To the Editor:
President Trump delivers they-are-so-bad, be-against-them and you-must-choose-me false messaging better than anyone on the planet. It is the basis of his political power. But we have better choices.
The Republican majorities in Congress are almost completely compliant with President Trump’s agenda. Trump’s version of the Republican party is in full control of our federal government. Democrats are largely irrelevant and should be the last thing we focus on. But that is not the case in recent Great Bend Tribune Opinion Page columns.
In the Mar. 8 and Mar. 13 columns by Michael Ryan and the Mar. 11 column by Earl Watt, Democrats are the total focus. These columns are pure Democrats-are-so-bad messaging. They ignore our Sunday school lessons on not judging others and declare that Democrats have hateful hearts, inviting us to join them in their judgmental disdain. But there is no sensible reason for us to see even more Democrats-are-so-bad messaging now, than when the Democrats held the Presidency and Senate.
These columnists should be presenting verifiable information on how all of Trump actions are very good and just, and truly honor our 236-year history of constitutional democracy. But Trump’s actions are increasingly unjust. To maintain power, he must present Democrats as even more unjust than himself. That is the propaganda service that these columnists provide.
Reasons to oppose Trump are glaringly evident: Trump demonstrated his approval of the assault on Capitol Police officers, the invasion of the Capitol building, and the fleeing for safety, of the members of Congress during the January 6 Capitol riots, by pardoning the rioters. He made the sun-comes-up-in-the-west false statement that Ukraine started the war with Russia.
It is structurally corrupt to have Elon Musk determining how the federal budget is spent when his own companies have received at least $15.4 billion of federal funds over the last 10 years. Musk’s companies keep getting paid while offices providing crop insurance and Social Security access are closed. The richest man in the world stopped legally mandated food aid to the poorest people in the world. Trump uses Musk to continue federal expenditures that he wants and cut or cripple the ability to make expenditures that he does not want, even though they are required by law.
The Trump-compliant Republican House Budget Committee said that this time, trickledown economics will work. It claimed that Trump’s budget bill will reduce the federal debt compared to current law. The 43-year-old, nonpartisan, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said it will increase debt by $3.4 trillion.
Trump is not saving U.S. democracy. Trump is not draining the swamp. Trump is not reducing federal deficits. The deepest deception of Trump’s false depiction propaganda is that we must pledge some kind of political indentured servitude to him. But we have always had better choices.
For Republican party policy on spending cuts, tax cuts and immigration policy, we should have nominated Nikki Haley, South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, in the 2024 primary. For control the federal deficit, we should have nominated John Kasich, Ohio governor and U.S. Representative who was the chief architect of the legislation that last balanced the federal budget in 1997, in the 2016 primary. As it was, we Kansans selected Senator Ted Cruz with 48% of the vote in the 2016 primary. Trump only received 23% of total votes. As Kansan Republicans, 77% of us rejected Trump.
Trump’s unjust actions are proving the wisdom of that 2016 primary vote. We need to reject his slick vitriol, return to our commonsense and make choices that serve our nation as whole rather than Trump and his compliant followers.
John Sturn
Ellinwood
