Donald Trump and his "makes no sense" foreign policy. Who knew?

Trump lies and, when he is not telling lies, he makes up policies in the middle of the night. 

Donald Trump is not qualified to lead America and he is destroying our democracy❗

Echo editorial published in The Kansas City Star newspaper: 

"The United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest ally and partner. … At the same time, they're talking about working positively with Russia (and) appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying murderous dictator. … Make that make sense." 

I have thought a lot about what then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a March 4, news conference, in the aftermath of a notorious Oval Office meeting where President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance rudely and in a pre-planned verbal attack, lambasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not being thankful enough for American support. 

Trump then cut off U.S. military assistance to Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to agree to a bad deal, but he applied no pressure at all to Putin, even as he continued deadly attacks. "You should never have started it," Trump said to Zelenskyy, blaming him for Russia's invasion of his country.

Unbelievably, the Trump administration's proposed deal to end the war in Ukraine was everything Putin was asking for:

• legal recognition of Russia's control of Crimea 
• unofficial recognition of Russia's control of nearly everything else it has seized since 2022
• a commitment that Ukraine will never join NATO ❗🙄
• lifting all sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014, and 
• enhanced U.S.-Russia economic cooperation 

In return, Ukraine would receive only a vague "security guarantee" and commitment to help rebuild, with no assurance that the United States would help provide either or details of who might. 

Unsurprisingly, this plan emerged after Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin for several hours recently and had no apparent input from the Ukrainians. To get any kind of U.S. commitment for future assistance, Ukraine basically had to bribe the Trump administration separately with a favorable deal for minerals extraction. 

If you're Zelenskyy, or anyone in Ukraine right now, you have to be asking yourself too: 

• How does any of this make sense❓ 
• Why is the U.S. president blaming a democratic partner for getting invaded by an aggressive, authoritarian neighbor❓ 
• Why is he pushing a "peace" plan that explicitly rewards Russia's crimes❓ 
• What could possibly explain an approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that so nakedly favors Russia❓

America has inexplicably damaged ties with its allies through a pointless trade war and eroded trust with our closest partners. 

With his threats to take control of Panama, Greenland and Canada, Trump is normalizing the very idea of violating other states' sovereignty, something Putin has been trying to do for years. 

Also, the Trump (Republican MAGA cult) administration has stopped or gutted programs designed to combat years of Russia's gray zone warfare against the United States, including cutting funding for cybersecurity offices that fight foreign meddling in U.S. elections and disbanding the task force responsible for enforcing sanctions against Russia. 

Meanwhile, Russia is the only major economy excluded from Trump's punishing tariffs so far. The Trump administration is defunding or dismantling a slew of other institutions that frustrate Putin because they combat Russian disinformation and help strengthen civil society and democracy around the world, such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the National Endowment for Democracy.

But that's not all❗ Massive cuts to scientific research and attacks on America's higher education institutions are undermining some of America's greatest strengths and contributions to the world today. America's strong and stable economy has been the envy of the world, but Trump's inexplicable trade policy is even eroding that too. 

If Russia wants a weaker America, this is exactly how you get there. This column isn't long enough to list all the ways that Trump has done so yet, but you get the idea. The question then is: Why? Once you eliminate all the answers that make no sense, the answer that does "make any sense" may be the right one. The clues have been there all along. A Republican-led Senate panel that investigated Russian interference in the 2016, election found that at least 16 Trump campaign associates met with Russian officials or contacts, and special counsel Robert Mueller's report details at least 140 contacts between Trump's campaign and transition team and Russian nationals or intermediaries. But even if you dismiss those reports as part of a "Russia hoax," don't you find it odd that the Kremlin spokesperson is openly cheering how America's foreign policy now "largely coincides" with their own❓

As the old Cold War saying goes, Americans believe in coincidences, while Russians believe in making coincidences happen. Whether America is now aligning with Russia wittingly or unwittingly, only one of these two countries will reap the benefit, and it won't be ours. The sooner we admit the problem, the sooner we can stop it.

Elizabeth Shackelford is senior policy director at Dartmouth College's Dickey Center for International Understanding and a foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune. She was previously a U.S. diplomat and is the author of "The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age."

American justice is holding a finger in the dyke of Trumpziism's onslaught of wrong minded calls for judiciary impeachment

Echo opinion column published in the Kansas City Star, Missouri:

By Stephen L. Carter: "Roberts was right to chastise Trump" 

Chief Justice John Roberts had to take the extraordinary step of chiding Donald Trump and his cult cheerleaders for their demands that federal judges who stand in the way of the administration's decrees be impeached. 

But the abhorrent Trump sort of behavior isn't new; the insistence by politicians that judges stand aside and let them have their way has been a depressing feature of our political landscape since the beginning. But in the current moment, with Trump issuing so many orders, no small number of which may be illegal, it's particularly important that we observe the forms of law. Currently in Trump's crosshairs is James Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington. The president is upset because the judge had the temerity to instruct the administration to cease the mass deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members until he decided on the legality of the program. Courts do this all the time - ordering parties in effect to stand still pending argument and decision. But on this occasion, Trump took to social media, calling Boasberg a "Radical Left Lunatic" and "crooked" and demanding his removal. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard That's outrageous and, from the leader of the free world, inexcusable. The holder of the highest elective office in the land owes the American people the highest regard for our fading democratic norms.

