Some dear friends have a new granddaughter who is a healthy, happy, good baby. Yet they report that a recent overnight stay was harder than they expected or recalled. Babies often get fussy when tired, cry when hungry, and squirm when being held. Over time most youngsters outgrow those behaviors, but not all.

Donald Trump, notably, gets fussy when he doesn’t get his way, cries foul whenever criticized, and does nasty verbal gymnastics to try to squirm out of his legal troubles. This is not the way mature people, let alone elected leaders, act. But it is worse. Trump knows full well that his most rabid acolytes hear in his moaning and groaning and verbal attacks license to send vile threats to his perceived enemies. Trump also knows full well that those repeated threats of violence will deter good people from public service careers and volunteer civic positions.

These cause-and-effect chains are more than dangerous; they may be criminal. But where are the outcries from GOP leaders and GOP presidential wanna-bee’s? Being silent is being complicit, make no mistake. Our democratic republic means nothing to people who vilify any group of Americans.  Our future together is a pipe dream if we do not respect one another. Have all this fussiness, crying, and squirming actually supplanted America’s courage, forbearance, and character? Do we actually see in Trump someone with even the slightest interest in our welfare and our future — this adult who acts like a baby? Do we believe in this guy who says “I alone can fix it?” He thinks he’s a Super Hero?!

At Harvard’s commencement this year, Tom Hanks had fun talking about our silly fascination with movie-land Super Heroes. But he reminded us that we are bound together simply by being human, not by being Super. He called upon us to do the patient work, year after year, of creating a more perfect union. If that even remotely sounds like something Trump would say, then my Super imagination no longer functions.

Will Newman

Tiverton