In the March issue of Smithsonian magazine, there’s an interview with author/historian Robert Caro, who said, “I don’t believe that power always corrupts. Power reveals.”

His work has shown, over and over, that, as people fight their way to power, they often hide what they really think, what they really are.

But once they have power, the truth, good or bad, ugly or admirable, inevitably reveals itself.

Now that Trump has power, he has indeed revealed his true self, and I think America sits at the top of a downward slide as a result.

I’d like to be wrong, but doubt that I am.

Kent Brauninger

Port Angeles