Trump may be our toxic remedy

Recently a friend of mine shared with me her ordeal with an aggressive cancer. The treatment she underwent included chemotherapy, which is basically a poison injected into her body that kills the cancer cells. It was part of her cure, but had side effects: severe exhaustion, hair loss and lack of appetite among them. However, this treatment, with perseverance and hope, brought her to a state of remission.

As I read the latest headlines about President Donald Trump, it strikes me that his leadership approach bears a striking similarity to chemotherapy.

Looking at Trump's agenda: tax reform, immigration, health care, gun control and trade - all of these issues bear the symptoms of illness: government inaction or corruption, lack of funding or hidden agendas. You may hate Trump the man, but what he has done is called out the illness in each of these issues, with brashness and often brutish words.

Tax reform? The CBO and critics say it will add billions to the deficit and saddle the next generations in years to come with crushing debt.

Immigration? In response to the failure of the DREAM Act legislation to pass both houses of Congress, Shortly after taking office, Trump told Congress that they had six months to find a fix; all they did was point fingers at each other while calling him a bigot. He may be a bully, but could anyone else have gotten as far as the recent headline: Trump to meet Kim?

I'm starting to wonder if he may be our toxic fix. Trump has administered his own treatment, which I'll wager has caused severe exhaustion and lack of appetite to quite a few, including foreign leaders and our own politicians, and whether he succeeds or not, people are feeling the effects.

Karen Coakley

Palatine