For much of the past eight years, Donald J. Trump has claimed that his political enemies (basically any republican who disagrees with him and refuses to pay homage to him) are nothing more than RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only.) However, it should be clear that he, himself, is the greated RINO of all! Consider this:
The Republican Party has been hijacked and has morphed into a personality cult focused on a six-time debtor (the term for someone who has filed for bankruptcy) with more than a dozen business failures in his wake. Yet, he pretends to be some financial wizard. He claims he loves America, but tears down our hallowed institutions and wrongfully reinterprets the U.S. Constitution to his personal benefit and his unlawful circumstances. He pretends in public to honor our dead military servicemembers, but in private calls them “losers” and “suckers” according to reports in the Military Times and elsewhere. Trump’s reponse to this is that it is “lie,” but so is much of what he says. This is a controversial case between unnamed sources vs. unreliable sources. There are dozens of senior White House employees and others who served under Donald J. Trump or who had unfortunate contact with him, from his former Chief of Staff (retired USMC General) John F. Kelly, to former National Security Advisor John Bolton to Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to E Jean Carroll, the woman Donald J. Trump was found liable of sexually abusing who know the unvarnished truth about Donald J. Trump. And, there are many more people I could add to this list and many more lies as well. In fact, the Washington Post has documented 30,573 lies that Donald J. Trump has spoken during his four years in office. The latest grand jury reports confirms Donald J. Trump’s problem telling the truth: “Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway—to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”
“Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway—to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”
Keep this in mind when he promises you that he will not touch Medicare or Social Security. Or when he promises you as a 45 year old coal miner with a high school education that you and your neighbors are “going to be working [your] asses off . . .” if he becomes president. That so? Then why according to government statistics were 54,000 coal jobs lost partly while Donald J. Trump was in office?
In fact, when Donald J. Trump left office in 2021, the number of coal miner jobs in West Virginia were the lowest since 1890. 1890! This, alone should tell you Donald J. Trump will say anything to get elected. He knows that over the last decades American industry has shifted and retooled from coal to other cleaner, cheaper energy sources. In some cases, jobs have gone overseas. What U.S. company would want to turn back the clock to the days of coal?
Historically, Republicans have stood for law and order, financial prudence, and the projection of American power abroad to bravely confront our enemies. Yet, Donald J. Trump has led the charge to defund the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’ve been around for almost 75 years, and I never thought I’d hear Republicans talking trash about the FBI. Our safety and security depend in the FBI and I’ve been proud to have a dedicated FBI agent as a friend in the past. These selfless public servants risk their lives to protect us; you, I, the President of the United States, himself. They deserve a better person that Donald J. Trump as President.
Donald J. Trump is willing to even bankrupt the U.S. Government, encouraging his followers in Congress to not negotiage in good faith (nay, not to negotiate at all) to avoid default on the country’s debt. He increased the national debt astronomically and he may very well repeat this behavior. Or bankrupt our country as if it were just another Trump enterprise.
Renewing the European Alliance
The U.S. needs to confront our adversaries in the World. Yet, Donald J. Trump would believe the word of President Vladimir Putin over that of his own intelligence agencies and trained, professional advisors. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has a Charter which says thirty one countries will come to our assistance if we are ever attacked by North Korea, Russia or China. Yet, Donald J. Trump seemed intent while President to pull the U.S. out of NATO, preferring to trust in his pal Kim Jong Un’s good intentions instead not to mention Donald J. Trump’s admiration of Putin’s “genius.” When the GOP Platform Committee put “renewing the European Alliance” into the 2016 Platform, it was likely they did not mean that the U.S. should abandon our European allies altogether.
Honest Elections and the Right to Vote
The 2016 GOP Platform called for honest elections and the right to vote. Yet, Donald J. Trump did everything in his power (and more) to steal the 2020 election from Joe Biden. The GOP Platform for 2016 said:
“Honest elections are the foundation of representative government. We pledge to protect the voting rights of every citizen, as well as their rights of conscience when they are harassed or denied a job because of their contributions to a candidate or a cause. We support state efforts to ensure ballot access for the elderly, the handicapped, military personnel, and all legitimate voters.”
Yet, even as the Vice-President of the U.S. was certifying Joe Biden as the next President of the U.S., on January 6, 2021, followers of Donald J. Trump were searching the halls of the Capitol for the Vice-President, yelling “Hang Mike Pence” as they went from room to room while other MAGA followers were outside constructing a makeshift gallows on the capitol lawn. In another week, we may hear of yet more indictments from the state of Georgia alleging Donald J. Trump tried to overturn the will of the majority in the election of 2020 as far as the state of Georgia was concerned.
According to the Architect of the Capitol, the dollar value of damages to the building was $1.5 million.
Here are some more “fun” facts for those republican members of Congress who saw that occasion on January 6, 2021 as just another bunch of rowdy tourists:
- More than 225 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including over 75 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.
- Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted Jan. 6 at the Capitol including about 80 U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.
- Approximately 10 individuals have been arrested on a series of charges that relate to assaulting a member of the media, or destroying their equipment, on Jan. 6.
