In 2015, a book was published called “Crippled America.” The picture of the author, a scowling Donald Trump, was on the cover. The book described a country weakened by special interests and career politicians — a country that would be better served by a businessman.

Trump’s campaign to drain the swamp carried him to the White House. In has inaugural address on Jan. 20, he stated that “This American carnage [referring to crime and gangs and drugs] stops right here and stops right now.”

Right along about now, seven months after he took office, we do indeed have a crippled America and we are coming to terms with the carnage in Charlottesville. The State Department has been depleted. The EPA is now the Environmental Depredation Agency. The White House staff in in turmoil. Health care for young and old is on thin ice. On the world stage, Trump has embraced the authoritarian leaders of Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. Now, at home, he is giving a pass to gun- and torch-toting bigots.

The swamp is getting bigger and deeper, and America is getting bogged down. When will those politicians and policy makers who embraced him get off this runaway train? And if we are to spend money on a wall, make it a dike along the Potomac, because otherwise this nation’s Capitol will eventually be under water as the glaciers melt.

Edward Walworth, Lewiston