During the recent reunion weekend, Bowdoin College recognized three outstanding graduates who have dedicated their lives to advancing the common good by serving others.

William Bao Bean, class of ’95 received the Alumni Service Award. The program noted, “You have enthusiastically, and single-handedly built and fostered a strong network of Bowdoin alumni across Asia. Your work to connect alumni is both intensely personal and wide-ranging; you bring alumni together by organizing and hosting in-person events and you inspire and excite alumni throughout Asia to engage with each other and the College.”

Malcolm W. Gauld, class of ’76, received the Distinguished Educator Award. The program noted, “Over the course of your extraordinary career as an educator you have demonstrated remarkable vision, resilience and innovation. By adopting and advancing a character-based educational model, you have inspired students, families and educators to prioritize integrity and personal growth alongside achievement.”

George A. Khaldun, class of ’73, received the Common Good Award. The program noted, “You have devoted your considerable skill as an administrator, expertise as an educator and passion as a reformer to bettering the lives of young people in distressed communities. You have been innovative, effective, and influential in your quest to break the cycle of poverty in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood and other urban communities throughout the country.”

Each of the three honorees received a rousing ovation from the enthusiastic crowd. It was so refreshing for this Polar Bear (class of ’64) to know that my alma mater celebrates people who demonstrate ethics and integrity and character and selflessness. Those concepts are diametrically opposed to those valued by Donald Trump and his shameless enablers in the current administration.

More than any other president in history, Donald Trump deserves the title “Grifter in Chief.” Trump’s penchants for grifting and bullying and taking advantage of others were evident well before he narrowly won the Electoral College vote in 2016.

He created a fake university and a fake foundation. Although he liked to portray himself as a savior of the working class, he has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits, and many of them involve ordinary Americans who say Trump or his companies refused to pay them. Incidentally, the acorn doesn’t fall from the tree. Eric Trump, at the direction of his father, the future president, shifted money that was supposed to go to help kids with cancer to the Trump organization.

Trump won in 2016 because many Americans apparently had other priorities than electing a president who possessed a dollop of character, a shred of ethics, a modicum of morality. “He has personal flaws, but I like his policies” was the common refrain of people who tried to justify their support for this lifelong con man.

Trump’s second term has merely underscored what people like me have been saying about him for many years. He cares only about himself and his bank account. He will do whatever it takes and stomp on whomever he must stomp on to get his way. Full stop. Underneath that braggadocio is a weak miserable man who knows he’s a fraud and is terrified that too many people will wake up to that fact. Wall Streeters coined the apt term TACO trade to suggest that Trump Always Chickens Out.

Those who believe Trump isn’t just a grifter and that people like me are just woke liberals suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome might want to consider the following facts:

Trump recently spoke at a $1 million-dollar-a-person dinner. The fundraiser was for MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports Trump. (NOTE: The fine print for the invitation said that the president is attending as a guest speaker and not soliciting donations.)

A day after Trump announced worldwide tariffs, the president attended a LIV Golf dinner in Miami ahead of a three-day LIV tournament taking place at Trump National Doral.

The Secret Service has spent millions of taxpayer money at Trump properties, literally paying Donald Trump for the right to protect him and his family.

Trump Media & Technology Group, whose stock is majority owned by Trump, unveiled plans to raise $2.5 billion to finance a Bitcoin-buying spree.

Shortly after longtime GOP fundraiser Betsy Fago attended a $1 million-a-plate gala, Trump returned the favor. He pardoned her son Paul Walczak, a former nursing executive who stole millions in employee payroll taxes to fund a luxury lifestyle. The president’s decision spared Walczak from nearly $4.4 million in restitution and overrode the judge’s warning that wealth and power should not exempt anyone from prison.

Let’s not forget Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million luxury plane from Qatar. Trump called it a “great gesture,” saying he would be “stupid” to turn it down. Constitutional scholars had a slightly different take on the matter. Article 1 of the Constitution bans anyone holding public office from accepting any present, emolument, office or title from any “King, Prince or foreign state” without congressional approval.

Despite Trump’s tough rhetoric on drug dealers, he has sparked controversy by pardoning a growing number of convicted drug dealers, including a recent move to grant clemency to Larry Hoover, who was serving multiple life sentences in federal prison for crimes linked to his role leading the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples.

I could list many more examples of Trump’s grifting ways, but I won’t. Trump’s hard-core cult members have proven time and again that Trump is their guy, that people like me are just spoilsports who don’t get Trump’s amazing leadership style. On the other hand, millions of Americas concluded long ago that Trump is just a grifter, a con man, a slickster, an emperor with no clothes. I’m addressing now the people between those two groups, the ones who voted for Trump despite his personal flaws because (whatever the reason). Did you really think Trump would shed his grifting ways in his second term and work on behalf of the American people? Really?

Time to wake up, America. Time to unite and make America America again.

David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns at dtreadw575@aol.com.