Ray
Richmond is a writer in Los Angeles. This article appeared in the
Los Angeles Times. I won’t
reproduce it in full because that would violate copyright law. I hope you will
open the article and read it.
It expresses my own feelings of personal fear,
fear for the future of my nation and my fellow citizens, fear for our
democracy, and deep uneasiness about the future.
I
never thought I’d have to write that I sense fear from my fellow citizens when
it comes to speaking out against a presidential administration. But I do.
I
never thought I’d have to write that our president is the biggest and most
compulsive liar that I’ve ever encountered in American public life. But I must.
I
never thought I’d have to write that the leader of the United States has the
demeanor of a middle school-aged adolescent, with mature development arrested
at age 13. But it’s true.
I
never thought I’d have to write that my government has declared literal war
against the truth, or that the president’s chief spokesperson would go on
television and with a straight face and present the idea of “alternative
facts.” But they have.
I
never thought I’d have to write that my president is so insecure and consumed
with the size of his support that he would personally phone the acting chief of
the National Park Service to produce photographic evidence of a larger turnout
at his inauguration. But he did…
I
never thought I’d have to write that members of President Trump’s senior staff
all were using a private Republican National Committee email server after
having made Hillary Clinton’s doing so the centerpiece of the general election
campaign. But it has.
I
never thought I’d have to write that the winner of the presidential campaign is
loudly and persistently making dubious claims of voter fraud despite having
come out on top. But he does….
I
never thought I’d have to write that an American president this week stood in
front of the hallowed CIA Memorial Wall and made a self-aggrandizing speech
about his own greatness and popularity, unable to see past his own narcissistic
reflection. But he did.
I
never thought I’d have to write that five members of the president’s inner
circle, including two of his children, are registered to vote in two states.
But they are.
I
never thought I’d have to write that Steve Bannon, the president’s chief
strategist, has gone so far as to tell the New York Times, “The media should be
embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.
The media here is the opposition party.” But he did.
I
never thought I’d have to write that the leader of the once-free world could
consume himself with bad-mouthing movie stars and TV shows in tweets and all
but declare war on information itself. But he does….
I
never thought I’d have to write that waking up in the morning to the news —
once an activity embraced with relish — so fills me with dread. But it does.
I
never thought I’d have to write that going about the business of my daily life
feels utterly empty and foreboding due to what appears to be the purposeful
destruction of our hallowed institutions of democracy in real time. But it has.
I
never thought I’d have to write that I feel helpless in the face of tyranny and
autocratic rule from a man who believes himself at once omnipotent and
infallible. But I do.
I
never thought I’d have to write that I sense I’m a stranger in my own land. But
I do.
