Dear Editor:

I remember vaguely, years ago when I was a child in the 70's, President Nixon on the cover of a news magazine sitting atop our family coffee table. But I never put together the significance of the story or time until I was a teenager.

Then around the age of 12 to 13, I started to really pay attention to the news about the Tehran hostage crisis. I recognized how then candidate Reagan capitalized on then President Carter's impotence.

It was my first lesson in how the political narrative is manipulated by clever individuals who know how to work the media and control what the average person thinks.

Recently, Andrew McCabe, a former deputy director of the FBI, gave a compelling interview to 60 Minutes which was broadcast Feb. 17. In it, he details disturbing revelations about professional colleagues of his trying their best at damage control.

The question becomes: "Is President Trump compromised by a foreign power, namely Russia?" And if so, what to do about it?

I have lived 52 years on this planet come April, and I have never witnessed something like this before. Excuse me if I choke a bit and lose my train of thought.

What we have here is an unprecedented occasion where major law enforcement players believe the White house has been compromised by Vladimir Putin through Donald Trump.

At the same time you have major Republican figures like Mitch McConnell and Leslie Graham collaborating with Trump to push their own political agendas knowing the controversy that surrounds him (Trump).

Nothing, apparently, not even the suggestion of the highest office in the land being compromised by foreign powers can discourage the self aggrandizing right wing figures from taking advantage of the chaos and distraction that Trump's presidency dictates.

It is profoundly disgusting to witness the current Republican leadership opportunistically pushing forth their agendas while everyone seems to be distracted by the scandal that is Donald Trump.

Two things come to mind: first, this President is no doubt a traitor to this country and a Benedict Arnold.

Second, there are GOP leaders who will suffer the indignities of all collaborators throughout history, the end of their careers if they are lucky. Being dragged into the street by an angry mob if they are not lucky.

My great hope is the latter.

Garett Bell
Downey