Donald Trump is not above the law- high crmes and misdemeanors

Letter to the editor published in The Connecticut New Haven Register - Donald Trump tried to leverage the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, in other words, "bribery", for his own personal political purposes.

I'm calling on my representative to support drafting articles of impeachment and voting to impeach Donald Trump. It’s far past time for Congress to use its constitutionally given powers to stop Trump’s assault on our democracy and elections. After all, no one is above the law — not even the president of the United States.

Over the past few weeks, Trump’s lawlessness has risen to new heights. First, a whistleblower complaint (and White House “transcript”) showed that Trump bullied the Ukrainian government to interfere in the 2020 election by threatening to withhold military aid. Then, we learned that White House officials tried to cover up the conversation by hiding evidence of it on a secret server. Now, every time you turn on the news, there’s another country he’s pressuring to interfere in our elections for his own personal gain or a new memo that brings more criminal activity to light.

Poll after poll shows that more Americans support impeachment than ever before. Even some Republicans are starting to speak out in favor of investigating Trump’s activity. All of this is making it harder for those who still don’t support impeachment — Republicans and Democrats alike — to defend their position.

Trump is a threat to our elections — the very backbone of our democracy — and he’s acting as though he’s immune to the rule of law. As Congress continues its work on other important bread-and-butter issues, we also need them to use the impeachment process to remind Trump that every American is beholden to the rule of law.

From Dominic Percopo in West Haven Connecticut

Taxes are how Republicans fund their own agendas

A letter to the editor echo opinion published in the Connecticut newspaper New Haven Register: 

Republicans always forget to tell you that taxpayer money was always supposed to be used to make American lives better. 

They do not tell you that our elected officials — especially Republicans — need to make large corporations, insurance companies, big Pharma, their lobbyists, etc., happy with their votes, or said people might not finance their next election. See how nicely he pats you on the head, if sometimes you need assistance from his government? ie: “they strip you of your dignity and dilute your motivation”. All the while telling you that if we would just stop helping you, you will all become outrageously self-sufficient.

Republicans need those taxpayer dollars to keep building battleships, keeping those defense contractors making maximum profits, just as Dick Cheney became rich because of the Iraq war, through Halliburton Industries. They need to cut funding for education, infrastructure, and all the things we need to improve our lives, so they can fulfill the dreams of the lobbyists, to whom they have sold their soul. Just follow the money, folks, and you will end up running into some Republicans, trying to make their rich friends richer.

Democrats, historically, beginning with FDR, have put the people first. Who brought our country out of the Great Depression, after the Gilded Age millionaires took over our economy? They are certainly not all altruistic souls, to be sure, but I’ll bank on them before I will bank on people who can only find Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, health care and education as cost-cutting vehicles. This government was founded: Of the people, for the people, and by the people, as so beautifully noted in Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. 

Let’s vote in progressives, and Democrats and get our country back, people! Enough of their insipid head-patting and shaming those who are often struggling just to keep food on the table, and a roof over their heads.

Patricia Garcia,
New Haven Connecticut

Chain migration in the Donald Trump family - privileged hypocrisy

Viktor and Amalija Knavs*, the parents of Melania Trump, were sworn in as U.S. citizens on Aug. 9 in New York. (Seth Wenig/AP)

Letter to the Editor: Trump should point to his 2 wives as examples of the country’s proud immigrant tradition

Donald Trump's in-laws became U.S. citizens by taking advantage of the very family reunification immigration policy that Trump decries as “chain migration.” 

Viktor and Amalija Knavs had been living in the country as legal permanent residents after leaving their native Slovenia, took the oath of citizenship at the Manhattan Federal Building in New York.

Trump often rails against this longstanding bedrock of U.S. immigration policy that dates back to before the country’s founding. He says that his immigration plan would feature “limiting sponsorships to spouses and minor children.”

Perhaps his wife, Melania, is getting her parents citizenship before he can make his plan a reality. Either way, Trump’s hypocrisy here completely diminishes his credibility on this issue. Rather than continuing to demonize and scapegoat immigrants, Donald Trump should point to his wife, as well as his former first wife, as prime examples of the country’s proud immigrant tradition.

Linda Chavez

Director, Becoming American Initiative

Washington, D.C.

*Viktor and Amalija Knavs took advantage of privilege while hundreds of immigrant children are stranded and living as orphans in Donald Trump's illegal detention camps along the US Southern border.