EDITORIAL: Stand up to the bully in the political pulpit!

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Reviewing Trump’s first 100 days in office is like watching the Titanic go down. Not a day from Jan. 20 to April 30 was the nation safe from a painful, extremely distressing executive order. Only Trump’s billionaire cohort was able to breathe without screaming for mercy. So far, despite the misery, most of us have survived, and with the past behind us, how do we endure the other 1360 or so days in front of us? Well, it won’t be easy but we must not despair, must not give in to the onslaught of tyranny and surrender to a despot — a make-believe king and would-be Pope.

We know preparing for what is undoubtedly a relentless wave of executive orders, many of them illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional, will not be easy. But we must begin right away to gird ourselves for Trump’s shock and awe, erect a wall of resistance, and hope that the marginalized and dispossessed will soon be joined by the farmers and others suffering under unforgiving tariffs.

There is much talk about another impeachment of Trump but that will be no more successful than the others, especially given his control of the three branches of government, and too many spineless elected officials. And there are a few hopefuls who believe that Trump will be hoisted on his own petard, that he will ultimately be hurt by the very plans intended for others. That may be true but let’s not wait for him to fall so completely on his face in defeat. Nor should we place too much hope on the midterm elections, or that the huddled masses will take to the streets and demand his removal from office.

At this stage of his so-called rule of law, where due process is done, Trump has done away with the traditional democratic guardrails. The checks have bounced and there’s governmental imbalance. When it comes to jurisprudence, he’s the judge, jury and executioner. And those who oppose better get ready for a one-way ticket to Venezuela or El Salvador.

Yes, there’s a grim scenario in the next more than thousand days, but we must not cave in, capitulate to this force of evil, a seemingly impregnable demon. Many of us have overcome slavery, the Holocaust, concentration camps, the Red Scare, and the KKK, and in this regard Trump is a lightweight. Tone up that political muscle and take on this bully in the pulpit.