Last week’s Times letter titled “Equal justice” repeated false, but often heard, allegations regarding illegal immigrants and blamed virtually everything on their presence in our country. It frightens me that so many people find it difficult to accept facts and easy to place blame on those who are “different.”

This election season it’s plain to see what this scapegoating of “the other” has done to our country. Republican leaders created this monster known as “Trump” by being unable to accept the fact that a black man could be intelligent, capable and able to attain the high office of President of the United States. This scenario didn’t fit with their belief regarding the basic inferiority of people of color, so they had to de-legitimize this good man.

The nooses and black face appeared. Trump and others began their “birther” nonsense. McConnell led total obstruction in congress and gradually it became acceptable to use any language, disrespect, or conspiracy theory to prevent our president from getting bills passed and healing our country.

Now we’re facing the possibility of a President Trump, who has given voice to and inflamed the deep anger and fear present in our society and has denigrated everyone. His idea of effective leadership is to “knock the hell out of them” and, unfortunately, this machismo sells and incites!

There was another time when an unstable man used his belief in white superiority to persecute those who were different and people followed him because he gave them someone to blame. It was a horrific chapter in our history that mustn’t be repeated.

It is past time for reasonable people of every party to say enough is enough. We must unite, repudiate egotistical bullies and start treating others as we would want to be treated, or our country may self-destruct.