The following is an editorial from the Savannah Morning News June 3, 2020
Hard to imagine there’d come a time where Americans longed for President Donald Trump to busy himself with his Twitter account or by trading barbs with reporters in the West Wing press briefing room.
That hour has arrived.
When authorities use tear gas to clear a public park of protesting citizens to clear a path for a public servant to lead a pathetic parade, you wish he were preoccupied crafting a distasteful tweet instead.
When the leader of a country grounded in freedom and liberty threatens to institute martial law, you yearn for him to be distracted by a verbal sparring match with a journalist.
For so long now, so many Americans have dismissed Trump’s antics and persona as harmless braggadocio. A significant percentage of the populace is willing to overlook his crass manner and general disregard for basic decorum so long as he stands up for what they consider America’s core principles, be those based in economics, faith or constitutional law.
This unwillingness to check him, to criticize him, to demand better from him now threatens to do lasting damage to the country.
What happened in front of the White House on Monday evening and what the president told governors about deploying soldiers in our nation’s streets is a tipping point. This is what “absolute power” looks like.
Are we a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” or are we a fledgling authoritarian state?
The pushback must come from people, not the politicians of the opposition party, to have effect. The Republican leadership fears the political consequences of challenging Trump and thus sits silent. They must be made to realize the ramifications of their not decrying the president’s actions.
It was encouraging to read the blunt condemnation of Trump’s march from the White House to St. John’s Church from the Episcopal church’s bishop.
Likewise, the leader of Washington, D.C., area Catholics, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, gave a withering — and heartening — critique of the president for a Tuesday visit to a Catholic shrine.
“I find it baffling that and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree,” said Gregory, who until recently was the archbishop of Atlanta.
The time to argue over whether or not Trump was duly elected almost four years ago or whether he should have been removed from office following his impeachment has passed. The discussion should be about his actions in this moment, and in the coming days and weeks as protests linger, and what that conduct could mean for America’s future.
Americans need to set boundaries with this president. Let him tweet and let him duel with the press. But don’t allow him to exert the kind of power that will change this nation fundamentally forevermore.
