Donald Trump and his maga Republican cult cabinet would be better advised about Iran using the Carnac mayonnaise jar! JMO

To the Editor echo published in the New Hampshire Union Leader: Donald Trump should have known better. On Trump's ever changing grocery list of made up reasons for igniting an illegal war against Iran, regime change was supposed to be at the top of his list. 

Donald Trump is a 79 year old (will turn 80 this year) confused old man😕😝❗😴😵

Trump's completely uninformed instincts told him so. Drop bombs — kill despotic leaders along with innocents and hundreds of children — and the people will rise up and rejoice at America’s intervention, opposing a brutalist regime that will lay down its arms. Suddenly, like magic, democracy will rise up and bloom in a political desert where it has never existed❓

Yet from personal experience, Donald Trump knew that autocrats do not give up power without a fierce struggle. In America, where democracy has a 250-year-old history, he refused to give up power in 2020. He lied and conspired with others to keep a strong grip on the reins of power. Why did he think the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would act any differently❓*

From Steven Gordon in Hopkinton, New Hampshire

Why not❓  Try to ask Carnac the Magnificent❗

*Perhaps Donald Trump and his inept cult advisors should try to summon the ghost of Johnny Carson, as the seer Carnac, The Magnificent".  They would likely receive better advice from Carnac's mayonnaise jar than what they are acting upon now in the failed Trump Iran World War. In my opinion, Donald Trump's fake cabinet cult meetings are conducted more like seances so why not try to give the ghost of Carnac a call❓

Republicans "Do Your Jobs!" Trumpziism is destroying America like he is a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler

 Dear Editor (echo opinion published The Union Leader, a New Hampshire newspaper): Republicans are deaf, dumb and blind👀 to Trumpziism❗

Many people wondered why Donald Trump never had an unkind word for President Vladimir Putin, the gangster running Russia. Trump is now firing experienced DOJ lawyers and prosecutors, as well as inspector generals who search for corruption in federal agencies. Trump has also signaled he's abandoning Ukraine, caving to Putin.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lectured NATO recently, claiming Ukraine would be their problem, not America's problem.

It's hard to watch, but if Trump is a Russian asset, it all makes sense. Firing these experienced lawyers in the DOJ and IG offices will make no material difference in the deficit and nd federal debt, but it will turn the Justice Department into a toothless, neutralized Department of Donald Trump.

This is very similar to what Adolf Hitler did as he rose to the role of dictator in Nazi Germany. That led to a world war that killed tens of millions and destroyed much of Europe and Asia. Do Americans really want to take this risk with what remains of our democracy?

I have watched Donald Trump and Elon Musk lie to America for years and I'm not too impressed with the Republican response to the obvious dangers sitting right before our eyes.

From Jeff Kassel in Manchester 

Why are no videos shown of individuals who built the Hang Mike Pence gallows?

Unanswered question for January 6th committee: An opinion echo published in the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, New Hampshire:

Maine Writer: FINALLY!  So, I am not the only person to have asked this question! A person doesn't just walk randomly into a Washington DC hardware and ask for a kit to build gallows!

To the Editor: What’s missing from the January 6th committee presentations is a discussion of the gallows on Capitol grounds.

Rioters on January 6, chanted "Hang Mike Pence"

Who built the gallows? Who planned it? Who paid for the lumber, nails, screws and rope? It takes time to build something like that. Why didn’t the Capitol police put a stop to it? Is there video of it’s construction.

From Jeff Kassel,  Appleton Street, Manchester New Hampshire

A political earthquake in the Republican party: New Hampshire's first time ever Joe Biden endorsement!

Echo editorial opinion published in the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper.

This year’s general election ballot presents the voter with a dilemma. We have wrestled with this year’s choices, as we imagine many voters have. Up and down the ticket we are faced with choices in political ideologies, personalities, backgrounds and governing styles.

Some choices are easy. We can wholeheartedly recommend Chris Sununu be elected to another term as governor. He has proven himself a capable leader when faced with an extreme and occasionally hostile legislature. 

During the COVID-19 crisis, he has deftly handled a situation that left many leaders flustered and swinging from one extreme reaction to the next.

In the race that has dominated political discourse for the past four years the choice is murkier. There is no love lost between this newspaper and President Donald J. Trump. The Union Leader was very quickly dismissed by then-candidate Trump after we failed to bestow on him our endorsement in the Republican primary four years ago.

