As I approach my 100th birthday—and my country’s 250th—I never imagined that I would witness an American president’s first 500 days marked by corruption on the scale of Trump’s second term. We are not witnessing a series of isolated scandals. We are watching an entire system woven into the fabric of governing: pardons for donors, lucrative contracts benefiting friends and family and apparent insider profiteering on an extraordinary scale. Public office is being used primarily for private gain.

What frightens me most is that this constant stream of misconduct has numbed too many of us. Out of exhaustion, many Americans who know what they are seeing is very wrong simply shrug. That may be what President Trump is counting on. Our 250-year-old republic is being treated like a giant criminal enterprise, yet millions continue to support the most corrupt president in American history. I believe this public indifference is every bit as alarming as the misconduct itself.

My 100th birthday should be a celebration. Instead, I fear for the country that has been my home for almost a century.

Edward Kornbluh, DDS
Schodack Landing, NY