Re: "The People vs. Donald Trump"

1.6.19

To the Editor:

David Leonhardt (1.6.19, The People vs. Donald Trump) writes cogently about Donald Trump's unfitness to serve as President but leaves out the blatant example of his ineptitude as evidenced by his mishandling of the government shutdown. For an individual who boasts his ability to finesse the 'art of the deal,' we have hundreds of thousands of hardworking Federal employees being hurt by a strategy that can only be characterized as bullying and coercive.  There is a complete incapacity to negotiate as this requires giving something up in return for getting something.  This is not rocket science but it is beyond Donald Trump's grasp.  Threatening that the shutdown can go on for years, oblivious to the already precarious situation of furloughed and unpaid Federal employees, illustrates that it is his ego rather than American citizens he is trying to protect. 

Leonhardt speculates that an external emergency may be the tipping point that compels the reality of Trump's unfitness to be confronted. Will this self-made internal emergency - the shutdown -  be the catalyst?  We will only know in hindsight though one thing is certain: Democrats and Republicans will need to come together in a way they rarely have in recent years if this national nightmare is going to end. How ironic it would be for Trump to have 'succeeded' in bringing the two parties together.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry S. Sandberg