Letter to the Editor: Corruption and pain is the name of the game
Published 1:00 pm Thursday, January 15, 2026
“Denial is a hell of a drug.” – Anonymous
I leaped out of my chair and immediately danced a jig after reading Larry Benson’s persuasive, right-on cogent arguments about the misuse of the term “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (“TDS” better fits president’s supporters, not opponents,” published Jan. 7.). Mr. Benson’s letter is a must-read and should receive wide circulation.
Trump should have been placed in handcuffs the day Biden took office. Yes, it is profoundly infuriating that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland slow-walked the Trump criminal investigation. It took 21 months after the attack on the Capitol and three days after the ogre announced his 2024 presidential campaign before Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to preside over Trump’s criminal investigations. Why? Investigating Trump’s criminal behaviors sooner could very well have preempted his second presidency. And let’s not forget Senator Mitch McConnell’s poor judgement when he stupidly and irresponsibly abdicated his leadership responsibilities and oath of office by not having Trump convicted – twice! – in the Senate impeachment trials. If only.
The list of Trump’s criminal and pathologic behaviors described by Mr. Benson should have been enough to disqualify the demigod, if not for his first term, it certainly should have been more than enough to disqualify him from winning a second term; and yet he was elected a second time. What does this say and suggest about America today?
We continue to live in a country that wishes to valorize the Confederacy. Racism, hate and anti-social behavior is alive and well because it is practiced and condoned by the demigod. Negative aggressive violence rendered by ICE agents, gaslighting, disingenuous denialism, pathological lying, the whitewashing of history and reality is the general practice with MAGA, Republicans and with Trump’s administration.
The needs of the uber-wealthy matter more than the needs of the everyday citizens under the ogre’s presidency.
There exists a two-tier justice system in America. If your name is Rittenhouse, Epstein, Maxwell, Honduran President Hernandez, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Frump; if you have been convicted of a military war crime or if you were one of the J6 rioters; you enjoy no accountability; you are treated like a victim and eligible to receive a capricious pardon under Trump.
Trump will continue to bring our country to its knees because he continues to be allowed to get away with his venality, extremism and sadism. Like Epstein and Robert Kennedy, Jr. (heroin possession, drug trafficking and perjury convictions), he is part of a wealthy class of people who are treated differently and favorably because the American society enables them and because our biased judiciary (e.g. Supreme Court majority) and because the gullible and irresponsible Republicans in the House and Senate continue to refuse to hold Trump accountable for his violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, misuse and abuse of authority and for his other criminal and reprehensible behaviors.
Stanley McKie
Enumclaw
