Fiasco! ~ opinion letter: Echo from North Dakota

Letter to the editor published in The Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota

I have watched the fiasco* of recent weeks, from the snubbing of our allies (by Donald Trump) at the NATO conference to the disgusting display between potus and Putin, and I can say that I have never been angrier, more frightened or more embarrassed as an American citizen.

Our president has ignored the irrefutable conclusion of our entire intelligence community that Russia, under Putin's direction, interfered in our last election. He continues to refuse to make a single negative comment about Putin. He trusts a former KGB agent over our own intelligence community. Why? And, why won't our Republican Congress members stand up to him? Why did Sen. Hoeven really make a July 4 trip to meet with the Russians, only to embarrass himself on the world stage? Why were no Democrats invited? What might the Russians have on these Republicans? The farther the Mueller investigation proceeds, the closer it gets to the president's inner circle.

Not one Republican in Congress has pushed for the safeguarding of our elections, even though we now know false information was spread through Russian operatives and fake Twitter and Facebook accounts. Voter rolls were hacked in at least 20 states. How many registered voters were unable to cast their votes due to altered voter roll information? How many states use Russian computer programs for storing and tabulating the votes? Essentially, how legitimate  (or illegitimate?) was the 2016 election. And worse, how much more emboldened are the Russians to interfere in future elections?

They say that in politics, the cover-up is often worse than the crime.

Shirley Bohnsack

Mayville, N.D.

*Fiasco ~ definition: a thing that is a complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way.