This is in response to Mr. Kneibert’s article in Saturday’s paper concerning the “hyper-toxic” atmosphere of today’s politics.
I have to say reading this made me laugh, not humorously but with total disbelief. I read through his list of outrages and had to wonder if he had been asleep for eight years (or even the last 18 months!) or had amnesia. You can say with a straight face that “Republicans simply took their lumps when Bill Clinton and Obama were elected?” That is laughable.
Where was all this righteous indignation when senators yelled “liar” during one of Obama’s speeches? Or when the stuffed “dummy “with an Obama face was hanging from a tree. And let’s not forget the “respectful” display from the rodeo clown here at the state fair. Did you petition your fellow Republicans to “maintain the time-honored traditions of mutual respect and decency” in their political discourse? I seem to remember the exact opposite.
You believe that being elected is what so much of the country cannot “forgive” Trump for, but what is unforgivable is the hatred, bigotry and classlessness he promotes and embodies. You feign outrage at Facebook and Twitter posts from actors and representatives yet the purposed leader of this country is too busy tweeting insults in the wee hours of the morning about how awful someone’s face looked after their surgery or posting video memes of him beating a CNN reporter to lead this country.
I have yet to see this president do anything that merits respect. His character, or lack thereof, has been on display his entire life. He has not changed. Words have consequences, and the anger and bigotry stirred to a fever pitch during his campaign looked and felt more like newsreels from the civil rights movement of the ’60s. Giant steps backward in civility took place during his campaign — where was the outrage?
You ask for Democratic leadership to denounce what you see as outrage, and yes, there is a lot of bad behavior from all sides, but again, with a straight face Republicans condone and excuse asking Comey for loyalty and lying about it or claiming to have proof of Trump Tower being wire tapped. Again too many things to mention here.
These are not things dreamed up by the “left-wing, fake news” media. These are things being investigated by a special prosecutor who is being threatened by Trump to be fired! There has been so much confirmed lying, or alternate facts as the Trump spokespeople call it, how can there not be anger and fear?
We tolerated eight years of birth certificate nonsense, supposed Sharia law implementation and countless other falsehoods continuously from Fox News, which seems to be Trump’s news source and ironically the only one he doesn’t call “fake news.” I have watched the Republicans in Washington completely overlook the facts of Russia’s involvement in our country’s election. This is not a partisan issue. The fact there was any meddling from any foreign country should rally the entire country, especially the president, to get to the bottom of this issue.
As our community and country watch and wait for the loss of their health insurance, college funding, and minimum wage increases to disappear, I hope that is the inspiration needed for a winning game plan in 2018. There is no “new” Republican game plan, just the same policies that took us to a deficit in the Bush era and the great recession of 2008.
The poor man with a small voice will pay the price. The strings of our state government are being pulled from Washington. Local elections matter. Vote on Aug. 8.
