Hillary Clinton had her deplorables and they may well have cost her the presidency in 2016, because of the disrespect she showed them. If that is in fact true, then Donald Trump should lose in a landslide.

Donald Trump has his disposables whom he disrespects daily. If they turn out in force, they will cost him the presidency in 2020. There is no demographic in the United States that Trump will not cast aside for personal gain; he has done so repeatedly. To detail them all in context would require a book some hundreds of pages long. I will limit my attention to some that I find most egregious.

I first took notice of Trump’s disposables in July 2015, when he referred to Sen. John McCain as “a loser”. In service to his country as a naval fighter pilot, John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam, imprisoned, and tortured for more than five years. For Trump such service to country, such suffering, such courage merits no respect. Consequently, Trump forfeited any consideration whatsoever and should never have been nominated for — let alone elected — to the highest office in the land. In the five years since his insult to McCain, Trump has not changed, he remains the same crude, bullying character that he has been throughout his life, always willing to dispose of anyone that did not conform or yield to his boorishness.

Trump has cast many loyal Americans aside as so much debris because they put duty, honor, and country first.

Allow me to list a few names that readers might remember: Gen. Mattis, Gen. Kelly, Lt. Gen. McMaster, Lt. Col. Vindman, Ambassador Yavanovich, and National Security Staffer Fiona Hill. All devoted much, if not most, of their adult lives to the service of our country only to be insulted and discarded by a man who never served his community or his country for a day prior to his being misplaced in the office of the President of the United States. Lip service and tax deductible contributions to the benefit of service organizations are not a good substitute for personal service.

The preceding are but a few of the legions of Trump’s disposables that have piled up throughout his term of office. Others include women, people with disabilities, gold star families, POWs, veterans, active duty troops, members of our intelligence services, longtime allies, elderly, those sick and dying from COVID-19, immigrants, health care workers, school children, people of color, journalists, postal workers, law enforcement personnel, farmers, essential frontline workers of numerous occupations, low income earners, unemployed, etc.

Every resident of this country falls within at least one of Trump’s disposable categories to be used, abused, and discarded when they no longer serve his purpose. He takes no responsibility for the pain and suffering he has brought them; he feels no loyalty toward them. For Trump, loyalty is strictly a oneway street; he does not return loyalty for loyalty.

Donald Trump is the worst thing that has happened to this country in my lifetime. One might fairly ask how I can make such an extreme statement in light of the Korean War, the Vietnam War, 9/11, a deadly pandemic, severe recessions, extreme economic inequality, systemic racism, and persistent sexism. It is because Trump has no appreciation for the work and sacrifice of others. Anything other than a vote for Joe Biden this November, works to keep Trump in the White House therein posing an existential threat to the future of our constitutional republic. It is time for all of Trump’s disposables to unite and dispose of him, preferably with an electoral vote of 538 to 0. He has earned it.

A Trump supporter might ask by way of rebuttal: What does Biden have to offer? Briefly, the man has served the interests of his country for 50 years. One could spend the rest of their life reading about how Biden has served his country and not read it all; whereas, Trump has delivered mostly lies, deflection, insults, dysfunction, division, and hate. To verify what I write here about Trump, one need only listen to him. His own words provide the best indictment against him.

Understanding that there are many ways this election may become problematic, keep the following in mind in order to do your part to help insure the integrity of the election. The last day to register is Oct. 13; advance voting begins Oct. 14. Do not take your vote for granted; make no assumptions about the election outcome; do not procrastinate; vote early. If possible, vote in person and vote with a paper ballot. If you have any questions, call your county election officer, Ms. Shelly Vopat at 472-4161.

Send Trump back to where he came from; send him back to his gilded residences and verdant golf courses.