OPINION: What Kind of America is the GOP Cheering?

After the simultaneous telephone town halls that Pennsylvania’s own Sen. Dave McCormick and Congressman/aspiring gubernatorial nominee Dan Meuser hosted last week, I wish the callers — or I — could have responded to their GOP spin.

Both lawmakers waved the Musk-Trump, or Mump, administration flag while trying to reassure us that they can think for themselves and won’t just rubber-stamp every White House whim.

McCormick said he takes our government’s checks and balances “very seriously” and would call out anything Donald Trump does that’s inconsistent with his executive authority. (Doesn’t that include withholding congressionally approved funding and defying the courts?)

Workers fired at the behest of Elon Musk’s Department of Government “Efficiency” deserve respect, McCormick said, but like Meuser, he expressed support for its downsizing spree.

Meuser did say he winced when Musk pranced around with a “chainsaw for bureaucracy” at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February but claimed, as Mumpers do, that DOD(G)E is just about “rooting out waste, abuse, fraud and corruption.”

Maybe it should consider:

* The Jan. 6 fallout. Trump’s pardons absolved the terrorists who invaded the Capitol from paying restitution for the nearly $3 million it took to repair the building. Some who’ve paid may get refunds, but only about $437,000 was collected as of June. Meanwhile, Trump has floated the idea of a compensation fund — for the offenders.

* Donald Trump’s frequent pleasure trips. Golfing at his properties cost us taxpayers $30.4 million as of April 7, the HuffPost estimated. People said that amount could have saved about 280 federal jobs, based on an average salary of $106,462.

Trump also went to several high-profile sporting events, including the Super Bowl and Daytona 500, and he was back in Florida last weekend.

“The last time I checked, we’re not getting anything for (his jaunts),” Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said at a recent House subcommittee hearing. (Oh, maybe golfing helps Trump think of ways to impress other country’s dictators, rant about his obsession du jour, reward donors like Musk and further enrich himself.)

* A huge conflict of interest. Musk, a major government contractor, is also slashing the federal government. Just this month, his SpaceX company received a $5.9 billion contract.

* Stock market shenanigans? On the morning of April 9, Trump said it would be a great time to buy stocks (which his senseless trade war had battered). Hours later, he lent credence to his proclamation by something of a 180 on his tariffs.

Several Democratic senators and New York Attorney General Letitia James smelled something funny and called for investigations. (GOP Congresswoman/bomb thrower Marjorie Taylor Greene bought a lot of stocks the day before and the day of Trump’s announcement but says her financial adviser controls her investments.)

2025 or 1984?

DOD(G)E and the trade war are troubling, but Trump’s attempts to push our government into authoritarianism are downright Orwellian as he goes after or talks about going after anyone who might have offended him or whatever doesn’t conform to his ultra-repressive Project 2025 agenda.

The hit list includes lawyers who faced off against him in court, news outlets that haven’t sufficiently kowtowed to him, U.S. history that covers racism and genocide, universities that are too diverse and equitable, and even the Kennedy Center for being too woke.

And especially immigrants of color, who’ve been rounded up and shipped to a notoriously cruel prison in El Salvador, regardless of their legal status or whether they actually committed a crime.

Now Trump’s teasing the idea of doing that to “homegrown criminals.” It’s illegal, but it doesn’t seem like anything, even the Supreme Court, can stop him.

Would these alleged criminals get their day in court? Or would they, like the immigrants, just be kidnapped and incarcerated far from home? And who knows what this narcissistic and unpredictable president would deem a deportable crime.

Given what the Mumps have threatened and done, I want to know what it would take for McCormick to speak up and defend the Constitution that he swore to uphold.

And Meuser, who said he’s a cheerleader for America as well as Trump? I’d ask him what he finds to cheer about as the Mump regime shows just how incompetent, corrupt and oppressive it is.

Lisa Von Ahn is an experienced columnist previously published in the Pottsville Republican Herald newspaper.

Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.

Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.

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