacists marching in Charlottesville included “some fine people.”

We did not say “enough” when Trump, who as President took an oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” publicly challenged the First Amendment, apparently because he did not understand its content and meaning.

We didn’t say “enough” when Trump blamed the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s poor infrastructure and debt?  And, we did not say “enough” when Trump mocked a Hispanic accent when pronouncing “Puerto Rico,” apparently forgetting that a) Puerto Ricans are Americans and b) that 15% of Americans are Hispanic.

The list of statements Trump has uttered that should have sparked outrage is, unfortunately, seemingly endless.  And yesterday, after a bald-faced lie about President Obama’s behavior regarding fallen soldiers, he reportedly told the newly widowed Myeshia Johnson (wife of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four American military personnel killed nearly two weeks ago in Niger) that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”

If you hadn’t had enough before, maybe you have had enough now?  Or are you going to wait for the first North Korean nuclear missile to fall on Guam?  Or you will wait for Trump’s appointment of another total incompetent, perhaps to Chair the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System?  How about waiting until he begins campaigning for anti-gay, anti-Muslim Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama, twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to enforce federal laws that do not comply with his personal religious beliefs?  Why not wait until Trump tries to annul all our air, water, and food regulations?  Exactly what will it take for us, collectively, as a nation, to come to our collective senses and say in a loud and convincing voice, “that’s fucking enough?”

I can tell you, whenever it is, it may not be soon enough.  It may be too late. Already our international credibility is in shambles.  Like the original deal or not (I am a not), the idiocy of not certifying the Iran deal, against the advice of all his advisors and allies, is a precedent-setting error that will compromise the ability of the US to negotiate long-term agreements with any foreign government.  The “tax concept” Trump has floated (he is, I suspect at a genetic level, not capable of developing a “plan”) would enshrine a plutocracy at the heart of our system.  His attempted dismantling of the Affordable Care Act is a move of dystopian proportions in addition to being ill-informed and cruel.  His maniacal desire to undo everything that President Obama accomplished – regardless of merit – crosses the border from sanity to pathological. Trump’s understanding of, and respect for, our Constitution and its fundamental protections is scarily concerning as his understanding of how our government is supposed to work.

The time is now.  As Popeye used to say, “I have had enough, and enough is too much.”  Write your Congressional representatives in the House and Senate.  Write the Cabinet Members.  Write a letter to the editor.  Write and publish a rant. And, for God’s sake, vote smarter in the next set of elections.