Letter to the editor: Republicans unmasked

When Republicans say they want to “Make America Great Again,” they are speaking code to each other. What they mean is “Make America Weak Again.” Republicans who won’t wear a mask for the common good have been masking actions under words meaning the exact opposite for years. They now claim a margin of victory of 1.6%, gain of 4 Senate seats, and LOSS of 1 House seat leaving a 5 vote Republican majority, is a “landslide” and “mandate.” Their actions speak louder than words, unmasking them for all to see.

Saying they are for “law and order,” they direct federal agencies to seek the death penalty for murder of police officers while pardoning convicted criminals for attacks on 140 officers. Saying they want “merit” in public service, they nominate billionaires with no relevant experience, fire qualified women from senior posts, and order instant top security clearances for staff. They call the first and only domestic attack on the US Capitol and Congress in US history to block certification of election results a “lovefest” while decrying “revisionist history.” They castigate “unelected activist judges”–unless they are loose Cannons or Supreme Court judges who forgot they swore under oath that precedent is settled law. They say they want “transparent elections” while refusing to certify Democrat wins. They kill a bi-partisan immigration bill, then declare a “national emergency” and order military massing at Mexico’s border in a year with less border crossings than in Trump’s last year in office. They say only the “original” meaning of the US Constitution matters, then amend it with a Sharpie. They say the Justice Department was unfairly “weaponized” against them while the same act by any other actor at any other facility would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They sell out the American public by selling off America’s natural resources to the lowest bidder.

Trump’s Republicans have yet to equal Biden’s 4.45% victory margin, let alone earn anything like a real landslide victory, as in 1932 when Democrats gained 97 House seats, 12 Senate seats, and the presidency by a margin of more than 17% after 12 years of Republican rule and 3 years of economic misery. The 1932 election WAS a mandate for changes that made America great for generations.

Whatever Republicans say, no mandate exists to shred those changes, weaken the nation, or line private pockets at public expense. 

– Vivien Rose, Trumansburg