Incredibly, at the 241st anniversary of the country’s independence, the U.S. is being pushed back to pre-enlightenment times by a nasty band of white supremacists, whose greed is only surpassed by their complete lack of human solidarity and compassion. Their leader, Donald Trump, a crass, ignorant, and unpredictable narcissist is, well, the worst of the lot. And although it may still seem unreal, like a bad dream or an awful joke, it is not: Donald Trump is the nation’s 45th president.

Now, take some time to let this fact sink in: While the country elected this supremely unfit individual to take over the nation’s helm, during its more than two centuries of existence no woman, Latino, Asian or Jew has occupied the White House. And yes, Barack Obama, an African-American man was the president for eight years, but we all know how the same racist gang who is today in charge of the country’s destiny insulted, disparaged and disrespected him and his family.

Hell, Trump launched his political career by brazenly promoting the racially charged lie that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. Actually, the aging former reality show personality was the most prominent member of the so called “birther movement,” whose only purpose was to delegitimize the first black president because of his race.

Yet, instead of disqualifying him as the dishonest bigot he is, Trump’s lies helped him get the votes of the ignorant, prejudiced segment of the population that believes their problems are caused by immigration and affirmative action, and not by tax cuts and deregulation for the very rich and powerful, for whom nothing is ever enough. If there were any doubts about how prevalent racism is in the U.S., this should have dispelled them once and for all. 

Despite Trump’s frequent and ridiculous boasting about his presidency being “the greatest of all times,” reality is, of course, very different. His only real accomplishment is cruelly intimidating and harassing immigrants, persecuting them and mercilessly tearing families apart by deporting hard working immigrants with no criminal record. I mean, unless someone could consider his blatant disregard for the Constitution, his war against a free press and his obvious intention of using the presidency as his personal cash cow as accomplishments worthy of the nation’s president. 

No, definitely this Fourth of July doesn’t call for celebration but for introspection and national soul searching. Donald Trump and his brazen band of con men must be rejected. Fascism cannot be allowed to prevail.