Coward Repulbicans follow cult leader former guy citizen Trump - The Do Nothing Congress

Echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World, in Oklahoma:

The spineless congressional Republicans just wrapped up Congress' least productive year since the Great Depression, passing just 27 bills signed into law. 

Cowards "do nothing" Republicans❗

Of those 27, one created a commemorative coin and two renamed medical centers. 😞😧

Thank goodness U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, (D-Colorado), James Lankford, (R-Oklahoma), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), Kyrsten Sinema, (I-Arizona) and Thom Tillis, (R-North Carolina) produced the best border security deal in years  — 👍one which President Biden favors.

Attached to this border security proposal is much-needed aid to Ukraine and Israel and especially sorely needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Not really surprising, the former President Donald Trump has a hold over congressional Republicans. He told Republicans to kill the “best deal in years” because he says he will do better if elected president. Oh yeah? Just like Trump said he would build a wall on the border and make the Mexican government pay for it. How successful was that? Zilch!

Mexico denies it will pay for border wall after former guy Trump repeated the false claim.

But congressional Republicans (especially House Speaker Mike Johnson who is at the beck-and-call of his puppet master) don’t have the guts to stand up to the former president. They are more worried about losing their comfortable seats than standing up for the country.

Time for congressional Republicans to grow a spine and stand up to their puppet master and stand up for our country.

Sondra Biggs, Tulsa Oklahoma

January 6 was a violent insurrectionist riot- "NOT ordinary citizens"

https://tulsaworld.com/opinion/letters/letter-we-need-to-educate-ourselves-about-disinformation/article_83b82e62-8de4-11ec-bd70-9bc7094fa489.html

Tulsa World echo opinion letter- Voting makes America a strong democracy!

OPINION- I am increasingly dismayed about actions being taken to weaken our democracy.

They include legislation making voting more difficult; new laws that give state legislatures the ability to overturn election results; continuing false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen”; new state laws making it difficult to teach the American history in schools; and an unwillingness by many to accept science in regard to climate change and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

I now read that well-educated people in national leadership positions have described the January 6, 2021, events as “…ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

January 6 riot and insurrection on January 6, 2021

What? Do these people read newspapers, watch TV news, or look at actual footage of the assault on our Capitol? We have survived a civil war, the Jim Crow years, assassinations of our national leaders, McCarthyism, the Vietnam War protests, and more, so perhaps we will also survive the current threat to our democracy.

To do so we must educate ourselves on how to sort out facts from false information and conspiracy theories. We need to wean ourselves off social media where much of our disinformation originates. We must protect ourselves against autocratic leaders and false prophets.

Our forefathers gave us a great form of government. We have experienced numerous adversities, but the ideal of "freedom and justice' for all was always the goal. Let's continue this quest. Democracy is fragile. Let's continue to stand for freedom and against tyranny.

From David Kroll, in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Truth check- inflation and deficits are Republican smoke screens

Republicanism, stupidism and Houdiniism 

Here we go again, same song, second verse, (wash, rinse repeat) orchestrated by Republicans in wrong minded attacks on President Joe Biden.

Tulsa World echo opinion letter:

Don't be fooled by Republicans' hysteria over inflation, deficit

First verse was inflation, second verse is deficits. Don’t buy into either unless you love recessions with the accompanying increase in unemployment and decrease in wages.

The inflation rate should not have caused hysteria until inflation exceeded double digits. Deficit reduction will cut into Social Security, Medicare and other social programs.

Don’t be so easily manipulated by this Houdini art of misdirection by Republicans. They don’t care about you. All they care about is gaining control of the House and Senate and the White House.

From Frieda Hale, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Roman Catholics must look to the human condition and avoid culture wars

Echo letter to the editor published in the Tulsa World newspaper, in Oklahoma!

Maine Writer- As a registered nurse and a practicing Roman
Catholic woman, I support this echo opinion letter written by Deryl Pais, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Morality is seldom a safe guide for human conduct.”
― Penelope Fitzgerald, The Bookshop.

So, Deryl Pais writes, "I was baptized a Catholic on fifth day after I was born. My three uncles were priests, and two aunts were nuns. 

I was the altar boy of the diocese of Mangalore in the year 1955.

"I am appealing to the good Catholics of Oklahoma, if you want to reduce the abortions, then we need to reduce unwanted pregnancies.

"One way is through promoting abstinence from sex. But even the Catholic clergy have found this not working. Other one is through promoting birth control. Catholic doctrine forbids that.

