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I’m always happy to put my hand on my heart and listen to the ode to our flag and this “heav’n rescued land.” My father always had an American flag flying and took it down at sundown as a sign of respect, which was the custom then.

But it felt tinny to be force-fed “The Star-Spangled Banner” by our solipsistic president and his creepy sycophants, who show nothing but disdain for the Constitution and American values. It was our country’s destiny to reflect ideals that made us an incandescent beacon for democracy. But Trump has pulverized those ideals. We are now seen as sinister, selfish, unruly and at everybody’s throats.

It is heartbreaking that on the cusp of our 250th anniversary, we have a president who is perverting all the values our country was founded on — looking out for one another, respecting one another’s rights.

America is not supposed to be a place where an angel-faced 5-year-old named Liam, with a floppy-eared hat and a Spider-Man backpack, gets seized and taken to a detention center by men in masks.

The American leader is meant to be a unifier, a strong and soothing presence in the world. Trump is an anarchic toddler, constantly causing upheaval across the globe, transgressing and remaking everything in his helter-skelter image. He has no interest in fireside chats; he wants to set fires.

He’s more about droit du seigneur than noblesse oblige. He feels entitled to whatever he wants, from Greenland to Canada to the Kennedy Center to a Nobel Prize he didn’t win. Unlike previous presidents, he isn’t countering Russia; he’s catering to it. He disparaged the NATO troops who died for us in Afghanistan and belittled our nicest neighbor, claiming that “Canada lives because of the United States.”

Demanding Greenland, which he kept calling Iceland, he whinged to global leaders at Davos: “All I want is a piece of ice.”

The depth of his shallowness is infinite.

It is clear the Trump crowd sees no difference between a criminal who crossed into the country illegally and a family that has applied for asylum and is doing everything the right way to stay here.

My parents inculcated us with patriotism and gratitude for this country. I grew up surrounded by men in uniform. My mother carried around a pocket-size Constitution in her purse, along with miniature bottles of Tabasco. She did not want to see us on July 4 if we were not in red, white and blue. I know what America is meant to stand for.

Trump has made America un-American.


Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/opinion/president-trump-ice-immigration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share