What kind of desecration is being erected in our nation’s capital now? It’s all over social media; pictures of a huge frame-like structure obstructing and dwarfing the White House itself.

This is a personal front row seat for Donald Trump to his 80th birthday celebration. He will be treated to a special presentation of his favorite sport (the one he participates in vicariously, not like the one he practices almost daily on the golf course) along with 5,000 invited guests. One guess as to who they will be.

Once it is over, a large portion of the cost will go toward replacing the beautiful south lawn which it will destroy. Another “improvement” to add to the rose garden and the East Wing. Why doesn’t he do this at Mar A Lago? Much like a golden ballroom, the American people do not want, and will not benefit from, this spectacle. We don’t want an arc de Trump cutting off the view of Arlington and our honored dead. We don’t want this wasteful, obscene use of our hard-earned tax dollars.

This big deal event will feature mixed martial arts fights. The organizer of the event is a billionaire buddy, the CEO of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), so naturally it’s being funded by him, or someone, not us taxpayers, right? We don’t want to pay for this, but we don’t want billionaire CEOs doing favors for the president either. Doesn’t matter that either way, it’s against the Constitution, the product of what was born in 1776.

What average citizen of the United States is all excited about a mixed martial arts fight? I thought baseball was the All-American sport? Why not put a stadium on the lawn of the White House? If you wanted to pretend that this event celebrates OUR 250th birthday, why not make it a sport that signifies America, along with apple pie?

UFC Freedom, my eye. It’s anything but that. It’s an authoritarian doing what he wants with a country that he wants to control.

He is doing a great job of taking a wrecking ball, as he did to the East Wing, to a nation, for a long time successful and globally respected. In his incessant late night truth social rants, his delusional mind keeps trying to reinforce to himself and anyone who is still unaware of the harm he is causing us all that we are the greatest country on earth and we should all be happy.

Yes, happy about gasoline we now can’t afford, and cutbacks on any attempts to supplement fossil fuel use with other energy forms.

Food prices that were supposed to go down “on day one.” Health care that many now cannot afford, and many more soon to be added to their ranks. Hospitals and nursing homes unable to function that will close because of Medicaid cuts.

Happy about threats to the ability of our retired population to afford to live, who rely on the Social Security they earned, and Medicare that they were promised. Our government, which was created of the people, by the people, and for the people, is supposed to be looking out for the people. Not for an autocrat who thinks he’s king and his cronies. Our country has evolved over 250 years, for “we the people” to mean ALL the people, all citizens under its governance and protection.

We elect our president, and our congressional representatives. We have a system of three equal branches of government supposedly to prevent what the executive branch is doing right now. Our founders did not anticipate that all three would fall into corruption at the same time. That is what we are dealing with, fellow Americans. Our judicial branch at the lower levels is trying hard to be the stopgap, but SCOTUS has reactionary justices who want to overturn all the freedoms that have been hard-fought and established over the years.

A Republican majority in Congress is afraid to stand up against what they know is unlawful behavior. They put self-preservation ahead of what is good for their constituents and for the whole country. Trump supporters put more money into a Republican primary than ever before in our election history just to punish disagreement.

Our own Congressional Representative, Nick Langworthy, has voted for everything Trump wants, despite its injury to the people of Western New York. He’s a chicken too. If our government is failing us, we need to advocate for ourselves.

Money only influences elections if we allow ourselves to be influenced. We should know what we are experiencing first-hand and that we don’t like it. We don’t vote for the candidate who has the most expensive campaign, we elect the candidate who will react to our votes, not billionaire money. The Democratic party has a good candidate to run against Langworthy, Aaron Gies from Olean. Please check out his website, if you haven’t already had an opportunity to meet him in person. He has been holding town halls and traveling the district for some time now. He has a primary opponent and voting for democratic party members is June 23, early voting starts June 13. His campaign is all about affordability, being able to have a decent life. In a country with the resources ours has, that should be attainable for us all.

We are between Memorial Day and D-Day, which is June 6, 1944. On Memorial Day, we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Who really fought, and died, for our freedoms. How does an arena in front of the White House where mixed martial arts fighters attack each other honor them?

How does that reflect the sacrifice of the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on that fateful day, whose blood turned those beaches red? Would they, along with all the other troops who defended democracy against an evil tyrant in WWII, be happy with what is happening now? Would they recognize the signs?

What about the Minute Men, and the soldiers of the Continental Army, who fought and died to free us from the tyranny of a king across the ocean, using us as subjects to enrich his kingdom and finance his imperialism.

What is going on now is “bread and circuses.” It’s a distraction to placate us from our discontent with how we are being treated. Attacking other countries at will, thinking that would rally us. It worked in WWII only because the cause was just. (We did rally behind Ukraine, now forgotten.) Putting on a circus in DC, thinking that would entertain us.

Like the corrupt Emperors of Rome, distracting the populace with colosseum shows while enjoying extravagances in their palaces, outfitting legions to conquer other peoples, making them slaves or making them fight the gladiators in the colosseums.

One fighter in Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 was reported to have said that he was “afraid to appear because he might be taken for a Mexican” and arrested by ICE.

Every day it gets worse.

Susan Bigler is a Sheridan resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com