Chief justice pushes back against calls to impeach judges who rule against Trump. Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement following President Donald Trump's call for a judge to be impeached for ruling against the administration.

Justice Roberts's response was straightforward and forceful: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

Has this sort of thing occurred in the past? Of course, it has, far more often than we might care to admit. Early in the 19th century, believing Justice Samuel Chase to have been biased against them in key cases, the Jeffersonians went after him with a vengeance. (Chase survived his impeachment trial by the narrowest margin.) During the Reconstruction, members of Congress threatened to impeach Supreme Court justices who were considered hostile to their program. Instances abound. The enemies of the Warren Court made no secret that their enmity stemmed from the justices' decisions. Online you can still buy colorful "Impeach Earl Warren" buttons dating back to the era. During the 1960s, an effort to impeach Justice William Douglas picked up sufficient steam that some predicted might succeed.

Prefer a more recent example? Here's the New York Times in March of 1996, describing President Bill Clinton's response to a decision by federal Judge Herbert Baer to suppress evidence in a major drug case: "The White House put a Federal judge on public notice today that if he did not reverse a widely criticized decision throwing out drug evidence, the President might ask for his resignation." 

Jon Newman, then chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, fired back that the criticism reflected "extraordinary intimidation." By that time, Senator Robert Dole, Clinton's opponent-to-be in the approaching presidential election, had called for Baer's impeachment and removal. 

Newman had harsh words for Dole too: "A ruling in a contested case cannot remotely be considered a ground for impeachment."

Examples go on and on. What they have in common is the realization by politicians and activists that judges are cheap and easy targets. 

But when the criticisms suggest punishment, the rule of law begins to flail. Since the Trump administration began ramping up its rhetoric, federal judges have faced rising levels of reported threats. Small wonder the chief justice felt compelled to speak up. But in taking on Trump, Roberts isn't taking sides. He's trying to protect the judicial branch against political assault, just as he did in 2020 after then-Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer launched his dreadful headline-grabbing attack on two justices of the Supreme Court: "You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price." Roberts replied, correctly, that those at "the highest levels of government" had no business threatening judges. 

As a matter of fact, Trump, then in his first term, also weighed in: "There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices."

Exactly. Perhaps Trump II should read Trump I. No, judges shouldn't be free from criticism, and sometimes the criticism will be harsh. That's life in the rough and tumble of government affairs. But there's a world of difference between an online activist calling a judge a nasty name and the President of the United States calling for the judge to be removed from office. Only the second violates democratic norms.

The bipartisan National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal, on which I was privileged to serve, addressed this issue in its 1993, final report, writing: "[F]ederal judges should not be impeached for judicial decision-making even if the decision is an erroneous one." Let's not forget that what keeps norms alive is consensus. The more we ignore democratic norms, the weaker they become. I've written before about the way those norms of democracy have been threatened in recent years by the left's assault on the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. 

But the right has been laboring in those fields a lot longer. And the recklessness with which the labor is being done by the Trump administration and its supporters - yes, some backbencher has filed actual articles of impeachment against Judge Boasberg - is without parallel in our recent history. The norms matter particularly at this moment because the administration's flurry of sweeping orders has been met by a flurry of lawsuits. Maybe most of what the administration is attempting will survive judicial review. Maybe not. The way we find out is by trying the cases. That takes time. Impatience with the pace of law is a commonality of our history, but is, almost always, the enemy of democracy.

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of "Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster."

Tim Walz support for his military career and his Congressional work on veterans issues

Support Governor Tim Walz:  Disparaging Tim Walz’s military service insults millions of fellow American patriots.

"After he was elected to Congress in 2006, Walz worked on veterans’ issues, and he eventually rose to be the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in 2017." Reported in CNN.

Echo opinion published in the The Kansas City Star by Thomas Arnhold:

Like Tim Walz, I spent 24 years in the Army National Guard. During that time, I learned a lot about life that applies to our current election and will try to express my observations about two matters. 

There are lots of men and women like Walz in the National Guard and Reserves. We come from small towns and cities across the United States. We are teachers like Walz, and also law enforcement officers, lawyers, nurses, farmers and almost every other occupation one can think of.

We join for a variety of reasons. I did because I was a young attorney who started a law practice and needed some extra income. A good friend of mine talked me into joining. Others enlisted because they wanted to serve their country and community or because their father or mother had a positive military experience. Others joined because of the educational benefits, or they wanted to learn a skill. People also leave the service for a variety of reasons. 

