I have a reputation for dogging on Donald Trump. Some think my comments are wonderful while others beg me to stop being so hateful toward the man who resides in the White House. I must say that I don’t strive to sound mean but I suppose that I do sound like a broken record to some who beg me to find something nice to say about the president. After all, I am rather well known for finding good in almost everyone. 

I have often answered the challenge by acknowledging that Trump did something wonderful when he expedited the creation of the Covid vaccine during his first term. That was indeed a remarkable thing so I never quite understood why he seemed to change his tune regarding the very innovation that was designed to save lives. Instead of explaining to his believers that they should feel comfortable getting the shot he changed his tune midstream, ruining the one thing that I was happy that he had done. 

I also recall that it was Trump who ordered a shutdown of the country for a couple of weeks to slow down the spread of Covid. I agreed with his order and feel certain that many more Americans might have died without his decision. It confused me when he then attributed that national closure to Joe Biden who was not even president at the time. Trump threw away the wise things he had done in an attempt to appease the voters who had a tendency to align with hoaxes and bad medicine. He even turned on Dr. Fauci who guided us with such professionalism and concern during that horrific time. I will never understand why Trump trashed the very decisions that made him a hero.

Any thinking person understood that those were difficult times during which all of us were dealing with something that we did not totally understand. We might have done better if Trump had not panicked and decided to change his tune in midstream, but he wanted to be loved and popular instead of being a steady leader. This is what was truly a disappointment for me. 

The Biden years were hardly perfect but he did his best to guide us with a kind of calmness that we desperately needed. Humans were struggling all over the world as were economies and yet we came out a bit better than most places when all was said and done. We eventually learned more and more about Covid and how to deal with it. While the whole scenario was incredibly sad and difficult for everyone, we should have muscled through together in a spirit of unity with one another but always there were Trump and his allies stirring the pot of grievance over and over again. Their efforts included an attempt to forcefully change the results of an election that had not gone in their favor. Trump could have been an heroic figure if he had not decided to be vindictive.

Since Trump came back into office every single day has felt chaotic. For a nation that seemed to be longing for a sense of normalcy the result of Trump’s reelection has been a rollercoaster ride that has not been fun at all. In fact, our national anxiety level seems to be at a high that is usually associated with wars of one kind or another. 

In the middle of it all sits Trump, who seems to be either bored or overwhelmed to the point of publicly showing his age. All too often he appears to be tired and out of it. He more and more resembles an elderly person who has lost the mojo that once energetically propelled him. As I watch him now I have to say that he seems as unfit for the high stakes of his office as President Biden seemed to be at the end of his tenure. In that regard I totally understand him. Trump is nearing the age of eighty and it shows, just as my own age is beginning to stifle my ability to work like a teenager from dawn to dusk. Everything that I do these days is tempered by aches and pains and a slowness that is creeping over me. I see these same traits in Trump and I cannot criticize him for being human. It happens to us all. 

I feel for Trump when I see him dozing off in the middle of meetings. I worry about his ability to manage a complex nation when he becomes confused, forgetting words and ideas. He seems even more out of it than Biden did on his worst day and sadly neither he nor anyone around him seems willing to admit that he has probably grown too old for the demands of the job. 

Most of us have the good sense to retire when we sense that we are no longer as “with it” as we once were. We turn over our leadership to younger souls who are able to put in fifteen hour days without missing a beat. We force ourselves to learn how to curb our demands on ourselves because we feel the waning energy that only works on a part time level. We are gracious enough to allow others to help us just as we once helped our parents and our elders. 

I understand Trump’s reticence to let go of the reins. I too have desperately fought the challenges of growing older. I am still able to teach for about nine hours a week on different days but the times of arriving at a school at seven in the morning and completing my work days at ten in the evening are long gone. I can no longer decorate my home for Christmas in one twelve hour swoop. My phenomenal memory all too often fumbles for a name or word or date with uncharacteristic hesitation. I truly understand what is happening to Trump because I am only few years younger that he is. I know all too well how painful it is to admit to my increasing limitations but my mother quite wisely warned me to be ready to step down and allow the younger generations to take the lead. I have done my best to embrace her good sense.

It is quite sad to me that Trump did not have the wise counsel to help him to adjust to his aging like Joe Biden did. People used Trump for their own desires because they saw that he was popular with a certain faction of the populace. Now he looks like a fool as they seem to be filling the holes that he no longer seems able to even notice. They trot him out like an aged show pony and flatter him with lies while all the while they line their own pockets and reshape the government to their own needs. They have abused an old man for their own purposes and made him believe that he is invincible when the entire world can see that his mind and his body are losing their luster. It is a sad sight that did not need be if only power brokers had not seen an opportunity to reshape the world according to their own needs. Trump has become the King Lear of the present generation.  

I am not a heartless soul. I realize that our president is weary. He should be enjoying his life playing golf and having parties at Mar-a-Lago. It’s too bad that nobody loved him enough to do what was best for him. It pains me to watch his undoing on a daily basis and I blame those who still pretend that all is well when it so obviously is not. The next few years will be difficult for Trump and for us all because he was not willing to retire. It’s sad to see an old man being used like a puppet with nobody in his sphere having enough concern for him or for our nation to speak the truth. I hope the damage from that decision is not as bad as I fear it may be. 

Since Trump does not realize that it is time to retire, someone who truly cares about him should help him to face the reality of everyone’s life. Sooner or later we all have to step down. For Trump that time is long past due and for the sake of the entire world someone needs to force him to face the truth that he is destroying our nation with his hubris. Who has the courage and compassion to finally admit that Emperor Trump has no clothes?