Lynne Stevens
Isn’t it amazing that our brave soldiers sign up to protect our America, knowing that their very lives could be sacrificed to protect us all from our greatest adversaries: China, Russia and North Korea?
Yet, America’s government is becoming less transparent, less knowledgeable. Many of our leaders pledge their loyalty to one man – to the exclusion of a wide swath of voters. Right now, our not-so-brave GOP Congress is too scared of Trump to disobey his orders.
Democratic and Republican Congressmen are holding packed-to-the-brim town halls and call-ins all over the country. In attendance are Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Democratic Congressmen are hearing – loud and clear – that voters are not pleased and want them to stand up to Presidents Trump/Musk and fight harder. Republicans are looking at angry constituents and want Trump/Musk stopped from gutting their government.
Republicans seem afraid of President Trump. They fear he will dispatch big bad wolf Musk to descend on them with his spare billions to hurt them in some way if they fall out of line. An election outcome should be a decision for the people, not a billionaire sent to destroy an election by the President.
That is not all. Off-the-record reports by numerous journalists report the GOP is afraid of Trump loyalists coming after their families and homes if they defy Trump orders. That is why the reports are off-the-record. What would you do if your boss threatened your family if you did not comply to an order against your conscience?
Here are two examples of why Congress has cause for alarm:
* Publicly, Trump has issued more than 100 threats to prosecute and punish government officials who have opposed his policies (NPR).
* Nancy Pelosi’s husband was brutally attacked by a 2020 election denier and at Trump rallies, the crowd cheered when Trump mentioned it (YouTube). Any cheering of this cruelty by Christians in the crowd hopefully led to repentance afterward.
Can you imagine how this rhetoric could force the media to keep its head down and out of the governments business?
There is a problem here, however: both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights protect press freedom. If Trump’s Supreme Court bows to Trump and forces the free press to kneel to him alone, we the people will lose the ability to know what the government is doing in our name. This is how Trump’s trio of favored dictators – Putin, Xi and Kim Jung Un – withhold the workings of government from citizens. Control “of the” populace – not freedom “for the” populace – is their mantra, as we witness Project 2025 explode to life, with half the country looking with eyes wide shut. The other half of the country did due diligence research and saw this coming.
With near-total control over government functions, are Presidents Trump/Musk indifferent to public opinion tanking?
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Think about that.
Lynne Stevens writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. She can be reached via email, geminga@mailfence.com.