Some finish their initial enlistment term and chose not to reenlist, while others stay 30 years or more. Soldiers often leave the service because their spouses do not like them gone or they have small children. Some leave to take advantage of opportunities elsewhere. Service members who choose to leave the military should be congratulated for serving, not disparaged because of why they left. Those who served sacrificed, at a minimum, weekends and annual training with their families. Many deployed for a year or more and lost jobs or income during that time. Why do we stay in the National Guard? 

Again, people stay in the National Guard for 20, 25, 30 or even 40 years for a variety of reasons. For some, it is the money and health insurance. For me and many others, it is because of our brother and sisters in arms. The Kansas National Guard was like an extended family to me.

Nor should anyone who served in the National Guard or Reserves be criticized for not deploying overseas. I recently saw a photo of a military dog, with the comment that the dog had deployed more times than Walz. That really torqued me. I had several friends who served more than 30 years in the Kansas National Guard and never deployed because of a variety of reasons. Some served during a period of time when deployments were rare and they never had a chance to deploy. Some held a military specialty that was not needed in the deployment. Some held civilian or military jobs at home that were critical. Some had medical conditions that kept them from deploying, or they had family issues. 

Another thing I learned is that members of the National Guard are usually courteous, down-to-earth, motivated and great problem-solvers. We know how to get the job done. We have skills that members of the active armed forces do not. For example, teams from the National Guard regularly win the U.S. Army marksmanship trophy. The National Guard is much better at taking care of service members and their families, because they are our neighbors and friends. I do not know if Kamala Harris and Walz will get elected, but I am convinced Walz is capable of being vice president of the United States and could step in to serve as president, if need be. 

My confidence is, in large part, based upon his service in the National Guard. Hooah, Tim Walz.

In 2003, I deployed to Bosnia with the Kansas Army National Guard as a member of the 35th Infantry Division. We were a peacekeeping force. After the former Yugoslavia broke up, war and the three ethnic groups who had existed peacefully before engaged in a brutal war. Nearly 11,000 Bosnian men and boys who were Muslim were slaughtered at Srebrenica by Slobodan Milošević and his Serbian army. In Bosnia, neighbors who had lived in peace for years suddenly turned on one another because of ethnic and political differences. When I left Bosnia, many of the schools had classes in the morning for one ethnic group and classes in the afternoon for another ethnic group, all to avoid strife. 

My fear is that violence might erupt in the United States over Americans’ political differences. Much this discord has been initiated by politicians themselves. It seems like every time I hear a politician speak or watch a political ad, I hear declarations that they will fight for me and condemnations of those who have dissimilar views. “Condemnation” is still too mild a word when it comes to some politicians. Politicians, especially those who support Donald Trump, pretty much declare that those of us who disagree with them want to destroy the country — that we are misfits and degenerates. And many of those opposed to Trump brand his followers as ignorant or redneck. The current political divide has affected many people on a personal level. They worry that if they put certain political bumper stickers on their vehicle, it might get vandalized. Yard signs for political candidates disappear or are defaced. The division in this country has become sad and dangerous.

The National Guard has a history of preventing divides in this country and abroad. In the oath we take when we join, we pledge to uphold the Constitution, not one faction or the other. 

While on duty, members of the National Guard are prohibited from engaging in political activity. On every National Guard Division staff is a civil affairs section whose duty it is to enhance the relationship between military forces and civilian authorities. 

In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the governor from using the Guard to block Black students from integrating a high school in Little Rock. In Bosnia, we collected weapons from different factions and provided medical and dental care to locals. 

On the other hand, DonOLD Trump has no history of reaching across aisles. And he has already said that if he wins, he would take retribution 💢against those who wronged him. How far would that go if (God forbid❗) he is elected❓

JD Vance says he must lie to get attention in the media but his evil hersay puts innocent people at risk of harm

Republicans DEMEANING behavior: Echo opinion letter published in the Kansas City Star newspaper:

HELLO? I love cats.

Most people I know love cats. Vice presidential Republican candidate J.D. Vance spreads false rumors about cats being eaten by Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, and DonOLD Trump further promoted the idea in the presidential debate last week. This unfounded claim is based on wild internet hearsay and has been refuted by local police and other officials. 

The issue is not that one preposterous allegation has appeared online, but rather that it has been given extended life by a major (Republican❗) political party, including its members of Congress and candidates for president and vice president. 

Could this be part of their ongoing efforts to brand immigrants and people of color as those to be feared and hated? I guess they find their claims that immigrants are criminals, drug dealers, rapists and worse are not sufficient, so they resort to accusations of cat-eating.

Absurd. Can they possibly stoop any lower❓ 

From Sheryl Rose, St. Louis

Trump got out-debated; so it’s somehow ABC’s fault? We need to be better !

Echo opinion published in the Kanasa City Star newspaper by Dion Lefler:  In the wake of Trump’s disastrous showing in Tuesday night’s debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris, attacking the moderators, ABC News and reputable journalists everywhere has been the best response that MAGA can muster up. Believe me, we’re used to it. The sad part is that some people still believe it. 

