Millie LaFontaine lives in Concord.

The daily barrage that has become the news cycle these days is hard to keep up with, much less to respond to thoughtfully. More than once I have heard it likened to trying to drink from a fire hose.

In many ways, I believe that’s actually the point, at least in the mind of the current occupant of the White House. Flooding the zone with patently false assertions about what is legal or illegal, taking an axe to an experienced and dedicated workforce and to vital programs, smothering evidence-based science so that only embers remain — these are the tactics of this fireman, or rather, this arsonist. And he has done it with such speed that it seems hard to mount a meaningful resistance.

It doesn’t stop with the man himself. He has his “people.” By ignoring threats posed by his cabinet nominees to democracy, public health, world peace and the future of our planet, his allies in Congress have voted to approve his minions and remain in his good graces. By relinquishing their own power of the purse and their role in serving as a check on the power of the executive branch, those members of Congress have effectively stoked the fire.

He has placed an unelected oligarch, wealthier than anyone else on the planet, in charge of enriching himself and his cronies at the expense of the rest of the world. Who needs workers whose jobs are meant to make this country a better place? Who needs to spread goodwill and provide needed assistance to our fellow human beings in impoverished or war torn countries? Who needs to oversee, regulate or administer ‘unnecessary’ or ‘corrupt’ programs if they only benefit our children, our students or the neediest among us? Certainly not this fireman, whose only measuring stick is whether he believes others are ‘ripping him off’ or not.

Who needs to play any role, much less a key role, in world health or world peace? And who needs to worry about our climate crisis when the whole thing is a hoax? It seems so much better to pour oil on that fire. To that end, he has jackhammered his refrain “Drill, Baby, Drill” deep into the ground. He has gazed greedily at Greenland, Panama and now the ruined Gaza Strip, trying to spark enthusiasm for building his own theme parks there. And he has done all this while shouting “America First!” and suggesting that the inhabitants of these places must go — anywhere but here, of course.

In fact, this grandson of immigrants, who is married to an immigrant, has waged his biggest assault on people who only want what his own family sought. His family, at least, had the dumb luck of coming here at a time when that possibility was unfettered by hopeless red tape and interminable and capricious delays. He’s portrayed these people as criminals and has ignited fear of these ‘aliens’ in the minds of his followers. He self-righteously points fingers when he himself has committed worse crimes than all but a tiny handful of them.

It is hard to drive by this fire rubbernecking when the fabric of the nation we believe in is threatened by it. What may have started out as a house fire 10 years ago has morphed into a wildfire which may engulf us all.

I readily admit I’m at a loss as to the best course of action, but I do know that we need to continue calling a spade a spade at every opportunity. We need to refute his twisted assertions and countermand his lies with actual evidence. We need to keep a spotlight on his destructive agenda and on how it undermines democracy. And we need to look at the torrent gushing out of his fire hose and identify the issues We the People can unite around. We need to sound the alarm on these issues.

We need to make sure that Americans wake up the truth before it’s too late.