I write on July 6 as the belated July 4th parade is starting down the street. Recently, the Disney heiress publicly stated that she would not longer contribute financially to the Democratic party if elder statesman Joe Biden did not step down as the presidential candidate. This led me to wonder why wealthy Republicans do not stand up and disavow Mr Trump who is a convicted felon, rapist (E. Jean Carroll case), adulterer, instigator and inciter of the Jan 6 riots in which Mike Pence was almost strung up, and who has very bad hair, among other sterling qualities. Have I missed something? The debate was a joke, no fact-checking, no rules enforced, just abuse hurled mainly from the mouth of the Orange One. No wonder Gentleman Joe was startled. Anyone with a modicum of manners would be. There should be simultaneous fact-checking in a ribbon running across the screen in these debates (in their current format, which are more like mud-wrestling contests). One of the accusations from the mouth of Mr Trump was that Biden's son is a convicted felon (ahem), which is what Trump is also. But Biden's son is not running for the highest office in the land. And, to quote Geoffrey Chaucer, who was writing in the 1390s, "For God it woot, men may wel often fynde / A lordes sone do shame and vilenynye" (for God knows, that men often find that a lord's son does shameful things). Virtue is not inherited, in other words, which all of us know from having observed various bad apples in a range of famous families. So why do the Democrats eat their young? Joe Biden can hardly be called "young," of course, but I am using "eat their young" to signify beating up their own candidates, which Dems seem to do regularly. To continue to focus on his age is ageism, one form of discrimination, which, I believe is illegal in the state of New York. Democrats are hypercritical in my view, while the Republicans apparently have no critical faculties at all. July 4th (or 6th as here) should be a day of rejoicing for this beloved nation that so many have fought for (gad, I just remembered what Trump had to say about the heroic John McCain) and that has given so many so much. C'mon, Republicans, be brave! Speak up! You can't ALL believe that Trump is the man. You should find someone else!