My Facebook feed has been peppered with posts and comments about an alleged “ABC whistleblower” about to anonymously release an “affidavit” that claims the network leaked the questions to Kamala Harris.

As far as I can tell, it originated with a MAGA account on X (where else?) by an anonymous user with the handle @DocNetyoutube, who bills himself as a “Black Insurrectionist”: “I will be releasing an affidavit from an ABC whistleblower regarding the debate. I have just signed a non-disclosure agreement with the attorney of the whistleblower. The affidavit states how the Harris campaign was given sample question which were essentially the same questions that were given during the debate and separate assurances of fact checking Donald Trump and that she would NOT be fact checked. Accordingly, the affidavit states several other factors that were built into the debate to give Kamala a significant advantage.

I have seen and read the (fake ❗)affidavit and after the attorney blacks out the name of the whistleblower and other information that could dox the whistleblower, I will release the full affidavit. I will be releasing the affidavit before the weekend is out.” 

OMG❗ 😕😠 I couldn’t even count the red flags (danger❗ 🔺 ⚠️) in that paragraph. 

Nevertheless, it’s been amplified throughout the right-wing echo chamber. As I scrolled through references to this supposed whistleblower in my X account, I ran out of patience before I ran out of posts.

But it was Trump who fanned the rumor in the first place: “I watched her talk, and I said, ‘You know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions,’” he told (fake❗ ) Fox News shortly after the debate. 

So there you have the formula. Trump makes an off-the-cuff, unsubstantiated remark, an anonymous nobody expands on it claiming he has the “proof,” and partisan media and individuals, desperate to believe their hero couldn’t possibly just have been out-debated, pick it up and run with it. 

Some cite 2016, when then-candidate Hillary Clinton actually was fed some debate questions by Democratic Party strategist Donna Brazile, who was also a CNN commentator.

Brazile was subsequently forced to resign from the network and it was a stain of dishonor on CNN’s journalistic ethics. Everybody in the news business is aware of it, nobody wants to go there again, and ABC vehemently denies it did. 

Not that anyone needed the questions in advance of Tuesday’s debate. Indeed, the questions were as predictable as sunrise. 🌅

Harris prepped, Trump didn’t, and it was obvious to anyone other than the most MAGA of partisans.

And it only got worse afterward. Incensed by moderators fact-checking his wilder claims during the debate, 

Trump went on (fake❗) Fox News and threatened ABC: “To be honest, they’re a news organization. They have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.” That’s neither honest nor factual. ABC News doesn’t have a license. In America, no news organization has or is required to have a license. It’s illegal under the First Amendment.

Sunday September 15, is the International Day of Democracy. Since it started in 2008, it’s been a time to reflect on the gifts of self-governance, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Misinformation and disinformation is an existential threat to all those things. These are unprecedented, trying, and frankly disturbing times for democracy, when anyone can make up whatever they want, post it online and have it shared and accepted as gospel by a significant percentage of the population.

We don’t need less fact-checking in our political system. We need exponentially more of it. 

An ill-informed democracy is not a democracy at all, it’s just mob rule. This Democracy Day, and every day, we need to look things up, find things out, and never shy away from denouncing the untruths we now encounter on a daily basis in our everyday lives. If we don’t, the American experiment dies of our neglect. 

Rather, we need to remind ourselves that facts do matter. We owe that to the honor of our ancestors, many of whom fought for democracy. And we owe it to our children, may they never have to.

Donald Trump vision for America is to destroy the Constitution

If you like the idea of electing Donald Trump so he can prosecute his enemies without any evidence of crimes, you’ll love the new impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden launched by last week’s (extremist❗) MAGA House vote. 

Echo opinion published in the Kansas City Star:

House’s impeachment stunt against President Biden is all about re-electing Trump | Opinion

It’s an evidence-free act of political retaliation that should be booked as a campaign contribution to Trump. Even “Fox and Friends” host Steve Doocy turned on the Republicans’ hit job, saying they “haven’t connected the dots,” and have “not been able to provide any concrete evidence.” This Republican House has the wrong priorities. 

For example, the Republicans won’t pass a budget. They won’t address America’s inflation issues or need for better health care.

Trumpzi - Chumpzi!

But they will do Donald Trump’s dirty work, trying to smear Biden to help Trump get elected — despite their repeated investigative face-plants. They called witness Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s business associate, to connect Biden to his son’s business dealings. The effort “spectacularly failed,” in the words of the Los Angeles Times. They said that Israeli-American citizen Gal Luft, the self-proclaimed whistleblower calling attention to alleged corruption by Hunter Biden, would testify about Biden family benefits obtained via China. Luft was a no-show because he was a fugitive from justice.

C

In October, House Oversight Committee Chair James omer called a $200,000 payment to President Biden from his brother James part of an “influence peddling scheme.”

But, the fact checkers showed that the check was nothing but the repayment of a two-month loan — and that Comer had done the exact same thing with his brother. 

Next Comer claimed that $4,140 in payments from Hunter to his father were nefarious. It turns out they were just reimbursements for a pickup truck that Biden bought for his son’s use. 

Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls said the quiet part out loud in early December when he admitted that he wants to give the twice-impeached Trump “a little bit of ammo to fire back.” On the day of the House vote, he celebrated it by spilling the beans all over the floor: “Trump 2024, baby!”

Trump is dangerous!

This is a dangerous game, and clearly part of Trumpists’ goal to destroy constitutional guardrails on presidential power.

Impeachment, once deployed as a partisan tool, loses potency as a constraint because citizens think, “Both sides do it.” 

As a new bipartisan report on impeachment shows, however, both sides don’t impeach presidents without real facts. The authors, including a former Republican member of the House and a Republican-appointed former federal judge, conclude that the Biden impeachment is “manifestly unjustified” and “a misuse of power” that violates the 10 core criteria for impeachment. 

By contrast, the 2019, impeachment of Trump for abusing power — by threatening to withdraw military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelensky investigated Joe Biden — was based on a “wealth of evidence,” per The New York Times.

In 2021, the House impeached Trump based on “devastating evidence” about his role on Jan. 6, 2021, that has since produced a federal prosecution of the former president. Last week’s (politically motivated bogus...) vote was a step in the partisan march toward a fact-free (i.e., no evidence❗) impeachment. 

Only citizens can stop the House GOP corruption of vital constitutional institutions like impeachment. A survey this month showed that 62% of voters in competitive House districts nationally said Congress should not impeach Biden without any evidence. Constituents of representatives who haven’t declared themselves opposed to this unmerited action can help preserve American democracy by calling officials’ offices or using social media to tell their representatives them that they must not vote for actual impeachment in the future.

Defeating the impeachment vote that is surely coming will take only three or so House Republicans to vote against it. 

Californians can help halt this dangerous attempt to give Trump “ammo” to blow up American democracy. 

Former U.S. Ambassador Norm Eisen was counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment and trial of Donald Trump and is a co-author of An Analysis of the Biden Impeachment Inquiry. 

Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy.

Vote Blue in 2024! Vote Democrat! Vote Joe Biden!

Texas newspapers call for the resignation of Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley

Echo opinion reported by Cameron Peters in Vox.com

Hawley and Cruz face mounting calls to resign over push to overturn the 2020 election!

Sen. Josh Hawley says he will “never apologize” for objecting to Biden electors. (Maine Writer- Hawley is a Facist!)

Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are facing mounting criticism for their role in inciting Wednesday’s deadly riot at the US Capitol, with their Senate colleagues and major newspapers alike calling for their resignation — or expulsion.

Hawley, the junior senator from Missouri, has also been disavowed by a former mentor, and publisher Simon & Schuster has abandoned plans to publish Hawley’s upcoming book. On Thursday, a prominent Hawley donor called for him to be formally censured for his actions.

Both senators helped lead a Republican effort in the Senate to object to the certification of electors from key states President-elect Joe Biden won in the 2020 presidential election — arguing, despite all evidence proving otherwise, that there were irregularities in the vote count which required further investigation. And they continued their efforts Wednesday night, even after pro-Trump insurgents stormed the Capitol earlier the same day.

Ultimately, Biden’s victory — 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 — was certified over objections by Hawley and Cruz. But their decision to join six other senators in delaying the process with objections to electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania was sharply condemned, even by some Republican colleagues, for sustaining the baseless election fraud narrative that inspired Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol and left at least five people dead.

Hawley in particular has been excoriated for a Wednesday morning photo showing him raising his fist in solidarity with supporters of President Donald Trump, who later stormed the Capitol.

“Sen. Hawley was doing something that was really dumbass,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse told NPR in an interview Friday. “This was a stunt. It was a terrible, terrible idea. And you don’t lie to the American people. And that’s what’s been going on.”

Former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, an influential Hawley mentor prior to this week, went further, telling the Kansas City Star that Hawley was responsible for the riot and that supporting him was “the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life.”

“I don’t know if he was always like this and good at covering it up or if it happened,” Danforth said Thursday. “I just don’t know.”

Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, has also been under fire in his home state.

“Senator, those terrorists wouldn’t have been at the Capitol if you hadn’t staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place,” the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle wrote Friday. “So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign.”

“We’re done with the drama. Done with the opportunism. Done with the cynical scheming that has now cost American lives,” the editorial concludes. “Resign, Mr. Cruz, and deliver Texas from the shame of calling you our senator.”

Three Senate Democrats — Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Patty Murray of Washington state, and Ron Wyden of Oregon, have also called for Hawley and Cruz to resign.

Unsurprisingly, Cruz rebuffed calls for his resignation in an interview Friday, and Hawley likewise has shown no inclination to offer his.

“I will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections,” Hawley said Thursday, though there is no evidence to support any of his voter fraud allegations.

After Wednesday, Hawley and Cruz face questions over 2024, aspirations

The bipartisan furor over Hawley and Cruz’s decisions to stay the course with their objections, even though the same sentiment driving them helped incite the storming of the Capitol, has also sparked a discussion about their political futures.