"During the Zika outbreak in Brazil, Pope Francis suggested women to delay pregnancies, for which the Catholic Bishops of America accused him of promoting birth control.

"One more item I want appeal to my Catholic family, is that of gays and lesbians. They have a right for some happiness.

"Again, I recall a meeting the Pope had with a man from Portugal when he confessed of being gay. You were born that way; pray and be good to others. These are human issues, not political. Politicians are using these issues with no concern for human suffering."

Maine Writer post script:  Amen!

Republicans have deteriorated into an unrecognizable political party

Echo opinion by Pam Inkster, in Tulsa World, Oklahoma 

!

Our nation has gotten scarier and more disturbing.

What the heck has happened to the party of Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan?

It has morphed into an unrecognizable party. And, the person who led that is not even in power any more.

The GOP are eating their own because they had the audacity to go against the former present. Congressional members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are doing the right thing.

Listen up! There was no voter fraud. The #FormerGuy president is just good at convincing others there was fraud.

President Joe Biden received over 81 million votes and 306 electoral votes. YES! That's how elections work.

Arithmetic! The one who gets more votes than the other wins.

The big lie is ballooning into even bigger lies about everything under the sun with head-shaking, outrageous conspiracy theories.

How did the COVID-19 vaccine and masks get so politicized?

We lined up as little kids in the school gym for our sugar cube to eradicate polio. Where is the outrage over the HPV, meningitis, flu, tetanus, shingles or pneumonia vaccines?

People must watch the video taken during the January insurrection. It was not a bunch of tourists. The insurrection was definitely not a lovefest. 

If you were not moved while watching, something is wrong!

Message from Pam Inkste

Election 2020 outcome is legal and valid: No voter fraud!

Echo opinion letter published in my favorite newspaper

#TulsaWorld 

https://tulsaworld.com/opinion/letters/letter-to-the-editor-trump-has-never-been-able-to-prove-voter-fraud/article_3f9b2ccc-35c3-11eb-8545-c7bae31979a6.html

Donald Trump is stupid!  #SIASD

 

Opinion here!

Why is there even any discussion about voting irregularities? 

Has everyone forgotten that in 2017, Donald Trump ordered the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, led by Kris Kobach, to investigate any and all voting integrity questions?

This commission spent nearly a year investigating voter fraud before it was disbanded without any fanfare.

The reason it went away quietly was that the results of the investigation did not agree with their pre-ordained outcome (!).

The only organized voter fraud that could document was in one district of North Carolina, where the GOP was illegally harvesting ballots. This resulted in a new election.

Simply stated, there was no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020,  election.

The “ballot dumps” that Trump keeps citing are merely the tabulations of the absentee ballots. 
Gerry Smythe, from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Republican hypocrisy is shamefully evident: #DyingWish

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rest In Peace (1933-2020)
Reported by her granddaughter, it was the dying wish of Justice Ginsburg that her replacement on the US Supreme Court be appointed by the President on January 20, 2020. In fact, her granddaughter Clara Spera confirmed that it was the US Supreme Court judge’s last wish that she not be replaced before a new president is elected in November.

Tulsa World echo editorial: The nation mourns the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg; to be consistent and just, the Senate should not consider her replacement until after the presidential inauguration.

Donald Trump and Republicans have not allowed the nation to mourn the death of Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18, 2020, the Friday of Rosh Hashanah.  On September 18, 2020, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer at her home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 87.

Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, died surrounded by her family. A Supreme Court statement said her death was the result of complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was 87.

Appointed in 1993, Ginsburg was the soul of the court’s more liberal wing, particularly as a champion of gender equality and women’s rights — causes for which she fought her entire life.

Ginsburg became a cultural icon, known to her admirers simply as RBG, because of the ideal for which she fought valiantly: equal justice for all.

Even those who disagree with her conclusions must respect her legal acumen and her intelligence.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., a member of the court’s conservative wing, called Ginsburg “a tireless and resolute champion of justice,” and we agree. The nation has lost a cherished, respected and brilliant leader.

Too quickly, many turned from mourning Ginsburg’s death to jockeying over when she should be replaced and by whom.

Donald Trump has promised to nominate a woman to replace Ginsburg, urging the U.S. Senate to take up the process without delay. (In fact, Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ginsburg.)

That would violate the precedent set by the U.S. Senate under the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2016. McConnell refused to take up President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. At the time Republican Senate leaders insisted the the nation needed to await the results of the 2016 election before considering a new member of the high court.

