President Trump's behavior

The recently published anonymous Op-Ed letter in New York Times, and Bob Woodward’s book, “Fear,” subtitled “Trump in the White House,” further add to the “Red lights are blinking” warning issued by Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence. As Woodward noted, the real threat to America’s security comes not just from Russia, but also from the president himself.

During the course of the presidential campaign, we witnessed Trump’s erratic and impulsive behaviors; his “volcanic eruptions” and “verbal whacking” of his adversaries. Since he became president, we have witnessed his reckless decisions based on monumental ignorance and his total lack of humanity in his decision to separate innocent little children from illegal immigrant parents.

However, what is even more dangerous is the cowardly behavior of Trump’s cabinet secretaries as well as Republican lawmakers. Every one of them seems to be terrorized by his “verbal whacking.” Sen. McConnell has been compromised by virtue of his wife being a cabinet member. Fearful of being “whacked,” Speaker Paul Ryan simply decided to run away from the political arena.

Trump’s steadfast refusal to criticize Putin, and his blatantly obsequious behavior toward him in Helsinki make us suspicious that Putin is blackmailing him. The fact that he convinced a handful of Republican lawmakers to go to Moscow as his surrogates to pay homage to Putin further supports this suspicion.

It appears as though both Trump and his Republican minions suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological state of mind in which terrorized victims collude with terrorists.

K.P.S. KAMATH, Cape Girardeau