The press news services have decided to play nice with Mr. Trump, as evidenced by the two articles in the March 2 Daily World. How low our standards have sunk. If an elected official is able to piece words together in a mild-sounding manner, he’s considered “presidential.” It seems not to matter that the words were lies, the promises empty.

He can talk about respecting clean air and clean water after he signs legislation to allow the poisoning of both. He can claim he isn’t a racist while his executive orders detain innocent people from entering the country who are of a particular faith and ethnicity. He has encouraged Americans to be quislings, to report their neighbors for “suspicious activities.” He wants to create a special office to track crimes supposedly done by “immigrants,” essentially singling out a group of people to be put on a register.

If you want to know where else these actions occurred, check World War II history.

He can claim he is “draining the swamp” while nominating the wealthiest, most corporate cabinet ever. He can act as though he cares about our children but chooses a Secretary of Education who wants to destroy public education. He can claim he is a friend of the worker while his pick for Labor Secretary was forced to withdraw his name because his businesses have been hit with more labor discrimination lawsuits than any other franchise in U.S. history. Trump’s own business practices have been subject to similar abuse of his workers.

He may pretend to be “presidential” for one night, but every other night he insults women, people of color, poor people, disabled people, LGBTQ people, foreign born people, religious beliefs and anyone who disagrees with him.

He threatens our individual freedom. He has brought shame and distrust to our country. These actions are not presidential. We must not be distracted. We must persist and resist.

Linda Orgel

Aberdeen