One benefit of the aging process is the appreciation of homespun wisdom that is packaged and reflected in phrases like, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Unfortunately, deception has long been the MO of the sitting, second term president. Being honest or displaying integrity doesn’t motivate him, but, likewise, perhaps now, over a decade after his launch into the political arena on the golden escalator at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, is the nation finally coming to understand the unanticipated and devastating costs of riding the Trump train.

There are many out there quick to conclude that presidential critics, myself included, suffer from TDS, the object’s coined put-down, “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” That caustic label withers with the accumulation of so many mistakes so long welcomed by the MAGA faithful. Rather, it is their leader who suffers from WDD, an acronym for “Wisdom Deficit

Disorder,” a term which rings a whole lot truer than most of the perpetual word salad we get with his ever-more-obvious mental and physical decline.

Wisdom can be difficult to acquire. Were it not, those who supported him the first time would not have been so foolish as to give him a razor-thin popular vote majority the third time, notwithstanding his futile but flagrant and ongoing, multiply-refuted, unhinged insistence that he “won” the second time: the third time he got fewer votes than the total of those voting against him plus those choosing not to vote at all: a remarkable wisdom deficit for the nation pioneering the world’s way to a yet-to-be-achieved democracy.

Ask yourself and consider where his answers fall on the wisdom scale:

• As flawed as it may be, is there wisdom in the written Constitution as amended, hammered out by the Founders (including separation of powers and checks and balances)?

• Is there wisdom in the universal conclusion that human activities, including the rampant quest for energy through burning fossil fuels like dirty coal, oil, and natural gas causes climate change and global warming?

• Why should tax payer dollars be used to shut down rather than nurture development of renewable energy sources like wind, hydro and solar?

• On balance, has immigration in the broadest sense, in a nation deemed a “melting pot,” been a positive in terms of propelling economic wealth and providing labor upon which the nation moved forward?

• Is denying past errors, both nationally and individually, rather than learning from mistakes, the preferred path to a “more perfect union?”

We were, but are in the process of ceasing to be, a nation of laws, founded upon a written constitution, affording the promise of equality, fairness, and participation in a government of, by and for the people.

Exploiters of privilege, and those lacking honesty and decency ought never be given the reins of power. We are overdue for a course correction and accountability under law.

JOE DeCRISTOPHER

Lewisburg

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