Ginsburg’s death comes more than six months closer to a presidential election. There is no insoluble reason to move ahead with a Supreme Court nomination. The high court moves at a considered pace by design, and there need be no rush to confirmation.

In 2016, Tulsa World argued that Garland’s nomination deserved consideration, but McConnell set the precedent for waiting when a presidential election was near. Once precedent is set it should be binding, especially for McConnell, who remains in control of the Senate agenda. It would be hypocritical and wrong to take any other course now simply because it is politically expedient.

As U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford said in 2016, “We should continue the long-standing election year precedent and let Americans have a voice on the future direction of the court.” (Maine Writer- hypocritical Republican Senators!)

The proper, consistent, respectful and just response for McConnell and the Senate is to wait.

"Alternative Facts" frame the failed Donald Trump administration

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/

Trump is breaking records on lies he tells to the American people

Another excellent echo opinion letter published in one of my favorite newspapers, the Tulsa World, in Oklahoma.

Echo: We all agree that honesty is an admirable quality in an individual. 

Unfortunately, power often trumps the truth, and dictators are made by persistent suppression of the truth.

Donald Trump told his first lie as president when he claimed the number of people at his inauguration surpassed all others. The falsehood was later explained by Kellyanne Conway’s incredible oxymoron as “alternative facts.”

The White House has been utilizing them ever since. And who can forget Rudy Giuliani’s, “truth isn’t truth,” statement when defending why Trump shouldn’t testify.

That little phrase perfectly captured Trump’s ideology.

I believe truth eventually prevails, but if excessively prolonged, a dictator is born in the interim.

According to the Fact Checkers database, Trump has made false or misleading claims 20,000 times as of July 2020. That’s an average of 23 lies a day to the American public.

Now that’s extreme audacity and what it takes to be a dictator.

Daily, I’m amazed at how so many Oklahomans are not alarmed by this and even find ways to defend Donald Trump.

Amazingly, the defense usually is “that’s fake news,” or even worse, admitting to the falsehoods, but stating, “He’s good for the economy.” (??)

Or putting it another way, “I don’t care if he’s a liar, as long as he puts money in my pocket.”

Perhaps now the question is not whether people know about Trump’s character, but do they care?

Kenneth Calabrese, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Donald Trump needs to understand "what goes around comes around" #uglywords

"'What goes around comes around' or 'as you sow, so shall you reap' is the basic understanding of karma, the law of cause and effect." 

Ugly Trump words- echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World, an Oklahoma newspaper:

My late brother, 1st Lt. Jack Stanley Coombes, was a Vietnam veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart who was laid to rest on Memorial Day in 1979.

He was neither a “sucker” nor a “loser.” The loser is any fool who would dare call him those ugly names. #Trumploser #fakeTrump

Wrong-minded supporters of #uglywords Donald Trump have questioned the accuracy of reports confirmed by multiple news outlets that he ever made such comments, claiming there is no audio or video record of him using those words.

But there is audio and video of Trump during the 2016 Republican primary debates calling Sen. John McCain a “loser” for being captured by the North Vietnamese when his plane was shot down.

Those are bold words from a man who avoided military service through wealth and power, claiming dubious bone spurs.

Ted Coombes, Vinita, Oklahoma

Editor’s Note: Donald Trump said this about Sen. John McCain in July 2015, to conservative pollster Frank Luntz: “He lost (the 2008 election), so I never liked him as much after that because I don’t like losers ... He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured.

Donald Trump has a weird affinity for facisist leaders- like Mussolini in a stuffed suit

Tulsa World* is one of my favorit news sources, because I can find progressive perspectives published in what is otherwise perceived to be a Republican, ruby red and religiously conservative state.

Echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World:

When Donald Trump made his announcement that he was a Republican candidate for U.S. president, I recognized something was terribly wrong with this man.

I could not put my finger on it, but I knew something was wrong. 

Yet, it wasn't until about a few months into his campaign I figured it out, and my conclusion has been born out by his own actions and pronouncements throughout his campaign and his presidency.

Trump is a fascist, plain and simple.

His own words indict him with every (stupid!) tweet and every press conference in which he speaks (lies!). His attacks on the news media and his constant firings of anyone disagreeing with him screams to us he believes that totalitarianism is his destiny.

This is something that hundreds of thousands American military died to defeat around the world.

I am ashamed the news media did not make the same conclusion that I made about Trump's fascination with fascism that I saw so early in his campaign and confirmed by his own actions as U.S. president.

