Mitch McConnell has done the bidding of MAGA so far. Now it’s time for him to resist | Opinion
Resist, Mitch
Dear Senator McConnell - This is your moment. It is time to put country above party, to put America above all.
You’ve done the bidding of MAGA. You stole Supreme Court nominees from President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden, then gave President Donald Trump a Supreme Court he thinks will do his bidding. You refused to have a trial after Trump’s second impeachment, thus allowing him to return to power.
And after all of this, you were still booed at the Republican Convention.
You owe Trump and the MAGA movement nothing. You owe the past, present and future Americans an America that can make us all proud. MAGA is not making America great. MAGA is destroying America. Please do what you can to stop Trump’s most extreme and unqualified nominees for Cabinet appointments.
Debbie Bogenschutz, Ludlow
Ditch Mitch
Let’s now watch U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) go into his faux stateman role acting as if he is truly worried about the country’s future. This man is a true Machiavellian looking for his next opportunity to claim he’s a champion for the people’s will. I guess he missed the last Republican election where he didn’t really endorse the presidential winner.
His political skills are outdated, arcane and lacking in utility in this modern age. He should do Kentucky a big favor and step aside before he gets more “egg on his face.” Conservatives appreciate his yeoman work on judicial appointments but his usefulness has run its course. Stephen Vincent Benet once wrote, “We thought we were done with these things but were wrong. We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.” McConnell like U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and President Joe Biden are all old politic windbags more concerned about turf influence than doing the right thing for the American people they supposedly serve! Former Ky. Atty. General Daniel Cameron, U.S. Reps. Andy Barr or James Comer (both R-Ky.) could step in and bring new energy, vitality and innovation to an important position that’s grown dusty with age.
“Ditch Mitch” was once a Democratic slogan that has now become a mantra for an entire state.
Robert Adams, Lexington
Trump’s economy
The myth of President-Elect Donald Trump’s great first term economy was a decisive factor in his recent re-election. However, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 14 presidents preceding Trump’s first term shows his economy was the worst since President Herbert Hoover at the start of the Great Depression. Trump’s GDP was slightly lower than President Barack Obama’s and the data shows Trump’s economy had just been a continuation of Obama’s economy with no improvement during Trump’s first 3 years. In his fourth year Trump’s GDP was a dismal -1 percent. The first president since Hoover to have a negative GDP for a whole year. This while he was making claims in his campaign rallies that he had created “the greatest economy in the history of the world.”
Trump’s GDP was worse than any of his 13 predecessors going back to Hoover, even though Trump continually claims that he has done more than any of them. But Trump and the right-wing media have created this myth without data to back up the boast. The data does show that the GDP during President Joe Biden’s one term was 5.10 percent better than Trump’s “greatest economy in the history of the world.”
Kevin Kline, Lexington
Trump’s immigrants
President Elect Donald Trump loves immigrants.
1) His wife is an immigrant.
2) His best friend, Elon Musk, is an immigrant.
3) His golf course workers are immigrants.
4) An immigrant helped him hide stolen documents.
5) He killed the immigration bill in the House.
He was just puffing, not lying, about removing immigrants. He just needed your vote and it worked but no reward for you, just for Trump.
David J Bowles, Lexington
Role model
How many times have we heard those who voted for President-Elect Donald Trump say, “I am not voting for him to date my daughter.” That’s where we are right now. We’re allowing people with a deranged sense of entitlement to not only make deviancy acceptable, but to completely negate the basic principles of trust and accountability (not a reach in a world where truth has no meaning). There are literally tens of millions who will not only cheer this deviancy as “What the country needs these days” but will emulate the behavior of their cult hero at school board meetings, from the stands at ballgames, in line at the grocery store and on the streets.
That’s where we are right now.
Jim Porter, Danville
Cabinet Farm
I have devised a little game I’ll start playing on Jan. 20, 2025. I’ll match up the character and names of some of the folks in our federal government with the character and names of the animals and men, such as “Napoleon,” “Squealer” and “Mr. Jones,” who appear in the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. This game should be a good test of my ability to follow current events over the next four years. We’ll see how I do come November of 2028!
Edgar Iwamoto, Lexington
Fostering peace
As a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I want to emphasize the importance of unity and collective well-being following the election of President Elect Donald Trump. Regardless of personal opinions, it is our duty to pray for the guidance and success of our elected leaders, that they may lead us toward peace and prosperity.
The Holy Qur’an states: “Allah commands you to make over the trusts to those entitled to them, and that when you judge between men, you judge with justice (4:59).” It is vital that we place our trust in the democratic process and pray that our leaders act justly for the betterment of all citizens.
Our community’s motto, “Love for All, Hatred for None,” reminds us to rise above division and work together for a harmonious society. Let us focus on building a nation where compassion and justice prevail, praying that our leadership fosters unity, understanding, and progress.
Faizan Ahmed, Lexington
Inflammatory claims
An open letter to State Reps. Jarod Bauman (R-Louisville), Kevin Bratcher (R-Louisville), Emily Callaway (R-Louisville), Ken Fleming (R-Louisville), John Hodgson (R-Louisville) and Susan Tyler Witten (R-Louisville); and State Sens. Julie Raque-Adams (R-Louisville), Lindsey Tichenor (R-Smithfield), Matthew Deneen (R-Elizabethtown), Michael Nemes (R-Shepherdsville), Adrienne Southworth (R-Lawrenceburg) and Senator-elect Aaron Reed (R-Shelbyville) — I read about your statement that what Jefferson County Public Schools Chief Equity Officer John Marshall wrote on his personal media account “is an outrageously inflammatory public statement for anyone in a civilized society to make.” However, I have looked and looked and did not find him saying anywhere that Haitians were “eating the dawgs, they’re eating the cats.”
When did John Marshall make such a false and outrageously inflammatory public statement? I must have missed it.
Ivonne Rovira, Louisville
Horse soring
Would you believe it if I told you some show horses have caustic chemicals painted on their legs and wear huge heavy shoes to make them do an exaggerated high-stepping gait that trainers call the “Big Lick?” Would you believe that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has FINALLY put an airtight ban on this “soring,” after decades of protests? And would you believe that trainers and show managers who profit from this cruelty are now suing the USDA to prevent implementation of the rule? Well, believe it. Soring has been against the law for 50 years, and there are inspectors, but trainers use anesthetic cream before inspections to mask the pain.
The shame for Kentuckians is that both our U.S. Senators and all but one of our U.S. Representatives refuse to support legislation that would firmly and finally ban the practice. The “Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST)” Act would bring serious penalties and trained, certified inspectors. It’s been passed twice in the House but U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed never to let it get voted on in the Senate, where a majority of senators actually co-sponsored it.
Hopefully, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will see things differently.
JoEllen Hayden , Lexington
Edited by Liz Carey