When this president took office, I held onto hope. “Perhaps things will be different,” I thought. “Give it a chance.”

But, nearly three-fourths of a year later, I feel more disheartened than ever before in my nine decades of life.

In the past, regardless of party, each president became my president. Many of us feel abandoned by this president, cast aside and insulted simply for voting differently. It’s as if dissent itself has become a disqualifier.

I watch leaders speak with ease, yet their words often twist truth into something unrecognizable. They call it freedom of speech. But if ordinary citizens spoke such vicious falsehoods, we’d face defamation charges. Some dish out untruths but recoil at honest rebuke.

I’ve asked friends and family not to discuss politics, to preserve peace. Still, some are determined to change minds long after the election. I wonder: Are we in trouble? The country feels like it’s slipping backward, not forward.

Many claim to be Christian. But how can one reconcile faith with the approval of slander and deceit — lies confirmed in the thousands? Scripture says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Perhaps campaign spending should be capped. Imagine what could be done for the hungry, the hurting — if we spent less on boasting and more on healing.

I’m old. I’ve lived through wars, recessions and reckonings. If lies become the norm, we risk losing what is good and right. And once lost, truth is hard to reclaim.

G.C. McKnight, Butler County