Endorsements matter
This week our president said to a reporter, “Quiet, Piggy,” when he didn’t like a question she asked him regarding the Epstein files.
He insulted and attempted to shame another reporter the next day when, during a press conference at the White House, she asked Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, about the violent death of a Washington Post columnist at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018, according to the New York Times. U.S. intelligence has said the attack was carried out on the prince’s orders.
But the worst thing he did this week was threaten to execute Democratic members of Congress for making this video reminding service members they must not carry out illegal orders in violation of the Constitution.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRMxZAnlUF9/?igsh=Ynpoa3JncGx2YnR6
They made the video in response to questions from their military constituents who are increasingly alarmed about the strikes on Venezuelan boats and the deployment of troops to US cities. The lawmakers’ advice in the video was both legally correct and respectfully stated. I breathed a sigh of relief when I watched the video, as someone who has been deeply concerned about military members who might not only be called to violate the Constitution, but also their own ethics and morals under this president and his “Department of War.”
But when the president shared a post the next day saying the Congress members should be executed, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Would he also call for the execution of service members who refused to follow unconstitutional orders?
Many military leaders and experts have questioned the legality of the actions being taken. The courts will ultimately decide.
Did Trump learn nothing from the death of Charlie Kirk? I know he didn’t care about the deaths of Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota earlier this year, but I thought when a member of his own party died from political violence - he decided it mattered. I thought our country’s leadership agreed to try to tamp down the kind of speech that incites violence.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan told Aaron Parnas that she and the others in the video have received hundreds of threats since the president’s post.
I believe Trump’s actions are reckless and dangerous. He has done more to divide our country than any other leader. He demeans women and mocks the disabled. He was close friends with a pedophile.
Yet every day I get texts from Texas politicians who are proudly announcing their endorsement by President Trump. Their photos pop up on my phone - beaming as they stand next to a vile man who is destroying America as we know it and dividing us in ways I never thought possible.
If voters choose to elect candidates who align with Trump, we are in for dark days. There are some who say they separate his personality from his policy, but his personality *drives* his policy. Almost every action he has taken since he was elected points to his greed, his cruelty and his hatred of Democrats, undocumented immigrants, education, science and the environment. He has filled his cabinet with people who will do his bidding at all costs. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
His behavior is monstrous. This isn’t partisan any more. This isn’t Republican or Democrat, conservative or progressive.
This is a matter of morals and electing candidates who clearly and unequivocally denounce the things that have been happening over the past 11 months.
I was proud of Marjorie Taylor Green for standing up for the Epstein survivors, and I found it telling that she resigned from Congress rather than face the vindictive wrath of the President she once supported.
As his approval ratings tank, and as the polls show him losing his base, I can only hope that people currently running for office will see that this is not what we want.
Any candidate endorsed by Trump is not a candidate I would ever choose.