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Yesterday was a very bad day for the Trump presidency, but it was a worse day for the country.

Donald Trump is proving to be a very bad President who is very bad for America.

To put it starkly, Trump is showing every sign of being in over his head.

A president sets the tone for the political life of the nation, calling on the best instincts in us for the sake of the common good, our mutual security, and our intertwined prosperity.

A president is America’s face to the world, and as such should always seek to represent who we are as a people with dignity and common grace.

Donald Trump does none of this. His words, actions, demeanor, and personal character have thus far brought chaos and shame to the office he holds, and is diminishing respect for it in the eyes of the world.

What we see in his leadership is “ugliness” in almost every form.

Not everyone who supported his election fit the category of “deplorables,” but more than a few did, and still do.

They are delighting in his presidency. The white nationalist website, Stormfront. org, boldly declared last December after Trump’s election: “This is our time.”

According to Bloomberg News, since Trump’s election the number of hate crimes targeting Jews has risen 42% in New York alone, and a 189% in targeting Muslims.

Homeland Security is currently investigating reports of 125 bomb threats made to 85 Jewish community centers and schools across the country since January.

Recently in Delano, Minnesota a black family’s home was broken into, ransacked, and racial epithets painted on the walls (thankfully the community has rallied around the family in support).

Some may argue that Trump is not responsible for these things happening, but as President he is responsible to speak forcefully against it. All he has said is, “Stop it.” Nothing more and nothing since December when he said that on 60 Minutes.

The bigger response he made was to appoint white nationalists/racist Steve Bannon as one of his close advisors. That served to add fuel to these nascent hate crime fires.

When Trump spoke to the joint session of Congress in late February he showed signs of finally accepting responsibility for trying to set a positive tone for the political work of our nation. Even though the speech was actually quite ordinary, it was so “un-Trump” sounding that it got positive reviews.

It didn’t last. Two weeks later he tweeted the false charge that President Obama had engaged in criminal activity by wiretapping Trump Tower before the election.

Lying seems to be a way of life for the man who is now president. Since taking office the number of verifiable falsehoods Trump has repeated exceeds 129.

NY Times columnist David Leonhardt, one who does not make outrageous claims, and even cautions against calling politicians liars just because something they say turns out not to be true, wrote in a column this week: “Our president is a liar, and we need to find out how serious his latest lies are.”

Further, “He tells so many untruths that it’s time to leave behind the textual parsing over which are unwitting and which are deliberate.”

This is the President of the United States he is talking about.

None of us can take any pleasure in what is going on. I happen to believe this is a very sad time for our nation. We have a president who does not deserve the respect most of us want to accord him.

Perhaps most disturbing, though, are the “non-deplorables” who continue to support him, They are encouraging him to keep doing what he’s doing. And so for what’s worth, which may be very little, I want to say this to them:

If you voted for Donald Trump, being a decent person yourself does not exempt you from bearing responsibility for what is happening to the country. That is the way democracy works. You cannot help to elect someone like Donald Trump and then pretend as if your hands are clean when he does the ugly things he is doing.

Of course. people make mistakes in supporting someone to fill a position that turns out to be too big for them. It happens in businesses, government, schools, colleges, even churches. When it does it is up to those who gave that person support to admit they made a mistake.

I would hope that you care enough about the well being of the nation to do that. It matters whether you do or not. If Trump’s poll numbers continue to drop, and you let your representatives know that you no longer support his presidency, it will get their attention. They will likely begin to seek ways to limit the damage he is doing until such time that the right path into the nation’s future becomes clear.

So I invite you to ponder the great challenge President Kennedy gave to the nation when he said: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country,” and then act accordingly.

Your courage to do what is right for the country may be the last, best hope we have of surviving the presidency of a man who does not measure up to the responsibilities you thought he could handle.