President Harry S. Truman had a sign on his desk with ‘The buck stops here’ inscribed on it. This was meant to indicate that he didn’t ‘pass the buck ‘ to anyone else but accepted personal responsibility for the way the country was governed. Truman didn’t originate the phrase, although it isn’t likely that we would ever have heard of it had he not adopted it.

I want to start writing with ‘Damn Donald Trump!’ but that sounds like I have a human emotion. An angry emotion. The Trump follower may throw the new F&ck My Feelings flag at me. Tell me, Trump follower: is this the new confederate flag or the new American flag? Is it also about your identity—not a statement of political support, but who you are?

Let’s assume being a Trump follower is one of your ‘labels’ – like wife, mother, husband, aunt, father, lover of Trump. I get it, I like to add humorist to my labels. Or should I add the new one that Trump followers love? Libtards. But am I? You tell me: A libtard is an insult usually used by conservatives to characterize liberals as stupid. For the record, I am actually a democrat who believes in democracy. But what do words matter?

What do words matter?

Words can be beautiful, hurtful, truthful, lies. Words form sentences that are put out into the world in order to inform, educate, provoke an action or emotion.

When an elder, teacher or person of authority (a clergy, minister or government official) speaks to you, what do you expect to hear? Answers may vary on what we expect to hear, but collectively, can we all agree on what we don’t expect to hear?

Lies. Divisiveness. Meanness. Blame.

According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, blaming others is socially contagious. Just watching someone pawn their failures off on another can make others do the same to protect your self-image. The result can be detrimental to everyone involved.

When an individual is pointing to external reasons for their mistakes or lies, it hinders their ability to learn and become more effective. Scientists have proven certain personality traits are part of the puzzle of why we blame, with optimistic people being less likely than pessimists to blame and narcissists more likely to ditch responsibility.

Does the buck stop here matter anymore? Or can we simply blame others for our behavior and actions? Do we blame others by spewing lies, meanness and divisiveness? I don’t think we do. I think Donald Trump does.

Dear Trump follower, what is it about him that gets a pass for blaming others for situations he promised Americans he would fix–or issues that arise that he’s responsible for–and instead, he passes the buck?

Growing up in the south, we were taught that you had accountability for your actions and that you owned your mistakes and fibs. If you blamed others when you may have only been part of the problem, you better hide. It was not tolerated.

So to the family members, educators, ministers and others in authority positions that taught me ‘right from wrong’, how do you turn your head when Trump plays the blame game? Is it because there’s a long game you have your heart set on?

I know I will lose many of you on my arguments against him on how he’s lied to all Americans about healthcare, education, systemic racism, immigration, voting rights, foreign policy, misogyny, terrorist groups, religion, tariffs and jobs, and even his own government departments, including our incredible military, so today I will refrain. But I am not keeping quiet about Covid-19.

“This is deadly stuff.” – February 7, 2020.

President Trump was recorded talking about Covid-19. He has blamed China. He blamed the Democrats. He blamed American scientists and researchers, including the CDC. He lied about PPE and testing. He threw everyone under the bus in his ‘blame game’.

His priority as a public servant in the highest office in the leading country in the world is to protect Americans above all else. HE KNEW and BELIEVED that the disease was not the flu and it could kill up to five times more than the 20-30,000 that died each year from the flu.

President Trump did understand, at an early date, the public severity of Covid-19. We thought he just didn’t get it or take it seriously, which is bad enough. Let me repeat that his words are recorded. He chose to pass the buck on the truth because he.does.not.care.

He did know it would kill more than 150,000 Americans and he chose to deliberately lie to each of us. Maybe he didn’t lie to his Republican Senators as several bought stocks in pharma companies after visiting the CDC.

If at the very, very least we could have expected him to tell everyone to wear a mask, then that alone would have saved so many American lives. He held the power to help us live because his words matter. Why didn’t he say: Wear a mask, folks. Let’s do it together! Let’s help our loved ones live. Let’s protect all the tough Americans on the front line. Instead, he makes fun of people for wearing a mask and Trump followers ‘follow his words’.

The words from a scientific study that I shared earlier in the article are worth repeating: Just watching someone pawn their failures off on another can make you do the same to protect your self-image. The result can be detrimental to everyone involved.

It’s your choice if you defend him because of the economy, because people have rights to not be constrained in a mask or because most of the people dying are old anyway. But we are Americans first and that means being tough and making a few sacrifices, taking care of each other and expecting the truth. We can handle the truth and you know that. Don’t forget we pulled together as Americans after 9/11 when there was a Republican president.

What if President Trump would have told us on February 7 that this was a novel/new disease and to buckle up for a few months until the experts figured out how it was spreading and to help the people on the front lines and our loved ones, wear a mask. Imagine if he didn’t pass the buck and play the blame game. Imagine the country coming together because his words matter.

Donald Trump had a choice. He chose to lie to all Americans.