Hawley and Cruz are both widely considered to be Republican presidential hopefuls in 2024, assuming Trump himself doesn’t shoulder the rest of the field out of the way in a bid to regain the White House.

Support for Trump was reaffirmed at the highest levels of the Republican Party this week with the unopposed reelection of Ronna McDaniel, a Trump loyalist, to continue serving at the head of the Republican National Committee.

And Trump, for his part, has signaled that he wants to run — but between the outside possibility of his being formally barred from holding elected office again and the extensive legal jeopardy he’ll face when he leaves office in just 11 days, there’s a real chance that the way will be clear for Hawley and Cruz, both of whom will likely be gunning to shore up as much support as possible with Trump’s base.

That part might not be difficult: For now, polling suggests that they both remain popular with the president’s most diehard supporters.

Specifically, according to a new tracking poll from Morning Consult that was taken January 6 and 7, 68 percent of those with a “very favorable” view of Trump also feel favorably toward Cruz, with 37 percent of strong Trump backers feeling favorably about Hawley.

Hawley suffers from substantially lower name recognition than Cruz — 32 percent of respondents who say they hold a “very favorable” view of Trump say they have never heard of Hawley, compared to just 6 percent for Cruz — but only 11 percent of respondents who view Trump very favorably have a negative opinion of Hawley. Slightly more of those respondents hold a negative opinion of Cruz, at 13 percent.

Current support, however, may prove ephemeral by the time 2024, rolls around. One Trump 2016, campaign aide told Politico this week that many Trump supporters “saw through [Hawley’s] blind ambitious act” and didn’t view it as genuine.

“They don’t think he’s a real MAGA supporter,” the aide, Bryan Lanza, said. “He just comes across as insincere.”

Meanwhile, at least one editorial board — that of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch — has already deemed Hawley’s presidential hopes dead on arrival.

“Hawley’s presidential aspirations have been flushed down the toilet because of his role in instigating Wednesday’s assault on democracy,” the Post-Dispatch editorial board wrote Thursday. “He should do Missourians and the rest of the country a big favor and resign now.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) also disavowed Hawley, Cruz, and their Republican allies in objecting to the electoral vote certification in a floor speech Wednesday night.

“Those who choose to continue to support [Trump’s] dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy,” Romney said.

Senator Hawley is an enemy of the people

Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in the Capitol coup attempt- Echo published by the Kansas City Star Editorial Board.

https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article248317375.html

No one, other than Donald Trump himself, is more responsible for the henious events that transpired during Wednesday’s January 6, 2021, failed coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.

This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman who was apparently part of the pro-Trump mob was fatally shot by Capitol Police as lawmakers took cover. Some of those whose actions Trump encouraged and later condoned brought along their Confederate flags.

And no longer can it be asked, as George Will did recently of Hawley, “Has there ever been such a high ratio of ambition to accomplishment?” Hawley’s actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed.

Hawley was first to say that he would oppose the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. That action, motivated by ambition, set off much that followed — the rush of his fellow presidential aspirant Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other members of the Sedition Caucus to put a show of loyalty to the president above all else.

After mayhem broke out, Hawley put out this uncharacteristically brief statement: “Thank you to the brave law enforcement officials who have put their lives on the line. The violence must end, those who attacked police and broke the law must be prosecuted, and Congress must get back to work and finish its job.” So modest, Senator, failing to note your key role in inspiring one of the most heartbreaking days in modern American history. We lost something precious on Wednesday, as condolence notes to our democracy from our friends around the world recognize.

Among those Hawley got to emulate him was Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, whose very first act as a member of the world’s greatest deliberative body was to sell out his country by attempting to overturn the outcome of a legitimate election.

This revolt is the result, and if you didn’t know this is where we’ve been headed from the start, it’s because you didn’t want to know.

“The Frankenstein just tore down the doors to the palace,” U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, told The Star. Which happened because, as he said, “One-third of the nation has bought into a bald-faced lie, and they are living in a fact-free America.”

“I’m currently safe and sheltering in place while we wait to receive further instruction from Capitol Police,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Kansas. “Today is a dark day for our country. It’s unacceptable that we have a President who has repeatedly condoned and even encouraged this despicable behavior. It must stop.”


We’ll say again what Davids is too polite to say: Trump did not manage this madness on his own. Far from it.

REPUBLICANS KNEW TRUMP’S FRAUD CLAIMS WERE BOGUS

Just before the putsch* began, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said sadly that we need to once again work from an agreed upon set of facts. Only now has he noticed that lying to the public on a daily basis poisons democracy.

“People have taken this too far,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on (fake!) Fox News. Until he had to run for cover, McCarthy was fine with this sick stunt.

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky, said in a statement, “Today’s events at the U.S. Capitol are tragic, outrageous, and devastating. They are wholly inconsistent with the values of our constitutional Republic.”

Yes, they are. But they are wholly consistent with Trump’s calls to overturn this election to address nonexistent fraud. And they are wholly predictable, given the willingness of most Republicans to repeat these baseless claims.