- Approximately 640 defendants have been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds.
- Over 75 defendants have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
- More than 45 defendants have been charged with destruction of government property, and over 30 defendants have been charged with theft of government property.
- At least 275 defendants have been charged with corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding, or attempting to do so.
- Approximately 40 defendants have been charged with conspiracy, either: (a) conspiracy to obstruct a congressional proceeding, (b) conspiracy to obstruct law enforcement during a civil disorder, (c) conspiracy to injure an officer, or (d) some combination of the three.
The First Amendment: Constitutionally Protected Speech
The Republicans have generally supported free speech (with some notable exceptions.) Yet, when two retired military officers Stanley McChrystal and William McRaven who were “popular and influential leaders” exercised their rights of free speech in a critical way as one is (still) able to do in our free society, Donald J. Trump wanted them recalled to active duty so that they could court martialed for what they said as civilians according to Mike Esper, Donald J. Trump’s one time Secretary of Defense. If Donald J. Trump will go after our war heros (such as the late Senator John McCain), will he think twice about throwing any of us under the bus?
Donald J. Trump speaks like a tyrant in waiting. In an interview with Breitbart News, he said:
“I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.” Like it was bad for Brian Sicknick, the police officer beaten and killed by the MAGA mob on January 6, 2021?
A Dangerous World
Again, from the 2016 Republican Platform:
“We support maintaining and, if warranted, increasing sanctions, together with our allies, against Russia unless and until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored.
We will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force, in Ukraine, Georgia, or elsewhere, and will use all appropriate constitutional measures to bring to justice the practitioners of aggression and assassination.”
Would it surprize you if I informed you that Donald J. Trump does not care what happens to Ukraine? Donald J. Trump doesn’t like Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Maybe because in that infamous “perfect” telephone conversation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not praise Donald J. Trump effusively enough? Donald J. Trump’s solution spoken to Sean Hannity was to let Russia have even more Ukraine territory. But to New Hampshire voters he took a different tack, not taking any side. Within the last week he advised that Congress take no further action in support of Ukraine until full disclosure of whatever illegal acts Trump thinks Biden committed.
Where is the church?
I am really disheartened that my evangelical brethren and sisters cannot see not only what is clear to me and a minority of Christians, but to spiritually unregenerate people as well. Whenever the Church faces a tyrant, they find some obscure verse or notion to endorse the bad guy. In Nazis Germany, Christians (specifically Lutherans) were ready to betray certain principles of their faith because St. Paul says we should support the powers over us (Romans 13:1-2.) Did they also believe they were required to deliver Jews to their deaths for the sake of this passage of Scripture? Today, there are false prophets, often self-annointed, who have dusted off some Achaemenian ruler (Cyrus) to justify a morally unsuited candidate for the highest office in the land. “The Clintons are going to Hell.” “The Bidens and the Obamas are going to Hell.” But Donald J. Trump is God’s anointed and if you don’t vote for him, you are going to Hell, too!”
When the Apostle Paul stood before Nero (as he must have as a Roman citizen and as the angel prophesized to him in Acts 27:23,24), no doubt he didn’t “cop a plea” or “kiss the ring” of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (kissing the ring is one of Donald J. Trump’s favorite phrases to describe those politicians who travel to Mar-a-Lago to pay homage and swear fealty to him.) Yet when churches see injustice, they are often too apt to close their eyes to it, as Dr. Martin Luther King related in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
And then there are the Democrats
If President Joe Biden or any of his family members have broken the law, they should be investigated and prosecuted. Period. Letting Donald J. Trump off because you don’t want to charge a democrat who is President is not justice. Nor is prosecuting a republican ex-president fair while turning a blind eye to the sins of an incumbent democrat. Nor is pardoning yourself as president which is a very real possibility (assuming he does not just order the Justice Department to shut down the prosecution first if he is elected.) Donald J. Trump should not go to jail or suffer financial injury if he is innocent. Innocent of retaining classified documents in violation of the law. Innocent of obstruction of justice. Innocent of witness tampering. Innocent of inciting violence. Innocent of attempting to overturn an election he understood he had lost. Innocent of impeding an official act of Congress. Innocent of conspiracy to break the law. Innocent of sexual harrassment.
After years of Democrat rule, I can no longer tell what is moral or immoral as far as the law is concerned. There are new genders being rolled out every few months, and you can be disciplined if you use the wrong pronoun at work. There are charges of “micro aggression” if a teacher innocently mispronounces a person’s last name. Excellence in girls sports seem destined to be out of reach for girls (including scholarships) as long as PWP’s (people with penises) can compete as women. Certainly the family is under attack as the progressive wing of the Democrat Party does everything in its power to alienate an independent voters like myself.
The Democrat Party today is no more the answer to the problems of our country than the Republican Party is. Somehow people of good will need to come together to save our Republic. The spell that binds the minds of the MAGA crowd must be broken so that they can see the light of day. And the democrats need to be delivered from the darkness of their own making as well.
