Humanity, empathy, elegance, in word and deed – all attributes one would wish to have in an American president.  For the most part, modern presidents have exemplified at least some humanity and empathy, and maybe to a lesser extent, elegance.  Their service and memories helped move the national agenda based on democratic values and maintained America’s reputation among its allies as well as its adversaries.  Nearly all that progress has been upended by Donald Trump, especially in his second term as president. 

The crassness, coarsening, and grift started in his first term, of course, but hits a new low in his second.  Just when you wonder when he will hit bottom, he digs the hole deeper, literally and figuratively, razing the historic East Wing of the White House for his monstrous ballroom, blaming noted actor and film director Rob Reiner and his wife for their own murders, demanding the return of “our land and oil” that actually belongs to Venezuela, and raiding ceremonies to deny legal immigrants, who have met all the required qualifications and passed the challenging test, their citizenship.  Trump brags that he passed a cognitive test with flying colors.  Anyone wonder if he could pass the citizenship test?

The deepest hole to date, however, may be the illegal addition of his name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.  One nearby resident said it was “like putting his own name on someone else’s gravestone.” Although rumored for months, the fix obviously was in the works for some time, as Trump’s full name was installed on the marble wall, above Kennedy’s name, less than 24 hours after the revamped Kennedy Center board held an eight-minute phone meeting to vote for the name change.  Apparently, neither the board nor Mr. Trump found any anomaly in the fact that the Kennedy Center is a memorial to a dead president, not one who is alive.  Public Law 88-260, passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in January 1964, declares that “the living memorial to be named in his honor by this joint resolution shall be the sole national monument to his memory within the City of Washimgton and its environs.”  A 1981 book by Brendan Gill about the building of the Kennedy Center noted a stipulation that “the Center, like the Washington Monument and the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, would enjoy the privilege of singularity.”  That privilege, apparently, does not apply when Donald Trump is in the White House. Congress has the authority and the responsibility to enforce and restore that singular privilege, if they will finally stand up to Mr. Trump and his megalomaniac whims and actions. 

Much as we could hope that Mr. Trump’s figurative shovel finally has hit bedrock, there will be more.  More destruction of norms, more tone deafness to Americans’ everyday problems, more gilding of anything standing still, more hatred and more authoritarianism.  His ICE thugs “disappear” immigrants, farmers struggle with the effects of tariffs on their markets, and millions of Americans anticipate massive health care increases after January 1, but Mr. Trump continues to focus on building his ballroom, a triumphal arch below Arlington National Cemetery, a bizarre wall of predecessors (with explanatory plaques written by Trump himself) outside the Oval Office, and expanding his daily retribution list.  

But it’s Christmas, a time to embody the humanity, empathy, and elegance to which we all might aspire. Tiny Tim’s character ended Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” with the classic line, “God bless us every one!”  At this season of hope, that wish should include Mr. Trump and his cronies, too, at least for one day.