After the Apocalypse: Life in Trump's America

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Donald John Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been in office for only six days, and everyone - except his hard-core supporters - is extremely worried about America's future.

I know that many people who come across this post probably think that I'm either a "liberal sore loser" who dislikes President Trump because he beat the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, back in November. Or that I'm an anti-American, unpatriotic, bleeding heart idiot who can't admit that Mr. Trump will make America great again.

 It is true that I don't like the current occupant of the Oval Office, but not for merely partisan reasons. I have never been a member of either the Democratic or Republican Parties; when I registered to vote back in 1984, I told the Department of Elections person who handled my paperwork that I wanted to register as an Independent. I hate extremism, whether it is from the Right or the Left. I am leery of any movement that calls for ideological purity. I am, and always have been, a guy who prefers a middle-of-the-road approach to politics and didn't want to be beholden to any political party or philosophy.

 So, no. My antipathy for Mr. Trump doesn't stem from the fact that he is a Republican President. I've voted for Republican presidential candidates in the past. I may do so again if - and that's a big if - the GOP ever comes to its senses and stops being the Party of the Rich and the Angry Whites. (In other words, probably not in my lifetime.)

 Why don't I like President Donald Trump?

 For starters, he is probably the least Presidential individual ever to make it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He makes Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and even Bill Clinton look like Boy Scouts. He is narcissistic, thin-skinned, egotistical, rude, outspoken, misogynistic, and out-and-out bigoted. He claims to love the United States and claims that he - and he alone - will Make America Great Again.

 I don't think so, folks. This Administration is going to set this country back 100 years if Mr. Trump is not impeached or forced to resign.

 Why do I say this?

 Let's see. In the first six days of his Administration, President Trump has:
  •  announced the unilateral American withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
  • placed gag orders on various U.S. government agencies (NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Department of Agriculture) and forbidden them to disseminate scientific data on climate change or any other topic that doesn't jive with conservatives' world views. 
  • ordered the building of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border (and says Mexico will pay for it)
  • green-lit the Keystone Pipeline, which the Obama Administration had stopped for environmental reasons
  • promised to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and 14 other institutions
  • pitted his followers against "mainstream media" by claiming that his Inauguration didn't have smaller crowds than those present at President Obama's in 2009 or 2013
  • promised to increase defense spending
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Worse, I fear, is to come. 

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