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Drain the swamp, indeed!

Posted 1/15/25

Dear Editor,

I wonder if all the hoopla about the US talking Denmark into giving us Greenland or taking the Panama Canal is just a smoke screen, designed to deflect Americans attention away from the outrageous cabinet picks Trump has made, or the...

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Drain the swamp, indeed!

Posted

Dear Editor,


I wonder if all the hoopla about the US talking Denmark into giving us Greenland or taking the Panama Canal is just a smoke screen, designed to deflect Americans attention away from the outrageous cabinet picks Trump has made, or the actions of the Republicans in Congress to pay for Trump’s massive deportation efforts and his unneeded tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. They have outlined $5 trillion in cuts which could include cutting Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act (more commonly known as Obamacare), the Inflation Reduction Act’s investment in combating climate change, and the supplemental nutrition programs formerly known as food stamps.  

Trump campaigned on draining the swamp, claiming that the “deep state” has been out to get him, and any efforts to hold him accountable for his misdeeds are “election interference.” Now he is filling the swamp with billionaires and loyalists, many of whose sole qualifications are total loyalty to Trump’s whims. Four separate grand juries in several jurisdictions found reasonable evidence of crimes committed by the now convicted felon and recommended moving forward with trials. That means four groups of twelve private citizens, the bedrock of our democracy, trial by jury, found strong evidence to continue to trial. This is not a “deep state,” but rather an attempt to uphold the law. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) had a chance to weigh in on this, and punted, finding that the president has broad immunity from prosecution when performing “official acts.” Did they forget that our forefathers did not want a dictator like King George III, but rather put checks and balances in place to rein in a possible out of control president. SCOTUS threw that baby out with the bathwater. 

Trump was still president when he inspired the attack on our capital to stop the counting of votes from the Electoral College, as well as the false delegate scheme, etc. No one can claim that the illegal acts by this felon were in any way “official.” His insurrection caused over $30 million dollars damage to the Capital building, over 140 police and security officials seriously injured, and 5 people dead, while Trump watched it all on TV. How can this be overlooked? 

Now we will hear about Trump nominees in the coming days. Are these people truly qualified? Start with Pete Hegseth, Fox News commentator, nominated to run the Department of Defense, a position which oversees over 3 million active-duty members as well as the VA and other associated agencies. Hegseth was accused by an anonymous woman of sexual assault, which he denies, yet paid her off. I suspect she remains anonymous because the settlement calls for an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) to not speak to the press.

Hegseth was also head of two separate veterans’ organizations and proceeded to run them into the ground financially. He has railed against women in active combat as well as any LGBTQ in the military. Finally, he was visibly drunk in public on multiple occasions. His qualifications? Total fealty to Trump’s whims and a promise not to drink any more. Convinced?  

Next is Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman from Hawaii who is nominated to be Director of Intelligence and to run the 18 intelligence agencies that inform the Executive and Congress of the many threats that our country experiences daily. Note, these are the agencies which declared that Russia had intervened in the 2016 election on behalf of the soon to be president. Trump, at that time, took Putin’s word that they had not. Convinced?

Gabbard’s credentials include total loyalty to Trump. She is part of the Putin wing of the Republican Party, a NATO skeptic and someone who visited Bashir al Assad in Syria in 2017, one of the most brutal dictators in world history. Assad’s overthrow recently unearthed a trove of evidence of his despotic rule, including many thousands killed, tortured, maimed and buried in unmarked graves. A couple years ago, an individual inside Assad’s torture regime published hundreds of pictures of his victims whose eyes had been gouged out! How could she defend being unbiased while kowtowing to one of the most brutal dictators ever? 

Then there is Robert Kennedy Jr. whom Trump has nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a vaccine skeptic and quack; 18,000 physicians recently signed a letter saying he is “unqualified and actively dangerous.”

People, please pay attention. Don’t get distracted by the many attempts by “Felonious Trump” to divert our attention from these important issues. We need competence in government, not hacks and toadies.

  

Thank you,

Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County