Mike Barnicle

He does not have to tell us what he’s lost. His job now is to make sure we do not lose our country.

“I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. He talked to me for about 10 minutes, about the loss of my son… and he made me realize, right then, that my son mattered.”

While Nixon ran in 1968 as the solution to American chaos on a Democratic president’s watch, Trump is the cause of the chaos he’s absurdly vowing to fix in a second term.

It was easy to shut your eyes and see and hear Nixon tracking back and forth across the land in the fall of 1968, about how “the other” is coming for your way of life.

He behaves as if millions of Americans, jobless with dwindling hope for a future they now measure by a clock instead of a calendar, are invisible to him.

Comprehending loss is beyond his grasp. He casts himself as a stranger to loss. Losing something, anything or anyone could mark you as a loser. Not him.

We are a nation of strivers, dreamers, heroes. And yes, most of us do want to get along. Sadly, we have a leader who needs us to hate one another.

The true spirit of the man was seen in those moments away from the camera. There won’t be another like him.

It was a somber moment. It was a horrifying year. And, in many ways, the country has yet to recover.

Does anyone actually believe that shooters would have stopped because their English teacher or lacrosse coach kept a Glock in the cabinet?