We were hopeful with Trump’s win that he might change, that the weight and responsibility of the Oval Office might mold a more respectful and presidential man. We have watched with the rest of the world as the mantle of the presidency has done very little to change Trump while the country and world have changed significantly.

President Trump is not always 100 percent wrong, but he is 100 percent wrong for America. Trump has many admirable accomplishments from his first term in office. We can find much common ground with Trump supporters, including judicial appointments, tax policy, support for gun rights, even inroads to Middle East peace. Trump has been able to accomplish this despite many in the media and Congress working to stop him at every opportunity.

Since Trump took over, the national debt has exploded by more than 7 TRILLION dollars. While the last several trillion was in response to the COVID-19 economic crisis, at least the first three trillion was on the books well before the pandemic, while Trump was presiding over “...the best economy we’ve ever had in the history of our country.” (Trump’s words.)


The layman would expect that the best economy in history would be a time to get the fiscal house in order, pay down debt and prepare for a rainy day (or perhaps a worldwide pandemic). The real tragedy of this scenario is that the runaway spending under the Trump administration has flashed dollar signs in the eyes of Capitol Hill Democrats. Trillions in unchecked spending has them clamoring to birth the social programs of their dreams.

Federal spending is on an unsustainable path. The fact that it has continued under an allegedly conservative president is unbelievable.

Mr. Trump rightly points out that the COVID-19 crisis isn’t his fault, but a true leader must own any situation that happens on their watch. We may be turning a corner with this virus, but the corner we turned is down a dark alley of record infections and deaths. Mr. Trump is a self-proclaimed expert on a wide variety of topics, but when pushed on basic topics he doesn’t want to discuss, he very quickly feigns ignorance.

Donald Trump did not create the social-media-driven political landscape we now live in, but he has weaponized it. He is a consummate linguistic takedown artist, ripping apart all comers to the delight of his fanbase but at the expense of the nation. America faces many challenges and needs a president to build this country up. This appears to be outside of Mr. Trump’s skill set.

Building this country up sits squarely within the skill set of Joseph Biden. We have found Mr. Biden to be a caring, compassionate and professional public servant. He has repeatedly expressed his desire to be a president for all of America, and we take him at his word. Joe Biden may not be the president we want, but in 2020 he is the president we desperately need. He will be a president to bring people together and right the ship of state.

Biden is not perfect. We are not satisfied with his responses about his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings. His understanding of gun rights leaves a lot to be desired (Joe says we only need shotguns). He suggests cops faced with a deadly threat should “shoot them in the leg.” He also seems to be copying more pages out of the “Green New Deal” than we would like.

Our policy disagreements with Joe Biden are significant. Despite our endorsement of his candidacy, we expect to spend a significant portion of the next four years disagreeing with the Biden administration on our editorial pages.

Biden was among the most moderate in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary field, proposing some of the lowest new spending among that increasingly left-leaning group. We are hopeful that this is a sign of the thoughtful and pragmatic public servant President Joe Biden will be. Sadly, President Trump has proven himself to be the antithesis of thoughtful and pragmatic; he has failed to earn a second term.

Our endorsement for President of these United States goes to Joe Biden.

* While Joe Biden is the clear choice for president, it would be a disservice to the country to send him to the White House without a backstop. We suggest splitting the ballot and electing a healthy dose of GOP senators and representatives. The best governance often comes through compromise. The civility of the Biden administration will help foster such compromise, but a blue wave would be nearly as disastrous for this country as four more years of Trump. It would result in a quagmire of big government programs that will take decades to overcome.

Maine Writer Post Script!  Political earthquake!

Is this the "real news?"- A Pat Buchanan I can agree with

Oh boy- "As the Political World Turns".

Honestly, never thought I'd be able to give arch conservative Pat Buchanan any credibility for his extreme views. In fact, his caustic style of spewing news is nearly as offsetting as the words he uses to support ultra conservative points of view.

But, even a broken clock is correct, twice a day. This commentary was published in New Hampshire's Union Leader, an oracle for conservative viewpoints.

Pat Buchanan: That bloodbath in the Old Dominion: Or, as MaineWriter would say it, "What Happened in Virginia will not stay in Virginia".

The day after his "Silent Majority" speech on Nov. 3, 1969, calling on Americans to stand with him for peace with honor in Vietnam, Richard Nixon's GOP captured the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey.

