Trump is wrong to constantly attack others

At lunch the other day, a good friend of mine explained that he stays away from the national news, and he's all the happier for it. He no longer watches the cable news channels and he's deleted all but one of the national newspaper apps he used to have on his phone. I totally understand.

When you have a president telling four citizens of the United States, three who were born here, and all duly elected to Congress, to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they come," which he had already described as "countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world," it is disturbing and depressing. Moreover, framing an argument (nonsensical in the first place, because they are from America) around "leave" if you don't agree with me, is not only belligerent, it is intellectually weak -- the refuge of someone unable to argue a point on a higher level. Because the four congresswomen are people of color, a fact seemingly influencing Trump, it is also racist.

Some may point out that the four congresswomen have said as bad or worse, and that may be right; they're no paragons of virtue, either. And some of their proposed policies may be loony, even dangerous. But none of them is the president of the United States. Donald Trump is, and his glee in repeatedly exhibiting the worst in politics and personal character, should be a disappointment to all fair-minded people.

In recent weeks, symbols of America have been under attack. The Betsy Ross flag, which was used by George Washington during the Revolutionary War and flown proudly over President Barack Obama's inauguration, was called a tool of racism. In a town in Minnesota, the Pledge of Allegiance was deemed by a left-leaning city council as too divisive and unwelcoming to be included in its regular meetings. An uplifting Fourth of July celebration was derided as militaristic. In this environment of secular progressiveness run amok, Trump purports to offer a different path -- one wrapped in the flag and symbols of patriotism. But his words, pitting people against people, too often undercut the symbols he embraces. And that is a disgrace, because we need American symbols, and we need a democracy where ideas are at the center of argument and deliberation, not personal attacks.

President Abraham Lincoln, in his second Inaugural address, sought healing for a torn land, by calling on all to act "with malice toward none, with charity for all." Trump likes to call himself a great president, and his supporters can point to some serious accomplishments. But great presidents do not belittle and mock like he does. Such actions merely stoke the anger, exacerbate the divisions, and ultimately, come to no good ends.

Jon K. Rust is publisher of the Southeast Missourian.