Our democracy may not survive four years of Trump lies, policies that divide America

Cartoonist Pat Bagley of The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah notes that President Trump is critical of nearly everyone and everything with the exception of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The half-truths and outright lies from President Trump seem to have no end.

So do policies that are dividing America -- from curbs on legal immigration to suing universities for allegedly discriminating against whites to barring transgender people from serving in the military.

Former Marine Gen. John Kelly, who was named Trump's chief of staff, may stop White House leaks, but it's doubtful he can stop the president from lying about everything under the sun.

And it's also doubtful our democracy can survive Trump leading the charge to dismantle all of the gains on health insurance and climate change -- while claiming that after only 7 months in the Oval Office he is one of the greatest presidents ever.

Meanwhile, the dual investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election seem to be advancing at a glacial pace.

Unfortunately, that allows Trump to claim the special counsel and the Senate are conducting witch hunts.

And he's also ghost written excuses for his son and other members of his campaign team who met with Russian officials -- in one case, when promised "dirt" on Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Where were the news media during the 2016 presidential campaign? 

All they were interested in were higher ratings or readership, and they devoted an inordinate amount of time and space to Trump, despite his racism, misogyny, hate speech and fear-mongering.

Editorial cartoonist Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune lampoons President Trump firing the foul-mouthed Anthony Scaramucci after only 10 days on the job as White House communications director.

In "The Cartoon that Draws Itself," editorial cartoonist Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia suggests President Trump's tweeting makes his job easy.

For the birds

Sure, the Trump-endorsed proposal to severely limit legal immigration is on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park.

But half of today's front page is devoted to reducing the number of birds -- yes, birds -- that are burned by an invisible flame atop a landfill in the Meadowlands (1A).

Local news?

There are only 10 stories in the Local section today, even though The Record's circulation area embraces about 90 towns.

Three of the 10 stories discuss residents' opposition to existing  or proposed businesses and related traffic or parking issues (1L, 2L and 3L).

The Record explores the opening of every convenience store in North Jersey, because it doesn't have any other local news to report. 

Cancer on the menu

Wednesday's Better Living front urged readers to explore the state's "hot dog mecca," even though the preservatives used in hot dogs and other processed meat have been linked to cancer.

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz invited "three local food experts" to pick the best hot dog from three places near the paper's newsroom in a Woodland Park office building.

What a waste of time and money. 

Port Atrocity

The Record continues to cover attempts to reform the Port Authority in the wake of the Bridgegate scandal (1A on Wednesday).

But readers shouldn't hold their breath in the hope that transportation reporter Curtis Tate will put agency officials on the spot, asking them to explain why they've refused to expand commuter bus and rail service in the last decade.

Christie headlines

Governor Christie may be the most unpopular governor in the country, but he's been getting great press from The Record reporter who covers him, Dustin Racioppi.

Racioppi wrote two breathless accounts of Christie's war on opioid abuse as head of a national commission named by Trump (Page 1 on Tuesday and Wednesday).

How about a little perspective.

When he was Bergen County prosecutor in 2013, John Molinelli raised the alarm about an epidemic of heroin overdoses.

And when he was U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Paul Fishman also tried to alert the public to the toll from addiction to painkillers and drug overdoses.