Looking for evidence that Americans have lost their taste for Trumpism

In February of last year I had a letter published in the Daily Inter Lake that lamented the fact that 62 million Americans would put a person so obviously unfit, both intellectually and morally, in the White House.

But that same piece suggested that many of those 62 million people would, at some point, realize that the situation is simply intolerable. We may now be at that point. In the past few months we have seen one red stronghold after another go blue, with the most recent sending Conor Lamb to the U.S. House from a district that Trump won by more than 20 points in 2016.

If ever good people were going to come to the aid of their country, now would be a good time. Trump is so shockingly ignorant, amoral and unstable that he poses a clear and present danger to the entire world, particularly with regard to the situations in Russia, Iran and North Korea. But almost as bad is the fact that many of his Cabinet and senior staff picks are just plain awful. Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke and Betsy DeVos may be the worst Cabinet picks we have ever seen in American history. In just one year, they have been able to wreak incredible damage to their agencies and to our land, air, water and wildlife; to include polluting and selling off public lands after repeated campaign promises to protect them.

Betsy DeVos, as secretary of education, could not be more unqualified. Her attempts to systematically defund our public schools will have tragic effects. Several Trump Cabinet picks, such as Ben Carson and Rick Perry, are simply sleeping peacefully at the wheel, without a clue as to what is necessary to effectively run their agencies. The harm being done on a daily basis to our Dreamer population, our civil liberties, and our intelligence community flies in the face of the most fundamental ideals upon which this country was founded.

So, unlike 2016, when far too many of us, including myself, assumed the American people would never put people so appallingly unfit in our federal government, we now know better. We must continue, and intensify, the all-out effort that recently put Conor Lamb in Congress, and that last year defeated Roy Moore, the alleged Alabama pedophile that Trump championed for a U.S. Senate seat. God willing, maybe we can begin to reverse the incredible damage that is being done by these people, and return our government to a semblance of order, dignity and respect.

Jim Lockwood is a resident of Whitefish.