Donald Trump is not an American hero. I’m suggesting here that readers these days take a look at factcheck.org whenever Donald Trump sounds off. And maybe check thedailybeast.com for the news updates it offers several times a day.

After the Assad regime’s chemical attack killed 87 civilians in Syria, Trump ordered a missile attack on a Syrian airport. Much of our society applauded. Almost immediately thereafter, he began criticizing President Obama’s failure to take military action in 2013, after an Assad-directed use of chemical weapons on Ghouta, Syria, claimed some 1,429 lives.

However, the Republican Congress that had vowed to stonewall every single initiative originating in Obama’s Oval Office immediately after his election refused to even put his request to authorize military force to a vote. Trump, in his own recent retaliation against an airport, took it upon his exalted self to totally bypass Congress.

It’s also interesting to note that even though the situation was so much more horrendous in 2013, Trump tweeted to Obama: “forget Syria” and “NOT attack Syria” and to “stay out of Syria.” But his own isolated retaliatory assault not only was good personal PR, but it also suggested he was not as close to Russia as many suspect.

Refugees, of course, are not officially welcome here. Trump, however, does seem to welcome any opportunity to justify his desired budgeting of an additional $55 billion or so for military spending. A mega-bomb on Afghanistan, a naval “armada” steaming toward Korea.

I’m not saying his militant stance is totally wrong. But as he takes a bow, let’s not forget about his proposed slashing of funding for health care (Obamacare, Planned Parenthood), environmental protection, alleviating drought and famine in middle Africa – and even Meals on Wheels.

TOM CAMFIELD

Port Townsend