From Roger C. Redden, Muskogee, Oklahoma

*Tulsa World's mission is to inform and inspire the communities we serve. Tulsa World Media Company owns a suite of brands that serve as the preeminent sources of news and information for northeast Oklahoma.

Donald Trump should do what he did during the Vietnam War: "stay home"!

Tulsa World Editorial Board...."We don’t know why he chose Tulsa, but we can’t see any way that his visit will be good for the city."  Opinions from Oklahoma.

Donald Trump invented bone spurs to stay out of going to fight in Vietnam. Where are those bone spurs when America needs for him to stay home?

Letter to the editor of Tulsa World and Editorial Board opinion.

Dear Editor:  Mayor G.T. Bynum should take steps to ensure protecting Tulsa citizens from COVID-19 during President Donald Trump's rally on Friday, not to mention the load of lies that will be brought to our city.

Bynum and the BOK Center would do well to back out of the atrocious visit because it will further split our citizens instead uniting them. Try healing and uniting Tulsans by not insulting a large part of the city's population. From James Cook in Tulsa OK

Tulsa World editorial: This is the wrong time and Tulsa is the wrong place for the Trump rally.

Maine Writer opinion: Donald Trump is coming to Tulsa Oklahoma to lead a *Nazi style beer hall* campaign rally.

Tulsa Editorial: It will be his first, since such events were suspended earlier this year because of the COVID-19 shutdown.

Tulsa is still dealing with the challenges created by a pandemic. The city and state have authorized reopening, but that doesn’t make a mass indoor gathering of people pressed closely together and cheering a good idea. There is no treatment for COVID-19 and no vaccine. It will be our health care system that will have to deal with whatever effects follow.

The public health concern would apply whether it were Donald Trump, Joe Biden or anyone else who was planning a mass rally at the BOK.

This is the wrong time.

Tulsa and the nation remain on edge after the May 25, police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

Trump, a divisive figure. He will attract protests, the vast majority of which we expect to be peaceful. But, there may also be confrontation and inappropriate behavior from some. 

In fact, Trump's 2016, Tulsa rally provoked a heated response for some, and his ability to provoke opponents has only grown since then.

Again, Tulsa will be largely alone in dealing with what happens at a time when the city’s budget resources have already been stretched thin.

There’s no reason to think a Trump appearance in Tulsa will have any effect on November’s election outcome in Tulsa or Oklahoma. It has already concentrated the world’s attention of the fact that Trump will be rallying in a city that 99 years ago was the site of a bloody race massacre.

This is the wrong place for the rally.

When the president of the United States visits your city, it should be exciting. We think a Trump visit will be the antithisis of exciting, because he is staging a relection rally in Tulsa, for all the wrong reasons and we can’t welcome it.

Donald Trump is asking Americans to die - this is an evil cult call to death

Counting the days until President Trump is gone- Tulsa World

"Is it just me who hears words come from Donald Trump's mouth, then to hear, a little later, for him to say he didn't say it?"

"I am sick to death of this Trumpzi con artist, and I am counting the days cult until he is gone," Darrel Ferguson, Eufaula, Oklahoma

Cult followers alert! Jonestown cult followers died drinking Kool-Aid laced with poison because their evil leader told them to drink the toxic cocktail.  In 1993, in Waco Texas, the Branch Dividians even allowed for their children to die, rather than to defy the evil David Koresch, their cult leader.

Counting the days until Doald Trump is gone 

(In my opinion, this ugly image of Donald Trump looks demonic! His color is "jaundiced" (illness) and his expression is frozen in a state of hideous outrage.)

This picture is the ugly face of an evil creature.

A public call to remove Donald Trump from propaganda White House misinformation conferences

https://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/letters/letter-to-the-editor-remove-president-trump-from-press-conferences/article_7cf48283-c3d3-51f5-b5d7-470358017ec7.html

Remove Stupid Donald Trump from propaganda White House press conferences- echo opinion letter published in the Oklahoma newspaper Tulsa World. 

#25thAmendmentNow

Governors are on the frontline of the battle to control the pandemic COVID-19 virus spread.  They communicate with their hospitals and medical community constantly to know what is needed and where.  But, stupid Donald Trump think’s he’s smarter than they are and is constantly getting in the way of their progress. He is spreading misinformaiton.  He’s admitted he doesn’t agree with the medical experts and he ignorantly ignores their advice.

