Does the end justify the means or is the end determined by the means?

Donald Trump is a like a deadly cancer that is killing us. It’s not his fault. We put him where he is. We hired a child stuck in a mans body to be POTUS. The symptoms are there for us to see, from Trump’s many tweets, his name calling, his erratic and impulsive tendencies, his insatiable need to protect his ego, and his divisive rhetoric, just to name the obvious. We don’t need a doctor to hear the lies in Trump’s tweets, or ignore our own cringes when we hear him use his bully pulpit to yet again call someone a nasty nickname. We put a man horribly addicted to feeding his fragile ego in charge of the most powerful country on earth, and he’s on a binge of his lifetime and not about to give it up. And his addiction totally disables him from doing what is best for America. There may be moments when feeding his ego actually coincides with doing something right for America, but it will be the exception rather than the rule.

For those who think they can control this kind of egomaniac, watch out. We’ve learned from the Mueller report that there were those that prevented Trump from exercising his most base instincts and helped him avoid killing his own presidency. It’s sort of like taking the drug away from the person in the throes of their addiction. It keeps them alive another day with the hope they get the help they need and get into recovery. But it is not sustainable. The downward spiral for people with addictions continues, often leading to death. The most we can do is to provide an environment where they can recover. I have great compassion for people with addictions, including Trump. However, his active addiction makes him unfit to be president. But I digress.

What if those who are charged to keep Trump in check, fail? Trump demands blind loyalty, not to country, not to our democratic values, but to himself. He cannot help it. He’s an addict, his ego demands it, and it is so big it shields his vision from all else, from his very own spirit. Sadly, there are many who are blind or ignore the cluster of symptoms spewed by Trump. Or perhaps they see the symptoms, but think they are benign, not realizing they are symptoms of a deadly cancer and not just a head cold. Blind loyalty! And then there are those who rail against him like he can change who he is. He can’t.

For those who simply tolerate him, perhaps the camp who thinks his symptoms are from a head cold and not the deadly cancer I believe it to be, it appears they are buying into the idea that “the end justifies the means.” Does it? What is the end so many are excited about? Being re-elected? Deregulation of environmental protections? A wall? Lower taxes for the ultra wealthy? Less protections for the average American? Threats to health care access? Criminalizing abortion while doing nothing to improve access to health care for women and access to adequate child care? Further eroding public education? Having conservative judges to further erode our democracy when judiciary is supposed to be non-partisan? Eroding the rights of LGBTQ communities? Is this the end so many are excited about? And many are saying, YES! This is exactly why “the means justifies the end.” I get that these are largely held conservative values, non of which I personally agree with, but I get it.

But what about the loss of our American democratic values found in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution? Values such as Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness, Truth, Justice, Equality, the Common Good, Diversity, Popular Sovereignty and Patriotism. How does Donald Trump’s compulsive, hate filled, divisive rhetoric promote these core American values? How does his “us against them”; “winners and losers”; black and white rhetoric promote inclusivity, tolerance, acceptance, and freedoms for all? How do his lies promote TRUTH? Donald Trump is not promoting American core values. He can’t, because if he does, it removes the attention from him and puts it on us. He cannot tolerate to lose any attention. He cannot tolerate being behind the scenes. He cannot tolerate that America, the collective us, is greater than he. I am hopeful that our popular sovereignty, our power to control the government, will reveal our democratic values and will prevail. I pray our love will conquer hate, and we will use this power to remove Donald Trump, with our vote, in 2020. If we don’t we may find a very awful end “determined by the means.”