Pep talk on military manliness turned into an appalling threat to U.S. citizens | Opinion

Fitness tips from Defense Secretary Hegseth

At a time when the deficit is out of control, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned top-ranking military officers from around the world to listen to a rehash of President Donald Trump’s grievances and a pep talk about manliness in the military. This meeting would have been bad enough as a waste of taxpayer money, but it also contained something far more appalling, a statement by Trump that the military should start using U.S. cities as training grounds.

I have lived under every president since President Ike Eisenhower, but I have never seen any other president who showed so much open hatred toward American cities or the people who live in them. I fear that it is only a short step between sending troops to “train” and using them to kill his perceived enemies.

Our founding fathers knew all too much about the dangers of a leader willing to deploy his military forces against his own people. They had a lot to say about it in the Declaration of Independence. All members of the military, and indeed all Americans, must ask themselves whether we really want to take ourselves back to Colonial days, when a tyrant sent troops to kill his citizens.

Meg Upchurch, Lexington

Dysfunctional reality

Only in this dysfunctional reality that exist in today’s America can a Vietnam draft dodger tell career soldiers on how to be soldiers. Guess the 82 percent of Congress that have never served have no problem with it.

Bob Sutton, Springfield

Defense Secretary defends Wounded Knee

U.S. Sen. Elizbeth Warren, D-Mass., has the right idea to criticize U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for wanting to glorify the U.S. soldiers who took part in the Wounded Knee Massacre. It was one of the most shameful moments in U.S. history when some 200 Native Americans, mainly women and children, were savagely murdered. Hegseth believes it is appropriate to reach back to 1890 to stir up a horrendous scandal!

We are dealing with the current far-right administration where people like Vice President JD Vance set forth nationalist “Blood-and-Soil” rhetoric that evokes the concept of Manifest Destiny, a term Vance has not actually used, but one with which he seems to identify. Hegseth is clearly even more outlandish in his recent statements, and should be condemned. His implication is that these soldiers are heroes and deserve their medals—it’s frightening and disgusting. We see to what level of cruelty the MAGA movement has descended.

Michael Preston Worley, Lexington

Trump UN speech

If Jimmy Kimmel simply read President Donald Trump’s United Nations speech on air before Trump gave it, his monologue might have been his most brilliant satire. When Trump actually gave his speech there was nothing funny about it. Besides embarrassing the United States on the world stage, one must wonder how many marbles the incredibly self-centered Trump has lost. He is certainly a greater risk to the future of the U.S. than a senile Joe Biden. Yet most Republican candidates for the 2026 elections are vying for office based on who can hold the Trump banner higher. If incumbent and aspiring Republicans persist in their lemming-like pursuit of “leader” Trump their party will ultimately plunge over the political precipice! They will have left America and the planet a crueler and dangerously hotter place.

Meanwhile, we voters must insist our leaders provide a persuasive vision of a more equitable, sustainable, caring, respectful, and internationally collaborative America. We must also realize that achieving such goals requires civic engagement, sacrifice and courage. It means resisting the balm of problem-denial, the fear that we can’t make a difference, and the retreat offered by a world of 24/7 entertainment. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less!

T. Kerby Neill, Lexington

Erosion of justice

Via social media over the weekend of Sept 20-21, President Donald Trump shamed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for not indicting former FBI director James Comey. Later, Erik Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was fired because he had dared conclude that there was insufficient evidence to indict and convict Comey. Then, Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s personal defense attorney, was hired to replace Siebert. By the end of the week, Comey was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice. At only two double-spaced pages, Halligan’s indictment is not only thin but rests on the flimsiest of evidence. It was signed only by her, an individual who has never been a prosecutor. For his part, Comey is eager to see trial, where a jury will surely throw out this mockery of justice.

The framers of our constitution intended our Department of Justice to be independent of the Executive Branch. The framers did not intend it to be used as a private weapon against the opponents of the president. The framers expected only leaders of good character. I imagine they are rolling in their graves with this most recent erosion of justice at such dizzying speed.

