To the editor,

“America First!” It has not worked out that way. Instead of guiding Congress to a cooperative solution to rising health costs, Trump authorized an attack on Venezuela and kidnapped President Maduro. Maduro is corrupt but attacking Venezuela is not America First. It’s inconsistent and rash. Trump has said it’s because of Maduro’s involvement in drug smuggling. That doesn’t make sense. Honduran president Hernandez was convicted for his role in violent drug trafficking and Trump pardoned him. Trump’s responsible for 626 overseas strikes since he took office.

Meanwhile Texas flood survivors wait for answers on the federal aid claims that were denied or not advanced. American farmers still struggle and were not helped by a $40 billion aid package to Argentina advanced by Trump. That’s not America First.

The population of China is 1.5 billion. They’ve built a modern military, commensurate with their size. Add in Russia and North Korea, and America could use some friends. We number about 340 million in the USA. An America First plan would strengthen our alliances. Trump did the opposite. He threatened Denmark by taking Greenland “the hard way” if necessary. That puts the US up against a NATO ally—one of the first to send soldiers to Afghanistan after 911. He’s antagonized our most trustworthy neighbor Canada by expressing a desire to make it our 51st state. These moves put America on an island and make us weaker. That is not America First.

Iran needs a democratic society but threatening to make that happen by “hitting them very hard” is a foolish threat. He should have learned a lesson about regime change in the Middle East by now. Boasting about military action in a far away land is not America First. Words matter. Eventually there are consequences.

America First means more than avoiding foreign entanglements that divert us from solving nursing and doctor shortages, high food prices, and worst of all ending the angry division in America that has fractured our society by upending unity and shattering relationships between family, friends and neighbors. I came of age during the civil unrest in the 60s. What is happening now is worse and the flames are being fanned by the one person who should be modeling citizenship. I’ve lived and experienced Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, GH Bush, Clinton, GW Bush, Obama, and Biden. Whatever you think of them, we know that none behaved in a crude, boastful, and angry manner.

Who names buildings after himself? What is that teaching people? Most disturbing is the inevitable cost to our youth. If you think we’re divided now, wait til they grow up after what they’ve seen. Kids are sponges. They absorb and adopt the behavior they see from powerful adults.

Dan Woll

River Falls