Letter to the Editor: David Krischer

Character Matters

The spectacle of Donald Trump encouraging and goading his supporters to break into the Capitol to overturn his election defeat should not have been a surprise to any of us. For all of his adult life, Donald Trump has exhibited a lack of character or a moral compass.

Every one of us, with eyes open, knew stories of how he cheated his employees, his customers and the subcontractors he hired for his real estate projects. We knew of his history of racism and sexism.

Nevertheless, this is the person we chose to have the most important job in the world.

Along the way, the people in leadership positions in our country have been willing accommodaters, adamant that the “policies” that Trump promoted (his tax policy, his anti-regulation policy, his pro-Israel and anti-China policy) were more important than his “bad behavior.”

Over the past four years I have been told, “oh, he’s just a buffoon,” “you can’t take him too seriously,” and more of the same.

And with each daily example of his lack of a moral compass and lack of character, too many of our leaders chose to close their eyes, giving Trump the room and the confidence to grow his power to the point of truly challenging our democracy. This is how demagogues are created and mobs empowered.

The disaster in Washington was not Trump’s failure – it was to be expected of him. It is the failure of our political, business and community leaders who failed to speak up, who believed that policies are more important than character and moral leadership.

David Krischer, Atlanta