By ELAINE WILSON-REDDY

Contributing columnist

A friend of mine recently asked on Facebook if there was anything  Donald Trump could do that would make her Republican friends stop supporting him. I was stunned by the first answer: no.

I had to take a step back and consider this reply. I know the person who posted that answer. I guess I have to believe that with all Trump’s done since he began his campaign, there probably isn’t anything he can do that will harsh their mellow.

I thought back to the heady days of the Obama administration to see if there was a line in the sand for me regarding 44. I am happy to report there is a line for all politicians in my book.  The list is extensive, but selling out our country to the highest bidder is close to the top of the list. Obstructing justice, interfering in investigations that should be politically neutral, bad-mouthing anyone in public are some things that would have made me pull my support of President Obama.

It is wretched to think that a candidate running for the presidency of our country could mock someone who is physically handicapped and still have followers. Didn’t anyone tell him or his followers that making fun of others is bad, shows a lack of moral fiber and is just plain mean? Why do people still think he’s the best thing since the internal combustion engine?

It’s well documented that he cheated on all three of his wives. He paid off two women with whom he had affairs right after his current wife had a baby. And yet, his supporters do not care.

The president of the United States is said to be the most powerful person in the world. Look at the presidents during my lifetime: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon (ugh!), Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. All of those men were well-read and could deliver a speech that tracked, made sense and proved points. Trump speaks at the level of a fourth-grader and has boasted about not having read a book in ages, if at all.

Why, people? When did intelligence become a bad thing for our president?

Let’s talk about the wall and immigration.

He began his candidacy by proclaiming a war on immigrants. Not just the undocumented, but all immigrants (except his wife, his father-in-law and his mother-in-law). He has stoked the fire of fear every chance he gets.

What he doesn’t do is his homework. He doesn’t tell his followers that illegal immigration is down from its peak in 2007. He doesn’t tell his followers that less than 6% of the total state and federal prison population is made up of undocumented immigrants. Less than 6%.

According to a 25-year study recently published in the journal Criminology, “Increases in the undocumented immigrant population within states are associated with significant decreases in the prevalence of violence.” What?

Remember when he called immigrants criminals, rapists and drug dealers? Has anyone asked him to cite his data?

It is appalling to me that he continues to say words with nothing to back them up and his followers continue to hang on his every vacuous, ephemeral word.

And his “foreign policy.” Geez.

How is it possible that citizens of the United States support a president who reveres the president of Russia, says he’s great friends with the president of North Korea and won’t call out the Saudi Arabian regime for murdering a journalist? And in the same breath makes fun of Justin Trudeau, Emanuel Macron and Angela Merkel? Can you say “allies?”

Why, people? Why do you venerate this man? How is it you continue to follow this person who allows children to be separated from their parents at our southern border? Remember when he mocked the Gold Star parents, and his continued bizarre disrespectful obsession with Senator McCain?

It saddens me that the president of our country has little regard for the office he holds, the government he is supposed to protect and the people of this country. It saddens me even more to know how many people find his actions A-OK. 

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” — Gordon B. Hinckley

G. Elaine Wilson-Reddy, JD, is a professional educator, consultant and advocate. She lives in Danville.