by John Bossange
I’ve never seen evil in a president of the United States, but today I do with President Trump and his leadership team of evildoers consisting of J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. In fact, I’ve never felt the strong emotion of evil for anyone or any event in my personal or professional life. But I do now, watching President Trump’s evil, sinful, and immoral agenda destroy our country.
Thinking back to when I first began to vote, I despised President Nixon for his support of this Vietnam War and his Watergate scandal. President Reagan frustrated me with his disparaging and damaging comments about our nation’s government and of course his own Iran Contra scandal. I can’t recall much emotion about president G. H. W. Bush, but none of these men were evildoers.
President Clinton’s sleazy affair with a White House intern and his slow abandonment of traditional democratic voters in favor of wealthy liberal mega donors were short-sighted. He was followed by President G. W. Bush’s lie about “weapons of mass destruction,” and his three tax cuts for the rich were an economic disaster for our nation’s budget. Both were great disappointments, but these Presidents were not evil nor out to destroy America.
President Obama’ lawyerly, cautious and “above it all” approach to his presidency made him vulnerable to political attacks and undermined his effectiveness, which was difficult to watch for twelve years. And of course, President Biden’s refusal to commit to a “transition presidency,” and the subsequent strategy designed by his inner cabinet of advisors covering up the President’s inability to do the work of the presidency continues to raise very disturbing ethical questions. Again, like the previous presidents, neither was evil. They believed they had the best of intentions for our nation.
I’ve always respected the immense difficulty and responsibility that comes with the presidency of the United States, no matter the party or the person. Some of these presidents I voted for, and some I did not. I felt a few embarrassed America, while others embarrassed themselves. Despite it all, over those 50 years, as a proud American citizen who has never missed voting in an election, the quality of the candidate governed my vote. Most importantly, once these presidents were in office, I never witnessed the evil, immorality, and unethical behavior that I do today.
I see evil as knowing that what you are doing is wrong and hurtful, but doing it anyway. With his growing and visible dementia, combined with his narcissistic personality, I’m not sure President Trump is fully capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong or good and evil. His AI posting on Truth Social showing him flying a jet dumping feces on peaceful protesters the day of the nationwide demonstrations is another sign of a demented and profoundly deranged individual.
His rambling and incoherent comments at the UN, at the Charlie Kirk funeral, and the speech given to all our generals offer proof of his unstable state of mind. Most importantly, this is also proof that his underlings, Vance, Miller, and Vought, will put up with the President’s distracting “white noise” so they can focus on the real agenda: a much smaller federal government, privatizing entire departments and agencies, and deregulation for excessive corporate profits.
Trump’s three underlings and the architects of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 are fully aware of the impact of their behavior and actions. They know that the evisceration and deconstruction of our federal government will cause great economic, social, moral, and ethical pain to tens of millions of American families and citizens of all ages, genders, nationalities, religions, national parties, and political persuasions.
They know less regulation is a pathway for corporate profits and for the rich to get richer. They know that lower taxes will eventually destroy the municipal services most of us depend upon. They know that privatizing and eventually defunding Social Security and Medicare will hurt all of us who are not millionaires or billionaires. They know the nation cannot exist with the massive debt, and they know it will not be paid down until the wealthiest 600 families, who own 79% of America’s wealth, pay their fair share of taxes. They know immigrants are not taking jobs from Americans when in fact, they are doing the work most Americans will not do. They also know that the non-white population is at 40% of the nation, and will become the majority population in twenty years, even if the borders are closed.
Denying the truth to these issues is the definition of an evildoer. These are examples of deeply immoral, unethical and hurtful behaviors. But an evildoer is not bothered. Evildoers put profiteering and position power for self, family, and a close circle of friends before the needs of neighbors, county, state, and nation. Welcome to the evil world of J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. As the president makes a fool of himself, these three will not fool the rest of us. Over time, most MAGA supporters will eventually realize that they have been exploited, lied to, and taken for fools. Evil has never withstood the test of time. Eventually the truth will prevail.