While Americans struggle to make ends meet, while school boards face threats for doing their jobs, while democracy itself stands on a knife’s edge, Donald Trump retreats to his private clubs.

It’s not that he plays golf—it’s what he walks away from. It’s the fire he leaves raging behind him, the chaos he continues to stoke, and the willful neglect of a man who still commands a devoted following while treating the country as a personal plaything.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs while America smolders.

He fans the flames: undermining elections, mocking the rule of law, and promising retribution, not reconciliation. Rather than rise to meet a moral responsibility to the nation, he chooses ego over empathy, spectacle over substance.

We’ve seen leaders rise to the challenge in times of crisis. Lincoln read war dispatches late into the night. FDR addressed the nation with calm resolve during the Great Depression. Obama, facing economic collapse, built a coalition from across the aisle to restore confidence and stability. Each embodied the principle that leadership begins with service—and that service must be grounded in integrity and humility.

Trump takes refuge in distraction.

At a time when we desperately need leadership—measured, moral, and mindful—Trump doubles down on division. He blames, he bullies, and he brandishes grievance like a weapon, while average Americans are left to clean up the mess. His behavior reflects not just poor leadership, but a profound ethical failure—a failure to uphold the public trust.

He calls January 6 “a beautiful day,” praises the convicted, and promised then pardoned approximately 1,500 of those who attacked our Capitol. Meanwhile, families worry about health care, the cost of groceries, and the quality of their kids’ education.

What does Trump offer? Revenge. A promise to “be your retribution.” Against whom? Anyone who has held him accountable: Judges, journalists, generals. Any voice of reason becomes a target. It’s not justice he seeks, but vengeance. Not unity, but punishment. He confuses power with virtue, and loyalty to self with loyalty to country.

This is not the vision of a leader who loves his country. It is the portrait of a man who loves only himself and demands the nation genuflect, uncritically.

He tells Americans he alone can fix everything, even as he broke so much. He left us with a politicized Supreme Court, a shattered sense of truth, and a culture war that’s tearing at the seams of our communities. He attempts to replace empathy with outrage, reason with conspiracy, and governance with grievance.

And when accountability knocks, he vanishes behind closed gates and private fairways.

Who cares about “some little pain” with a fall-of-the-cliff decline in the market and continued high prices for food—He did win the Senior Club Championship at his Jupiter golf course…So all that weekend practice clearly helped.

However, his detachment in the face of crisis is not leadership—it’s abdication. Real leaders don’t evade responsibility or embrace spectacle. They don’t celebrate insurrectionists while claiming to defend the Constitution. They lead by example. They build trust through action. They summon our better angels, not our worst impulses.

We are in a critical moment. America is divided, angry, anxious. We need unity, not ego. Vision, not vendetta. We need ethical leadership that places country over party, truth over falsehood, and character over charisma.

While America burns, it’s not enough to just watch. We must speak up, stand firm, and act with purpose—not in anger, but resolve. Not in fear, but with courage. Conscience must become our compass, and civic duty our call to action.

This moment demands more than commentary. It demands character. History won’t judge us by how loudly we warned, but by how clearly we chose.

The fire is real. The stakes are high. And the future, once again, is in our hands.