By December, Nixon had reached 68 percent approval in the Gallup Poll, though, a year earlier, he had won but 43 percent of the vote.

Contrast Nixon's numbers with President Trump's.

Where Trump won 46 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton, his approval rating is now nearly 10 points below that. He has less support today than on the day he was elected, or inaugurated.

Tens of millions of Americans are passionately for Trump, and tens of millions are passionately against him. The GOP problem: The latter cohort is equal in intensity but larger in number, and this is especially true in purple and blue states like the commonwealth of Virginia.

There is no way to spin Tuesday's (2017 election) as other than a Little Bighorn, and possible harbinger of what is to come.

In George Washington's hometown of Alexandria and Arlington County, Democratic candidate Ralph Northam won 4-1. In Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the most populous D.C. suburbs, Northam won 2-1.

In the rural counties, however, Republican Ed Gillespie rolled up the landslides.

As there are two Americas, there are two Virginias.

Consider. Of all the delegate seats in the Virginia assembly allocated to Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, the GOP can today claim only one.

Northern Virginia is taking on the political and socioeconomic profile of San Francisco.

Another and perhaps insoluble problem for the GOP, not only in the Old Dominion, is demography.

Democrats rolled up their largest margins among African-Americans, Hispanics, single women, immigrants and the young. And these voting blocs are growing.

Gillespie ran up his largest margins among white males near and past retirement age and married white women. These Middle Americans are in inexorable demographic decline.

The Greatest Generation is passing on, and baby boomers born between 1946 and 1951 are now on Medicare and Social Security.

Yet reports of the GOP's demise are grossly exaggerated.

Though Gillespie lost by nine points, Jill Vogel, who ran for lieutenant governor on Trumpian issues, lost by six.

By 2-1, Virginians do not want their Confederate monuments torn down. Northam, sensing this, moved toward Gillespie's position as the campaign went on. Also, among the 27 percent of Virginians who regarded taxes and immigration as the top issues, Gillespie won by nearly 4-1.

It was health care concerns, the No. 1 issue, that buried the GOP.

As for mainstream media rage and revulsion at the "racism" of Gillespie ads suggesting Northam supported sanctuary cities and was soft on the MS-13 gang, this reflects an abiding establishment fear of the Trumpian issues of illegal immigration and crime.

Then there was the Republican messenger. A former chairman of the RNC, Washington lobbyist and White House aide, Gillespie is an establishment Republican unconvincing in the role of a fighting populist conservative. His speeches recalled not Trump's run, but that of the Republicans Trump trounced.

Ed Gillespie was Virginia's version of Jeb Bush.

Message from the Old Dominion: A purple state, trending blue, with its economy recession-proof as long as Uncle Sam across the river consumes 20 percent of GDP, is a steepening climb for the GOP. You must have a superior candidate, comfortable with cutting issues, to win it now.

Republicans are being admonished to drop the monuments-and-memorials issue and respect why NFL players might want to "take a knee" during the national anthem.

But if to win in Northern Virginia the GOP must move closer to the Democratic Party, why would the rest of the state want to vote for the Republican Party?

During the campaign, both candidates moved rightward.

Northam rejected sanctuary cities and accepted Lee and Jackson on Richmond's Monument Avenue, and Gillespie ran Trumpian ads, even if they seemed to clash with the mild-mannered candidate himself.

The lesson for 2018:

While the solid support of Trumpians is indispensable for GOP victory, it is insufficient for GOP victory. Republican candidates will have to decide how close they wish to get to President Trump, or how far away they can risk going and survive.

Facing this choice, Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker decided to pack it in. Other Republicans may follow. But a house divided will not stand.

Republicans should recall that off-year elections are often problematic for incumbent parties. In 1954, President Eisenhower lost both houses of Congress. After pardoning Nixon in 1974, Gerald Ford lost 49 seats. In 1982, Ronald Reagan sustained a 27-seat loss.

In 1994, Bill Clinton lost 53 seats and control of the House. In 2010, Barack Obama lost 63 seats and control of the House.

If the nation chooses to turn Congress over to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in 2018, will that be all Trump's fault? Or should perhaps some credit go to Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and venerable political tradition?

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, "Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever."

MaineWriter's assessment- Patrick Buchanan might just be reporting "real news".