ELECTION: Leadership assessment

In 2016, Trump became my beloved country’s president — who disparages women, mocks the disabled, calls ex-POWs losers for being caught (and lied to avoid the draft), was impeached for abuse of power, who paid prostitutes to keep silent, who outsourced his clothing line production to China, who hired illegal immigrants to work his properties then didn’t pay them, who benefited from a fraudulent university, who filed bankruptcy multiple times.

He claimed losses on his taxes paying only $750, but also inflated his assets to secure loans. He rolled back environmental protections, disbanded the task force designed to prepare us for a pandemic, admittedly lied about the severity of the pandemic, rolled back insurance protections, diverted military funds to build a wall, took steps to deport people born and raised in the U.S. and crippled the process toward citizenship; he supported white supremacists and encouraged violence against peaceful protesters. He told us Biden is a socialist/communist.

Biden is right of center. Harris is left of center; neither of them supports communism. They do support social programs the majority of Americans want: access to good health care for all, an affordable college education, a living wage and environmental controls protecting our air and water.

In 2016, Clinton won the popular vote, and graciously conceded. Obama welcomed the Trumps into the White House with civility. What is happening now is not how our Constitution dictates transfer of power. Biden had more votes, electoral and popular. Let the process work and the healing begin.

GERI HAGLER

Coeur d’Alene