There have been occasions within the last two years that I have failed Black America by staunchly and stubbornly refusing to comment on former president Donald J. Trump. To be honest, Donald Trump has worn me out! I guess we can call it Chronic Trump Fatigue Syndrome.

I noticed the symptoms during the second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt. A thought repeated in my mind that I felt the mainstream media at the time failed to connect the dots: If you let a bull loose in a fine china store, the bull will destroy everything precious within it. Including the store itself. What is the meaning behind that analogy? Because Republicans refused to check Trump after the first impeachment, they let loose the proverbial bull in the china shop. The china shop is our country. Republican leaders behind closed doors may have a disdain for Donald Trump, but in public they consistently support him. That unwavering allegiance has placed this country in a very dangerous position. With his crimes in impeachment number unaddressed by Republicans in general, this infused more direct power and audacity into the former president. That led Trump and his accomplices to concoct a plan to overthrow the American government.

We tiptoe around this fact by saying that the insurrection was an attempt to overthrow democracy. Journalists such as myself should have made it plain. Had the insurrection been successful, Trump would have overthrown our entire governmental system putting everything this country stands for in peril.

Yet as time has lapsed on this central threat, Trump criminality has increased. He has even stolen top secret and classified documents and is using the appellate court system like it is his own personal ace to get away with demolishing the fine china that is America.

I had hoped after the inauguration of President Biden for a little relief from my Chronic Trump Fatigue Syndrome. I wanted to write about other things. I wanted there to be radio Trump silence. I tried so hard to ignore the inflammatory and utterly ridiculous things that the former president would write on his social media platform, “Truth Social.” I think everyone did for awhile until that became an impossibility. Should have known that a rabid animal just doesn’t go away on his own accord.

Now here we are at a rather precarious juncture in our country, where I think that mainstream media must get it right. Trump wrote over the weekend on Truth Social: “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” As much as I want to ignore this statement, I cannot. What was it that the late Maya Angelou once said? “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” The results of the 2020 presidential election were never fraudulent, so its’ results will not be vacated. The rightful winner is Biden. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2024 and “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution” would be the disastrous descent of the United States of America into a fascist society. Is that the goal for Trump? Is that where this country is really headed?

For a former president to write something of this magnitude is quite revealing. The silence of Republicans in Washington is also very telling. What Trump is alerting anyone who is paying attention is that the very next opportunity he has to grab the seat of power, the U.S. Constitution is on his designated hit list. Trump plans to take a red magic marker to the Constitution and blot out everything that he doesn’t agree with, or that doesn’t benefit him. That’s fascism.

We cannot sit back and say that Trump is blowing hot air, or that he was being sarcastic and goofing off. There is undeniable proof that Trump could not care less about the Constitution and it is found within the impeachment articles submitted by Congress. For a person who claims to be such an admirer of the Founding Fathers, he has an interesting way in showing his admiration. The Constitution is what brings all 50 states together. For a president to have the power to choose which of the seven Articles of the Constitution and the 27 Amendments should go in the trash or remain would render democracy null and void. The freedom to just exist within the United States would be restricted or just simply vanish. Evaporate. The freedoms that we were born with would not be worth the paper it was written on.

This is not a game. If one takes a quick glance at Russia and its deadly attempt to force Ukraine back into the fold, or a look back at the massive protests that occurred in China last week, it becomes undisputable that democracy is the way of the people, but the people have the responsibility to preserve democracy. Now is not the time to give in to Chronic Trump Fatigue Syndrome. Remember that America is the fragile fine china shop and Trump is the rabid bull on the loose. His “handlers,” the Republican Party, refuse to control and neutralize him out of fear and a thirst for power. White extremist nationalist groups are fueling Trump. Right-wing media are his cheer squad. So it is up to “we the people” to defend our right to enjoy democracy in this country – because the alternative is not optional.