Instead of uniting, Trump divides us

President Donald Trump visited Iowa on July 3 to launch a celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Trump spokeswoman Monica Crowley said the celebration and the speech would unite Americans.

“We’ve had so much division and so much polarization … over the last few years, that to be able to bring the country together to celebrate … through patriotism, shared values and a renewed sense of civic pride … is incredibly important,” Crowley said, according to ABC News.

Trump didn’t follow the script. Before he landed in Des Moines, the House of Representatives passed his tax and spending plan, giving him something to crow about. He attacked Democrats’ refusal to support a bill that evidence showed would harm their constituents.

Democrats wouldn’t vote for the bill “only because they hate Trump,” the president of the United States of America said, as The Hill website reported. “But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”

No president has ever accused his opponents of hating him or the United States. No president has ever said he hates his opponents.

It’s the opposite of “bringing the country together.”

Thomas R. O'Donnell

Keosauqua