When we wrote that Hawley’s actions were dangerous — and that those of Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt and others were too, in their pretending for far too long that the election wasn’t over — some readers found that absurd. “Oh my goodness, how will democracy and our country survive?” one reader wrote in sarcasm. “How will Biden possibly govern? The Star editorial board’s hysteria over nothing is approaching CNN levels.”

No doubt plenty of Americans will see even this free-for-all in the temple of democracy as defensible. And those of you who have excused all of the brazen lawlessness of this administration can take a little bit of credit for these events, too. They couldn’t have done it without you.

Hawley, Marshall and other Republicans who upheld Trump’s con about widespread fraud knew all along that his claims were bogus. Now that they’ve seen exactly where those lies have landed us, decency demanded that they try to prevent further violence by making clear that President-elect Joe Biden did not win by cheating.

Others did back off their claims that the election isn’t over, including newly defeated Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who said Wednesday night, “I cannot now in good conscience object” to approving the Electoral College vote.

Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham told his colleagues, “Count me out; enough is enough.” He said plainly that Biden had been lawfully elected. Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey called Trump a demagogue, and Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney suggested that the better way to calm those who believe the election was stolen would be to tell them the truth that it was not.

Marshall, however, rose, rambled, and stuck to his corrupt insistence that Trump’s fraud claims warrant further exploration.

Hawley, as he likes to do, quoted Abe Lincoln, who was not there to object, and then doubled down on his pretended alarm about possible fraud.

For “those who have concerns about what happened in November,” he said, “this is the appropriate means, this is the lawful place where those objections and concerns should be heard.” And once again
Hawley, as he likes to do, isn’t telling the truth.

Donald Trump's bone spurs are showing - cluster stero

Cluster of opinion echo letters published in the Kansas City Star:

1.  Honor Lost- How it is that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper doesn’t resign over Donald Trump’s ignorant, impulsive, immoral and dangerous decision to pull our special forces off the front lines in Syria and abandon our Kurdish allies, is beyond me.

Faced with a similar decision by Trump late last year, resign is exactly what his predecessor, the honorable James Mattis, did. Unlike Esper, he understood the ramifications for U.S. national and global security and the morale and fighting spirit of U.S. service members. Mattis stood on principle.

Make no mistake: Trump’s decision, made late at night Oct. 6 after a phone call with autocratic Turkish President Recep Erdogan and announced on Twitter, has set the conditions for Turkish and Russian genocide against the Kurds and the reconstitution of the Islamic State after its defeat in northeastern Syria — not to mention the horrible stain Trump’s decision has on the reputation and honor of the United States as the global leader.

As a 30-year U.S. Army veteran, I hate to ask this, but how is the U.S. still that exceptional and indispensable nation, respected around the world by friends and foes alike?

- Myron J. Griswold, Leavenworth, Kansas

2.  A Raw Deal

In the early 1990s, I spent five years in U.S. Army Special Operations Command units at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of these was the 3rd Special Forces, who are currently serving in northwest Syria.

I am sure the president doesn’t understand the bond that develops between groups that have stood in combat together. Service to country and to others wouldn’t even occur to him. Betrayal of allies is what we should expect when he sees a better deal elsewhere.

From Richard Randolph III, Lenexa

3.  A Line Crossed
Abandoning the Kurds was the last straw for me to abandon the big tent after 50 years of voting Republican.

Perhaps there will be future GOP candidates with spines, integrity, decency and ethics for me to vote for, but all I see now are future generations lined up to defile the graves of those who did not do their duty to stop the rot in Washington.

H. Jonathan Pratt, Kansas City

Echo letters from Missouri ~ guns and truth

Missourians are speaking in writings to The Kansas City Star

Read the whole thing

Why do goofy right-wingers think we liberals are against guns? 

We believe in the Second Amendment, but we read the whole amendment — not just the first half.

Guyen Morrison ~ North Kansas City, Missouri

Top of mind ~ Top of fold?

So it has come to this: The mass murders of innocents have become so commonplace in our country that The Star doesn’t place the story at the very top of the front page. (May 19, 1A, “10 killed, 10 hurt as gunman opens fire in Texas high school”)

Cynthia Kunz ~ Overland Park, Missouri

No fair play allowed by Republicans

In yet another brazen attempt at voter suppression, Missouri Republicans have jumped on the GOP bandwagon to rig the census, thus maintaining political control, by counting only citizens and leaving everyone else living in the U.S. out of the process. (May 17, 4A, “Bill: Only citizens could be counted to draw districts”)

Our nation’s democracy is being threatened like never before by those on the far right who show a total disregard for fair play. This has resulted in the election of Donald Trump who, by most counts, has lied more than 3,000 times while in office and continues to force his extreme views on a nation in dire need of honesty and civility.

At my age, I’m no longer concerned about my future in this quickly dissolving democracy, but I do worry about my children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

They (We!) deserve much more than being led by bigots, liars and thieves.

