Hard to celebrate being an American these days

KAMLOOPS — It’s hard to believe Americans can jump for joy on this 4th of July, given the turmoil the country is going through, largely because of the constant silliness and poor judgment of its’ President. Donald Trump continues to be a disturbing influence on the state of America, and the direction it’s heading. At one time I thought he was a chameleon, being able to change shapes to suit the surroundings. I’m not sure what I believe now. He reminds me of some of the fantasy movies where the bad guy changes shapes to look like a good guy, and then all of a sudden you see the real person. And it’s not pretty. Respected politicians, news analyists, backroom staffers in the White House, all are wondering what we’ve let ourselves in for the next 3 ½ years. He took to Twitter because he wanted to bypass the media and put his own message out there, knowing the media would never use any of the material he’s tweeting. He has come across as a bully, a man who enforces his views without any discussion, a man who has taken on the mantle of power as one who sees himself the savior of society. America will not be stronger under a President who confines people of one race to a travel ban, while ignoring the fact  that many more deaths are created by people of his own race. That people of a different colour, whether they be black, brown, yellow or red, are to be feared while people the same colour as him are good folks. Stereotyping people by race and religion. He would like to make America great again, and yet his plans for doing so involve industries that are dying, not because we are farming the work outside of America, but because the jobs they are doing are redundant and no longer required. Going back to using fossil fuels to keep miners employed, or retooling auto plants to go back to the big boats that created much of the pollution in our world, is not making anyone great again. President Trump would have us believe that archaic methods are the tools for future success. That is moronic at best. Refusing to embrace climate change, and ignoring the need to develop skilled labour in new areas of technology, will not lead America to new world dominance. The strength of America is rapidly waning. It is falling behind countries like China and India and Russia. It may still be considered by some as the most powerful country in the world, and perhaps it still is, but it is fading fast, and unless President Trump gets a grip on reality, he will lead his country to a state where they are isolated, shunned and powerless. If I were an American, I would not be celebrating independence. I would be more worried today about finding a way to avoid become dependant on other countries to lead them back to glory. Under Donald Trump, they aren’t going to do it by themselves.