It’s become obvious he wants to take credit when the crisis is over after ignoring all the data he was given months before the virus came to the U.S.

Trump refuses to take responsibility for his failures and blames the press for overstating the emergency and scaring the American people. He has viciously attacked governors who ask for his help and blames them for his failures. Unqualified and unfit for office, Trump's actually causing even more deaths with bogus claims about other drugs that may or may not help.

The dire predictions that our medical experts and governors made are coming true.  More states Trump wanted to open up are reporting a rise in cases and deaths. He’s not helping; he’s just making things worse!

Removing him from press conferences would be a huge benefit and help speed the recovery.

From C.P. Dwyer, in Tulsa OK

Donald Trump does not recognize any fact that is not favorable to him

"...fear for our form of government if our senators and representatives are willing to ignore Trump's continued misconduct."

An echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World an Oklahoma newspaper:

Donald J. Trump is self-dealing. He is using the power and prestige of his office to promote himself and punish any who oppose him. I suspect the full depth of his corruption will take years to unravel.

Trump has made the world a more dangerous place. 

Our American allies are not sure they can depend on us.

He fawns over Putin. He does not recognize any fact that is not favorable to him. He continues to dismantle environmental protections in the face of a global environmental crisis.

His history of hitting back hard has cowed Republicans in both houses. Re-election appears to top their agenda.

I fear for our form of government if our senators and representatives are willing to ignore Trump's continued misconduct. We elected a bad one. The sooner we are rid of him the better.

Truth and justice used to be the American way. Where did they go? Are our legislators too fearful to seek them? I hope they will call a few witnesses.

Seek the truth. See if they are brave enough to vote for justice.

From David Sivadon, Mounds Oklahoma

Donald Trump committed illegal acts- echo opinion

Echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World, an Oklahoma newspaper.

Do the Republicans believe in democracy? After all the impeachment hearings, there is no doubt that Trump committed many illegal acts.

If the Republicans allow this action in Ukraine, it will set a precedent: Any president of any party will be able to ask any country to investigate anyone in an election.

If this happens, Vladimir Putin has what he wants.

Trump withheld money, and that went against a law passed by Congress in 1974 after Watergate. Why is it that people cannot see the scandal of Trump being an authoritarian?

He obstructed Robert Mueller's report and obstructed the House investigation by ordering his people not to testify.

Trump does not even tell the truth to his own base. So for those who back Trump, don't blame anyone who runs for office who asks another country, even communist ones, to involve themselves in the U.S. election process.

I believe in democracy, but it's obvious that Donald Trump does not believe in democracy. I think God will not bless this nation if we continue under Donald Trump.

Lanny Eubanks, Coffeyville, Kansas

Donald Trump is in love with power- echo opinion

Baffling! How do Christians support Trump? An echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World, Oklahoma newspaper.

MaineWriter - Christians and Evangelicals that continue to support Donald Trump are obviously ignorant about the Bible teachings they subscribe to as being literary and absolute!  

How will history judge Donald Trump?

Like all tyrants, he first convinces people that our country has problems only he can fix. 

He then identifies groups who are the source of the problem.

In Trump’s case, it’s liberals, Democrats, immigrants and fake news. In other eras, it’s been Jews, communists, Christians, Islam, women, Indians, homosexuals and others.

Despots say they love their country. The only thing they really love is power. They will do anything, say anything, destroy anything (including character) to maintain power.

What may baffle historians is how fundamental Christians and others continue to support him.

When will Franklin Graham, Pat Buchanan and Senator Inhofe and Senator Langford look this bully in the eye and say "Sir, have you no decency?”  (Joseph Welch, June 9, 1954) 

Keenan Barnard, Tulsa Oklahoma

Echo from Oklahoma - failed businessman is the "failed Trump"

Echo opinion from my favorite newspaper!  

Thank you Tulsa World.

Donald Trump documented 13, 400 + lies

The Worst Businessman in America

From By Sonia Sniderman in Tulsa Oklahoma:

“Let’s elect a business man to be president,” we said. “A business man will know how to run the country more efficiently than a politician.”

We got our wish, but we should have been a bit more specific and asked for an honest business man. (Trumpzi is a con man - "I know a con man when I see one!", Bloomberg!)

Donald Trump just got fined $2 million for using his acclaimed charity like a slush fund to pay for his campaign and business interests (“President fined $2 milion to settle charity suit,” Nov. 8).

By the way, do not confuse this $2 million, with the $25 million that tRump was fined for swindling students in his (failed! TrumpziU) “university.”

