Editor, News-Register:

In October 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama’s stated “people who are incredibly strong lift others up. People who are powerful bring others together.” How prophetic and relevant at present with supreme egotist and most assuredly one of the greatest dividers our great nation has ever witnessed in government President Donald J. Trump refers to those who disagree with him politically, as the enemy within, whom he claims to hate.

As it has been stated often times over the years that our democratic form of government which has long been the envy of the free world, that if it would ever cease to exist that it would not be a result of foreign intervention but rather from within, and with Trump’s most troubling words and actions during his second term in office has placed our nation perhaps at its greatest risk of losing its democratic form of government and becoming an aristocracy.

It is obvious that Trump is all in favor of freedom of speech and the rule of law — if such meets with his personal approval. Otherwise, he moves to censor or even have terminated from their employment to silence them.

How completely un-American is that? Also what other individual in a position of national, as well as international leadership such as Trump in the history of the free world has spent countless hours denigrating others as Trump does on Truth Social as well as verbally, with whom he may disagree and also spending countless hours playing golf while his/her nation and the world is in the midst of facing extremely serious challenges both at home as well as abroad? Unfortunately, only Trump has consistently displayed such disrespectful and disruptive behavior.

It is obvious that during his current term in office Trump has prioritized retribution of his political opponents as his top priority.

In closing recall that the ego driven narcissistic, the likes of whom we have perhaps never before seen, Trump who also has a convoluted perception of reality, it has been reported, had numerous signs posted throughout the country praising him for providing the funding in support of major infrastructure projects throughout the country when in actuality such funding was allocated by President Joe Biden during his presidency for which Trump then called the $1.2 trillion funding package as a loser for the USA.

Either President Trump has a very distorted perception of reality, or he simply has no shame when it comes to his personal ego gratification.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry