Letter: When ‘exceptionalism’ ends
(Alex Brandon | AP) In this May 7, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump speaks during a White House National Day of Prayer Service in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. The coronavirus pandemic is complicating what has been a May reelection campaign launch for recent presidents. Trump has told reporters recently he would travel soon to Ohio, a battleground state.
“American exceptionalism” is the general idea that the United States is different from other countries, endowed with special traits, better, superior. It goes back well, actually, people debate how far it goes back.
But there’s no debating when it ends. It ends this month, in May 2020, under Donald Trump, who in prematurely sending people back to work (and to gyms) so they can die needlessly is destroying not just thousands of human lives but also any idea of America as a special place.
That “shining city on a hill” business? Done.
Blake Messinger, Salt Lake City
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