To the Editor:

Is it possible Donald Trump and the Republican Party he seems to have successfully hijacked have (together) made corruption the political norm in the United States? I’m asking for a friend.

Joel Stein (Los Angeles Times) asked a similar question. “Why did President Trump pardon a rogue’s gallery of white-collar criminals?” Stein went on to state: “… many people assume he commuted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sentence and pardoned junk bond king Michael Milken, tax cheat Bernard Kerik, and others, simply because they were friends or because he owed them a favor.”

In Trump’s world view (which we Americans have witnessed with our own eyes and ears), cheating is neither here nor there, it’s irrelevant and these white-collar crooks he pardoned had been unfairly persecuted for doing what everybody else does, it’s no big deal.

Blagojevich is calling himself a “political prisoner” even though he was caught, among other crimes, demanding that the CEO of a children’s hospital give his campaign $50,000 or see its public funding cut off.

Stein states succinctly in layman’s terms, “it’s clear who benefits from accepting corruption as normal and inevitable — the strongmen trampling democracy around the globe.”

Clearly Donald Trump fits that genre; in fact, it’s not only characteristic of Trump, he excels at it. In Trump’s world (and that of those he surrounds himself), truth is inconsequential, totally unimportant. Conversely Trump seems to take extraordinary pride in his own lies, the number and severity of which are legend.

It was a severe blow to our system of checks and balances that Trump remained in office following his impeachment, dodging justice by disregarding the Constitution and refusing to comply with subpoenas.

Our government’s inability to oversee the executive branch coupled with Trump’s distain for truth and justice has substantially crippled our government and contributed significantly to making corruption normal and acceptable. This is a severe threat to our most fundamental institutions and to the very foundations of our democracy.

By remaining silent, or by supporting Donald Trump in any way, shape or form, we become (either knowingly or unwittingly) accomplices, co-conspirators in the devaluing and ultimate death of America’s most cherished and treasured moral standards and guiding principles. Are you willing to let that happen? God help us.

David L. Snell  

Franklin