Columns 2017

It’s treason… plain and simple treason

Am I the only one who wonders just how far the Republican Party is willing to go in selling out America so it can remain in power? Am I the only one disgusted by the total silence emanating from that party’s leaders over the actions of the current occupant of the White House and his family?

Remember how many hearings they held over Hillary’s emails and what they considered her mishandling of Benghazi? Despite the fact that exhaustive examinations of both issues by a variety of panels found no indictable offense, they kept holding hearings trying to smear her. They pretended that any lack of security at Benghazi was solely her problem and not in any way connected to the fact that Congress itself had cut the budget for State Department security personnel.

Now we have a family in the White House that openly admits to meeting with Russian operatives to get dirt on Clinton during the presidential campaign. The silence emanating from Republicans about this is deafening. If the Clintons had done this, Republicans would already be impeaching Hillary.

Russia is not our ally. In fact, the last time I checked, it was definitely listed in the enemy column. Russia is an autocratic state run by Putin, a despotic strong man who kills his opponents with impunity. Yet all through the recent presidential campaign, the person currently occupying the White House spoke admiringly of him. Perhaps he hoped if he played nice with Putin, Russia would provide him with dirt on Hillary and the DNC. In fact, if I remember correctly, there was a point where he actually said that if Russia was hacking the DNC, it was a good thing. Yep, I’m sure if Hillary had made a statement like that the Republicans would never have accused her of being a traitor to our country and its values by encouraging our enemy to spy on us. I’m sure they would have turned the other cheek and been silent.

Now the current White House occupant’s son has tweeted out proof that he met with Russian operatives to get information on his father’s opponent in order to damage her campaign. He colluded with the enemy plain and simple.

I expect little to nothing in the way of morals, professionalism or patriotism from the family currently sullying the White House. They have proven time and again that they will put their interests above all others, certainly above that of our country. And if they need to beat a hasty retreat, they can always find a dacha in Russia to rent.

But I am sorely disappointed in the Republican Party. I may disagree with their position on many things, but I always thought they were patriotic Americans who would defend us against our enemy at all costs. I always thought that when push came to shove, they would join with the Democrats to safeguard our country from attacks. I guess I was wrong. Aside from one or two Republicans – John McCain comes immediately to mind – Republicans seems all too willing to turn a blind eye to the rapaciousness of the current White House family and their willingness to deal with our greatest enemy.

So the question is, where do Republicans draw the line? Or is there even a line to be drawn? As long as they get to stay in power, are Republicans content to watch the most corrupt, incompetent and potentially treasonous presidential family in our history continue down a path that has already knocked America out of its leadership role in the world? Are they content to have America relegated to something close to a laughable Third World tin pot dictatorship?

For Alaskans, the even more important question is why our Congressional delegation has been so silent on this travesty. Is there not even one person representing us in DC who thinks that treason on the part of the president and his family should require some sort of strong response? Can they not even find their voices long enough to say this is so very wrong? Or are they willing to also watch America’s reputation and character be sunk as long as they get to keep their power?

It seems as though we are currently watching the death spiral of a country I love while no one in a leadership position is willing to put the breaks on and stop the drop. Sad. So very, very sad.