Letter to the editor in the Bellevue Reporter: A National Emergency

The following letter to the editor, by me, appears in the  the Bellevue Reporter under the heading “A National Emergency,” both in the print edition and online here (scroll down past the first letter).

During the first two years of Trump’s presidency, Republicans had a chance to build the wall; they didn’t. They had a chance to prosecute former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for alleged crimes; they didn’t, because there were no crimes. (The email scandal was a mole hill.) They had a chance to overturn Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act); they couldn’t, because it’s helping tens of millions of people and is saving money.

On the other hand, there have been dozens of indictments of Trump’s former aides: his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort (now a felon), his former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos, his National Security advisor Michael Flynn, and others. [And now there’s Roger Stone.] Many of them lied about contacts with Russia.

Trump paid off adult film star Stormy Daniels. Multiple women have accused him of sexual harassment. PolitFact and other fact checking organizations said the proportion of his statements that were false was by far the highest among the candidates. His Trump University was shut down due to fraud. Trump repeatedly shortchanged contractors and destroyed evidence. Trump apparently cheated on his taxes. He appealed to racism and xenophobia.

Today’s headlines say that Trump asked Cohen to lie to Congress about the Moscow Trump Tower. [Editor’s note: that recent report has been disputed.] Trump’s picks to head federal agencies such as the EPA are industry lobbyists committed to weakening the agencies. He continues to deny climate change, though oil companies themselves have known about it for decades and his own administration’s report says it’s real. The Trump/GOP tax bill gives another trillion dollars to the 1%, despite historic inequality and debt. Trump’s former cabinet members call him a moron.

But tens of millions of Americans still support him. How is this possible?