OPINION: Giving Thanks for Those Who Tell the Truth

I often find myself fact-checking a social media post about a shocking quote or action from Donald Trump or one of his Project 2025ers.

“Is this for real?” I wonder. Usually, it is.

So as Thanksgiving Day approaches, I’ve put truth-tellers on my gratitude list.

Whether they’re journalists, government officials, comedians or everyday social media users, they’re fighting an epic battle as the White House bombards us with lies, half-truths and half-baked edicts.

And as its occupants brandish whatever weapons they have at anyone who dares to contradict them.

Within a week, Trump called for the firing of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel (again!) and NBC’s Seth Meyers, two late-night TV hosts who regularly zing him.

On Tuesday, Trump hosted and gushed over Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who U.S. intelligence concluded ordered the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

When ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce brought up the assassination, Trump scolded her for embarrassing his guest, the de facto ruler of a country where his family has multiple business ties. 

And with depraved indifference, he all but blamed the “extremely controversial” victim.

“Things happen,” he added.  

Later Bruce asked why Trump was waiting for a vote from Congress before releasing the Epstein files – and managed to stay calm while he unloaded on her. 

 “You start off with a man who’s highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question,” he said. “… You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”  

Insubordinate, though? You’d think he thought Bruce worked for him, but he went on to say ABC’s broadcast license should be revoked.

He may have been trying to show bin Salman that he’s just as capable of making things happen, and two days later, he outdid himself by accusing six Democratic members of Congress of sedition, which he noted is “punishable by DEATH!”

Their “crime” was circulating a video reminding U.S. military service members and national security employees that they must defy illegal commands. 

I’m proud that two of those lawmakers are from Pennsylvania.

Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the video was a response to Trump’s deployment of troops to U.S. cities and deadly strikes against boats in the Caribbean. And Congressman Chris Deluzio said Trump’s statement “tells me exactly why we should be talking about the rule of law and the Constitution.”

Trump’s threat of execution was apparently too much even for official mouthpiece Karoline Leavitt, who absurdly denied it was a threat of execution. She also misrepresented what the members of Congress said and made the questionable-at-best claim that everything this White House has done is legal.

Despite the very real danger that Trump’s words might incite violence, the lawmakers said they won’t be intimidated. 

And the White House continues to inspire comedians.

Kimmel, whom ABC briefly suspended in September due to pressure from the administration, has a proposition for Trump: “I’ll go when you go, OK? We’ll be a team. Let’s ride off into the sunset together like Butch Cassidy and the Suntan Kid.

“And until then, if I may borrow a phrase from you: ‘Quiet, piggy’ (Trump’s recent retort to another reporter who asked about the Epstein files).”

After the Oval Office dustup, Bruce told ABC7NY that Trump’s rants are part of his M.O. “Usually  when the president doesn’t want to answer a question, he goes on the attack,” she said. “ … When he tangles with the press, it often says more about the president than the person asking the question.”

A good outcome from good reporting

Jeff Bezos, the nearly quarter-trillionaire owner of the Washington Post, has shifted its editorial page rightward, but its reporters are still breaking important stories.

The paper reported on Thursday that the Coast Guard planned to categorize swastikas, nooses and Confederate flags as “potentially divisive” instead of hate symbols to “align with the Trump administration’s changing tolerances for hazing and harassment within the U.S. military.”

The article prompted such an uproar that the Coast Guard put those items back in the prohibited hate symbol category within hours, the Post said.

“Public outcry works,” a reader commented. “But only if the public is aware.”

And if we weren’t aware, the Trump/Project 2025 administration would have found it much easier to trample over us, leaving us all with much less reason to be thankful this year.  

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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