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Oct. 16, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: “Losers” and “Suckers,” those are what Americans who fought and died for this country are — in the words of Donald Trump. Early reports of his contempt for those who served have now been thoroughly verified, including by Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly.
As a military historian, I was proud of the thousands of my students at VMI, West Point, the Air War College, and elsewhere who wore the uniform of our country, as did many of my other friends and relatives over the decades. The country music song says it so poetically, so accurately, “All gave some; some gave all”.
And what of Cadet Bonespurs, the very personification of malignancy? He recently dismissed General Kelly as a “lowlife.” Of course, Trump’s viciousness and dishonesty are central to his character. But where is the indignation from the GOP? What has our own congressman, Ben Cline, had to say? Where is their outrage following Trump’s public call to terminate the Constitution, our very bedrock as a democracy that they — and he — swore to uphold and defend?
Do these self-proclaimed patriots really have no more backbone than a chocolate eclair, to quote Teddy Roosevelt? Do the American people care so little for this great country that they will continue to return to office “leaders” whose only ambition is power and self-aggrandizement?
Anger such as I feel at age 80 is unhealthy. What can I do, ask some dear to me? Vote? Sure, but is that all? Well, I can urge you, if you’re of like mind, to sound the alarm. You have address books; you are able to reach where I cannot. On the other hand, if you intend to vote for Trump and his minions, please rethink your position and commit instead to candidates of law and decency.
MALCOLM MUIR JR. Lexington
