There’s a lot that’s wrong these days. Our country is hurting. We have a President-elect who instead of trying to bring this bitterly divided nation together is continuing to spitefully celebrate his victory. There is little mention of unity in his words, mostly braggadocio and dissembling and instability.

His appointments to his cabinet have been grotesque. Men — nearly all wealthy white men, of course — have been proposed to run departments of government whose existence they are politically and philosophically opposed to the mere existence.

Ben Carson, for instance, who declared he was not up to running a government agency, has been no innate for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a task for which he is monumentally unsuited. Like many other nominees, he has no experience in government or in managing a gigantic governmental program. For Secretary of State, he has proposed Rex Tillerson (is that a real name?), an oil executive who is ultra-friendly with Vladimir Putin and who has no experience in government of governmental diplomacy.

Donald Trump’s admiration for Putin is alarming. Donald Trump’s disregard for intelligence about Putin is frightening. How safe is our nation if its leader is so lacking awareness? If our President is not capable of defending us against our adversaries, how dangerous is he?

Frankly, there has been almost nothing in his behavior and words since his election to reassure anyone of his competence or ability to oversee the American people. He continues to … well, let’s put it bluntly: lie. He makes statements that are by all evidence untrue. And insists they are true.

Many of us who voted against Trump hold hope that he may yet prove a competent President. In an ideal world, even better than that. But instead, we have only encouragement for his dabbling in the dark waters of racism, economic malfeasance, diplomatic ignorance and a litany of legitimate concerns for everyone from women to Muslims to immigrants to the poor.

I want this to be a happy Christmas. Donald Trump is doing everything possible to ensure that cannot happen.