These are strange times in which ignorance, prejudice, mendacity and bullying are the defining characteristics of the president of the most powerful country in the world and his Republican enablers. 

The victims of Washington’s crassness and stupidity are already too many to count. From the prestige of the United States in the rest of the world, to the traditional values upon which the nation was founded, to the current heartless abuse and unnecessary cruelty against immigrant workers and families, it is as if this administration is engaged in a monstrous quest to do away with all vestiges of justice, compassion and humanity.

The forceful removal of the Trump name from a luxury Panama hotel on Monday after contentious court battles and armed Panamanian police entering the hotel to the amazement of guests, serves as a symbol of how toxic the president’s name has become. 

Last year the owners of the 65-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto also erased the president’s name from the building after repeated protests against Washington’s policies outside of the building. Another Trump branded hotel, this time in Lower Manhattan, also removed the president’s name.

To no one surprise, the Trump brand has lost much of its glitter and businesses are increasingly eager to distance themselves from the name of a man responsible for dumbing down the presidency and creating a chaotic and uncertain environment, where nothing good can be expected to grow.

The president’s word is not worth more than a diploma from his shameful and now defunct Trump University, and whoever takes it seriously does it at his or her own risk.

Take DACA, for instance. After professing with a straight face “great love” for Dreamers, his administration announced in September it would end the DACA program established by president Obama. Trump them came up with an artificial deadline, March 5, for Congress to pass legislation to permanently protect Dreamers from deportation. Of course, nothing was done either by Trump or by Congress. 

Fortunately, last week the Supreme Court declined to rule on a January lower federal court’s ruling that stopped the administration’s decision to eliminate DACA, and that the White House had appealed. This, of course, is only temporary and could be overturned, or Trump, despite his supposed affection for these young immigrants could just go ahead and terminate DACA by executive order. So much for Trumps’ great love for Dreamers.

Take also gun control. After surprisingly appearing to have tightened his belt and somehow mustered the courage to defy the NRA and embrace background checks, raising the minimum age to purchase assault rifles and even taking guns away from “dangerous” people, Trump, in what has become his modus operandi, changed his mind again.

Yes, after a “cordial” meeting at the White House with the NRA’s top people, Trump kissed and made up with an organization mainly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people every year. After all, it’s not easy to break up with a group that contributed a whopping $30 million to his presidential campaign, even if that means that the carnage of innocents will continue unabated.

Are you by now feeling tired of all the lies, the cynicism and the hypocrisy hanging over the country like a dark cloud? Welcome to the club.

Yet, we can do something about it. Keep in mind that in a few months – on November 6, to be exact--we can restore some sanity and even some honesty to Washington by casting a vote in the midterm elections for those who will really represent us and not the NRA and the billionaires.