To the editor:

I know this sounds simplistic and possibly difficult to believe, but maybe niece Mary Trump is “on the money,” so to speak, in her tell-you-as-much-as-I-know book. She relates that her Uncle Donald could care less about you and me and the U.S. Constitution. Rather, he is slavishly attuned to the constitution of his brain, a brain inflamed with painful childhood memories of his authoritarian daddy’s (Fred) awarding favored-son status to Fred Trump, Jr.

And now look at Donald. He throws what my mom used to angrily say when I got to be a handful as an arm-folding, pouty child, “Quit throwing a hissy fit!”

Not bragging, but I grew up a tad bit. Trump, on the other hand, strikes me as one who would be throwing a “hissy fit” whatever party he belonged to and still won the presidency. In fact, I think he is mentally disturbed beyond partisan leanings, and that his recent legal assaults on time-honored traditions of peaceful concessions of defeat and meaningful transmission of power are performances on a world stage for everyone and his dog to observe and ... ? And that is the question before us.

Is Pompeo setting up a smokescreen so Trump doesn’t go even further off the rails, or is he allowing the legal process to play out? Or – horror of horrors – does Pompeo actually believe that Trump will be securely in place for a second term as president? Consider that even Bolton has referred to Pompeo’s recent assurances that the current president will serve a second term as “delusional.”

America doesn’t deserve a reality show president whose every “hissy fit” must be taken seriously, whether as a false front or for real.

America deserves so much better.

Richard Joel Holmes

Hays