Eddie L. Clay ~ Grandview, Missouri

Echo - newspaper opinion letters to the editor: Stop Gun Violence

Echos - Journal Star in Peoria, Illinois and Kansas City Star in Missouri ~ "...they just want to get through their teen years without having to worry about being gunned down in the classroom or the school cafeteria." Melinda Henneberger

Peoria Illinois

Stop the Gun Violence! Journal Star - Illinois "Echo" ~ Peoria, Il

Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2108, for so many students in Parkland, Florida, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High Shool, involved running as fast as they could out of school so they weren’t killed by a nutcase shooter!

Those who escaped were the lucky ones. Many of their friends were being wheeled into ambulances as parents rushed to see if their child had been killed.

Every time there is a shooting of innocent children, we hear the cry that something needs to be done. And nothing is ever done!

Please don’t continue to say: Our prayers are with the families. Do something to stop this insanity! Bring back mental health facilities, tighten the control of gun sales, speak up if you know someone who is demonstrating uncontrolled rage.

Since we will never have the ability to take away guns, like a few countries have done, it is up to each one of us to contact our politicians to say we have had enough. It’s time for our children to be safe!

Mary O’Russa, Peoria IL 

Letter to the editor from Melinda Henneberger 

Child Soldiers are fighting the war on gunsDear Donald Trump, So...You want crowd size?

Don’t look now, Donald Trump, but marchers more numerous than all the pink hats ever knit and more impressive than all those sharp-looking tanks rolling down the Champs on Bastille Day are headed your way.

When America’s children march on Washington and in cities around the country next month, you who have refused to protect them from gun violence might want to take cover under a nice sturdy Resolute desk.

Or maybe instead of watching TV, as Nixon claimed to have done as somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 people marched outside his window against the war in Vietnam in November of 1969, you’ll slip off to a golf course where you can’t hear them at all.

No matter. Because even as you try to make the massacre of 17 Florida teenagers all about you.... (indeed)..you  (Trump) must know that these particular young demonstrators will be impossible to write off as partisans.

Our nations' kids are not political adversaries looking for any excuse to erase the Second Amendment. 

They are speaking truth to power.

Missouri calling on Senator Roy Blunt to stand up to Donald Trump

Senator Roy Blunt is the Republican senator representing Missouri and a Donald Trump cloneStand up to Trump ~ echo letter to the editor in the Kansas City Star newspaper

An open letter to my U.S. senator from Missouri, Roy Blunt:

A sitting president declared that a political opponent who has not been charged with a crime should be thrown into jail.

He also called for stopping the publication of an unflattering book about him. (Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff)

Shockingly, this was not Russian President Vladimir Putin, but his most prominent American admirer and protégé. (Maine Writer- Donald Trump is a Putin "groupie"!)

Senator Blunt, will you honor your oath of office to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” by making a public statement against these (Trumpism) affronts to the Constitution?

Or must we conclude, by your silence, that you would support a regime led by dictator Donald Trump?

Doug Shafer,  Kansas City

Donald Trump and racism - echo letters from Kansas

Three "echo" letters to the editor published in the Kansas City Star opinion page:

Haitians are winners - they win by helping

Donald Trump flip flopped and balked at an emerging bipartisan deal on immigration because he didn’t want to admit people to the U.S. from “shithole” countries. (Jan. 12, 1A, “Trump’s insulting words on immigration set off alarms”)

He asked, “Why do we need more Haitians?” when we could have people from Norway. He particularly objected to the diversity visa lottery.

Mr. President, are you aware that medical teams from Haiti deployed to Puerto Rico to provide health care for Americans who were affected by Hurricane Maria? Are you aware that your response to Hurricane Maria was so inadequate that people from Haiti came to the U.S. to provide the support that your administration did not provide?

I have spent years in Haiti providing health care as a physician in disaster response and with the U.S. Army, from which I retired as a colonel. I have learned to respect the Haitian people and all they have accomplished despite adversity.

Mr. President, I have read that you don’t associate with people who aren’t winners, and I suppose you wouldn’t characterize the people of Haiti as winners.

Sir, I can assure you that I would much rather associate with Haitians than with a billionaire who consistently lies and who evaded military service.

Richard J. Randolph, Lenexa Kansas

The new normal?

The words that come out of President Donald Trump’s mouth — are they the norm now?

He has used so many words about football players; now it’s about countries. Do religious people think this is the norm? I pray not.

Russell Taylor, Blue Springs Kansas

Martin Luther King - Time to act

On Thursday, President Donald Trump referred to countries in Africa in a way that shines a bright light on his ill-informed world view. So when will we hear Senator. Pat Roberts and Senator Jerry Moran and Rep. Kevin Yoder hold the president accountable for his most abhorrent comment yet?

On the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day I am reminded of that great man’s words: “And it may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, ‘Wait on time.’”

Time’s up.

To my representatives, I say: "I’m waiting".

Please don’t bother with a canned response. I would rather no response at all.

Patricia Cokingtin, Leawood Kansas