End the toxic madness!

It is as bad as it can get

It is difficult — if not impossible — to overstate the implications of the toxic climate that hangs over our system of government and the politics that drives it.

I have been around long enough to remember earlier toxic eras, but I do not ever recall it being at a level that we are experiencing today. Who’s the blame? What is responsible?

Let me start with the 45th president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump didn’t plant the toxic seeds. He merely germinated them. He fed them. Made them grow. He has harvested their disgraceful fruit and he continues to distribute that fruit to anyone willing to consume it. Sadly, the consumers number too many.

My first bout of toxicity came during the Vietnam War. Many of us old enough to remember that era recall the violence, the assassinations of MLK Jr. and RFK. No, those tragic events weren’t tied directly to war protests, but it all signaled a horrible reckoning with which we were dealing.

Watergate occurred at the tail end of that era. A president abused his power, then sought to cover it up. He resigned in disgrace just as Congress was preparing articles of impeachment to have him booted out.

Then came 9/11. We were united for a while. Then another president decided to take the fight beyond the realm of terrorists who killed so many of us on that day.

Now we have the leftover toxicity from the Trump era. His Big Lie about non-existent “widespread voter fraud” poisons our faith in our democratic process. He has ushered into Congress nimrods who have swilled his poisonous concoction.

He lost his re-election bid but remains a factor in our political discourse.

How in the name of all that is holy can that be? The House of Representatives impeached him twice! He skated through and avoided being removed from office.

The toxicity remains very much a part of our national debate and our outlook.

Wow! Oh, how I want an end to this madness.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com