To the editor,

On Sunday, June 14, Flag Day, I took part in Indivisible’s “A Flag for Us All” celebration at Lakefront Park in Hudson. It was a gloriously bright, dynamic day with white clouds sailing over in the blue sky and wind snapping the many American flags displayed by attendees.

It was a deeply patriotic gathering that truly honored our flag and the best values for which it has stood over the past 250 years. Inspiring talks were given by Celeste Koeberl, Alison Page, and other community members, appealing not to partisan divisions but to our common stake in this country as fellow Americans. Live music and poetry added color and fun to the festivities.

All of this couldn’t be farther in spirit from what transpired on the White House grounds that evening, a cage fight in celebration of President Trump’s 80th birthday. Men constrained to a cramped space battered each other until one admitted defeat or a referee decided a winner had inflicted enough punishment. This wasn’t ordinary boxing or wrestling, but rather raw brutality, with contestants literally beating each other bloody.

Only those attending in person or willing to pay Paramount for online viewing were able to take in the spectacle of two men mercilessly going at it while the crowd shouted, “Let’s see him bleed!” and “Hurt each other!” exhibiting cruelty worthy of a Roman gladiatorial game.

The winner, Josh Hokit, crowed his supposed fidelity to Jesus Christ and then hurled a gratuitous insult at former First Lady Michelle Obama, exposing this so-called patriotic celebration for the sordid partisan wallow it was. Any dignity traditionally claimed for the White House by past presidents and patriots was officially dead in the water.

Suppressing a sense of almost overwhelming physical disgust as I read accounts of the White House cage match the next day, I thought of a woman I saw at Sunday’s gathering in Hudson wearing a cap that read Radicalized by Decency. Radical is derived from the Latin word radix for root. Our indecent president has stranded our country far afield from the founders’ idealistic roots.  The life of our democracy depends on our getting back to them and soon.

Thomas R. Smith

River Falls