We should have been forewarned when stories circulated about how he stiffed suppliers in his hotel business. 

Now, Trump has full rein to swindle all of us.

When Donald Trump spends weekends at Mar-a-Lago, the taxpayers pay $546 a night for each staffer staying there and $1,000 for a night’s drinking by White House aides at the bar. He even charges the Secret Service for using the golf carts.

Visitors who want to gain favor with the president spend their money at the Trump hotels. T-Mobile stayed there while waiting for approval on a merger to the tune of nearly $200,000.

Foreign officials spend freely there while courting Trumpziism for favors.

(Obviously!) Did we neglect to tell Donald Trump that he was supposed to bring prosperity to the entire country and not just to the Trumpzi organization?

This honor of speaking truth to power - thank you Ambassador Taylor and Lt. Col. Vindman

Ambassador William B. Taylor, Jr. testified under oath. This is the truth that Republicans are too cowardly to face up to.

Thanking our Americans who are courageously willing to speak truth to power.  An echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World, an Oklahoma newspaper.

Honorable men testifying before House Intelligence Committee

"Those who attack them should be ashamed."~ Lee Snodgrass

Two witnesses who testified to the House Intelligence Committee were vilified by some Republicans and by (right wing nuts!) Fox News commentators. I am not writing to talk about their testimony but to (justly criticize) the (unwarranted and cruel!) attacks on them.

Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman are true patriots with impeccable credentials.

Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, arrives at the U.S. Capitol on October 29, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) -- Military.com

For over two decades, Vindman has served honorably in the Army. His overseas tours include South Korea and Germany along with a deployment in Iraq, where he was wounded by an IED and awarded a Purple Heart. Since 2008, he has been a foreign area officer specializing in Eurasia.

Ambassador Taylor has served our country for over 50 years. He is a graduate of West Point and was an infantry officer for six years in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.

He then served in the Department of Energy, as a Senate staffer, at NATO and finally at the State Department.

While at the State Department, he served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jerusalem and Ukraine.

When asked by Secretary Mike Pompeo to come out of retirement and serve one more time as the acting ambassador to Ukraine, he answered the call.

Both men are patriots who dedicated their lives to the service of America and deserve our respect and thanks. Those who attack them should be ashamed.
From Lee Snodgrass, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Donald Trump is obviously adverse to truth - he opens his mouth and spews garbage

Dear Republicans: Why is the truth irrelevant?

Echo opinion letter published in Tulsa World, Oklahoma

President’s lies putting democracy in danger

Sometimes when Donald Trump opens his mouth, he puckers his lips, making him look like he has just bitten a green persimmon.

I would not think in such uncomplimentary ways if fact-checkers hadn’t told us that the president had spoken over 13,000 lies.

It would not be so disconcerting if so many supporters did not back him in everything he says and does. It would appear that the truth is irrelevant.

Liar - liar Trump pants on fire

If truth becomes unimportant, democracy itself is in grave danger.

From Henry Haynes, Vian, Oklahoma

Important echo opinion for military and our families - Donald Trump fails on national security

Trump bad on foreign policy and national defense

TULSA WORLK, Oklahoma- My father’s grave marker in Arlington Cemetery reads: “World War II, Korea, Vietnam.” 

I served in the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany and the 1st Infantry Division at Ft. Riley. My son served in the Air Force for 10 years.

National defense is a priority in my family. I believe that it is a priority for most Americans.

Unfortunately, our president is bad on foreign policy and national defense. He considers Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB agent, his friend.

Most of us were astonished at President Trump’s performance at his Helsinki summit with Putin on  July 16, 2018.

Two recent actions by our president illustrate problems with his approach to national security in favor of Russia.

First, he delayed for over 6 months the $391 million military aid to Ukraine that was part of the 2019 federal budget that he signed into law on Feb. 15. This delay helped Putin’s Russia in its undeclared war with America’s ally, Ukraine.

Second, Trump abruptly announced that he had ordered American forces to withdraw from Syria, even though this exposed the Kurds to the Turks. When confronted by critics in Congress from both parties, Trump stated: “If Russia wants to get involved with Syria, that’s really up to them.” 

"If Russia wants to get involved with Syria, that’s really up to them..."   

Trump’s buddying up with a former KGB thug like Putin puts America at risk.

Regardless of your opinion of Donald Trump in other areas of presidential policy, he is bad on the one that should be first and foremost: our national security.
From John L. Harlan, in Tulsa OK