“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” — Matthew 5:9

So we’ve got macho man (and four-time draft dodger) Donald J. Trump — embarrassed because the public found out that he had scurried down to the White House basement Friday night when protesters gathered loudly in Lafayette Square across Pennsylvania Avenue — having a peaceful crowd tear-gassed and “flash banged” and essentially herded by mounted police so that he could march solemnly over to the church where James Madison worshipped and hold up a Bible. He reads the “good book” about as often he reads the Bill of Rights and its guarantee of the “right peacefully to assemble,” would be my guess.

What an awful human being. Remember how Ronald Reagan (Challenger disaster), Bill Clinton (Oklahoma City bombing), George W. Bush (after 9/11), and Barack Obama (Sandy Hook massacre) spoke to the people as healers? For his part, Trump tries to inflame aggrieved African-Americans to more violence by threatening to bring in active military.

Fortunately, most of the protesters have been peaceful, often hugging and shaking hands and kneeling with the police. Good for the cops.

Trump is flailing, not leading. He didn’t pray in front of that church, did he? No, he just stood there as if to reassure evangelical Christians that he is still their guy.

We should hearken back to the words of novelist Sinclair Lewis: “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in a flag and waving a cross.”

Dave Griffiths, Mechanic Falls

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