Comments on recent actions by Trump
Now President Trump is accusing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, of treason. Based on… nothing. Nothing. I’ll say it again. Not one thing. Unless doing her job is a crime against the state. Sadly, using Twitter makes launching baseless accusations so much easier to get away with because, well, you’ve only got 280 characters to use. Barely enough room to level the accusation — how do you expect him to also provide evidence for the claim? Plus, the President knows from experience that if you just say something often enough, there are those who will start to believe it. He also knows that his job — now — is to distract people from what there actually is evidence for – his impeachable shakedown of Ukraine. That instead of focusing on the business of the country — which is what he was elected to do. It’s Rick Perry’s fault that the President made that call, anyway, right? And who is he to stand up to the Secretary of Energy?
Meanwhile, he is pulling U.S. troops out of northern Syria after consulting — Turkish President Erdogan. And no one else. How convenient for Erdogan who will, in turn, send in Turkish troops to push out the Kurds who, as our allies throughout the struggle against ISIS, quite understandably feel betrayed by us. In response to the immediate and negative response, the President later tweeted, “if Turkey ever does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey.” “In my great and unmatched wisdom”? Wow. There are so many incredible things about the full quote, but the relevant point here is that the President won’t do this and we know it — and, so far, his decision to remove our troops stands. The Kurds are apparently inconvenient to the President’s efforts to cozy up to yet another dictator – of a country, by the way, in which two Trump Towers were completed in 2015. Who besides Turkey actually benefits from the President’s decision? Iran, ISIS, and Russia. You know Trump has done something significant when both Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell publicly condemn it.
If you are wondering whether or not the President would also throw your best interests under the bus to serve his own — as I strongly suspect other U.S. allies are — these are some more tea leaves to read.
Paul Mack
Columbus
A letter to the editor is an excellent way to participate in your community. We request the tone of your letters be constructive and respectful and the length be limited to 450 words. We welcome all letters emailed to [email protected] or mailed to The Dispatch, Attn: Letters to the Editor, PO Box 511, Columbus, MS 39703-0511.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.