We are in the third week of Donald Trump's government shutdown. As it continues, more and more regular people are being harmed in addition to the 800,000 federal employees being held as economic hostages unable to pay their essential bills.
He asserted on Jan. 4 that many of these unpaid employees agree with what he's doing. A couple weeks ago, he speculated that most of them were Democrats, so the heck with them.
With his comments and actions, Trump has shown that he doesn't care squat about the harm he's causing. It's all about getting his way on funding for his border wall. He also wants to freeze salaries for all federal employees. My thought is that he hopes many of them will resign in disgust or desperation. Those positions won't be filled, and basic functions of government won't get done.
Is this a good time to mention that a bunch of Trump's higher-level minions apparently are getting $10,000 pay raises to get their new year off to a nice start?
Let's face it. Trump is a destroyer, despite all his Make America Great Again talk. He's vindictive and an aspiring dictator. His priorities and first loyalty are enhancement of his own wealth and power, and feeding his ego.
But things are getting squirrelly as he's run off the adults who apparently maintained first loyalty to their country and tried to keep his destruction under control. He no longer has a suck-up rubber stamp Republican House of Representatives. I'm among those who worry that if it gets to where he's in serious danger of going down (by impeachment, indictment, or losing in 2020), he'll make a serious effort to take the country down with him. It's the kind of person he is.
Carole McWilliams
Bayfield