Kelli Carmean, Lexington

Medical tariffs

As a Kentuckian living with Type 1 diabetes, I am alarmed at how potential medical tariffs could impact people who depend on insulin. This medication is not optional — it is life-sustaining. For thousands of Kentuckians, insulin is the line between survival and tragedy.

Much of the world’s insulin is manufactured abroad or relies on ingredients that move across international borders. NovoLog, one of the most widely used insulins, is produced by Novo Nordisk in Denmark and North Carolina. If tariffs are placed on medicines or their components, the added costs will ultimately fall on patients at the pharmacy counter.

Kentucky families already know the crushing burden of high drug prices. Many face heartbreaking choices between paying for insulin or covering basic needs like housing, food, or gas. Imposing tariffs would only drive costs higher and worsen the crisis for diabetics in our state.

With nearly 15 percent of Kentucky adults affected by diabetes, one of the highest rates in the nation, we cannot afford policies that restrict access or increase costs. Our leaders must put people before politics and ensure affordable insulin remains available to every Kentuckian who needs it.

David Johnson, Richmond

FCPS budget

Congratulations on Matt Lockett, Donald Douglas & Chris McDaniel for calling on Superintendent Demetrus Liggins to resign. Obviously, there are 16 million reasons why!!! We pay enough in school taxes on our homes without Liggins spending OUR money on trips & not listening to advice on the budget. The lady they fired for calling out the expenditures should get his job!!!! If any of us mess up our jobs, we would get fired... why shouldn’t he get fired also?

Melanie Rhorer McCloud, Lexington

Illegal vapes

As a teacher, I welcomed the recent news that the U.S. Department of Justice seized millions of dollars’ worth of illegal vapes. After years of seeing these products turn up in schools, it is encouraging to see leaders finally tackling this crisis. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made clear that it won’t be business as usual. Here in Kentucky, U.S. Reps. Andy Barr, Brett Guthrie, Hal Rogers, and James Comer, all Republicans, have consistently pressed the executive branch, under both parties, to act.

The vaping crisis has escalated dramatically in recent years. These flavored devices are clearly illegal and deliberately marketed to children, and their presence in classrooms has become routine. Until now, meaningful enforcement had been absent. That has changed with the Trump Administration’s recent nationwide raids, resulting in more than two million illegal vaping products seized – and out of our schools.

Classrooms should be safe spaces for learning, not front lines in the fight against illegal vapes. By acting to keep these products out of children’s hands, federal and state leaders are sending the right message.

Doug Ponder, Hardyville

Election funding

With over three decades of experience supporting military service members, first responders, and the operators of our nation’s most critical infrastructure, I have seen firsthand what it takes to protect the systems that millions of Americans rely on every day. This includes our nation’s elections. That is why I’m encouraging our federal lawmakers to support robust federal funding for election security.

Like any critical infrastructure, our elections demand consistent investment and strategic foresight. In today’s complex global climate, U.S. elections are becoming much more vulnerable to foreign cyberattacks and other global threats. As diplomatic tensions rise around the world, so does the likelihood of attacks aimed at undermining public trust in American elections. These threats often exploit vulnerable entry points such as voter registration databases, election management software, or internal communications systems.

Election officials across the county need strong, consistent federal support to defend against real and evolving threats. But in recent years, there has been a decline in funding. I encourage lawmakers, including Kentucky’s federal lawmakers, to support a return to a $400 million investment in this year’s appropriations package, as was done in 2018 and 2020.

Sheri Donahue, Louisville

German martyr

Horst Wessel was a young man in Germany in the 1920s who joined the Nazi Party. When he was killed in 1930, party leaders turned him into a martyr, and a song he wrote became their anthem. His story shows how extremist movements elevate individuals into symbols to spread ideology.

History doesn’t repeat itself exactly, but it often rhymes. Our community must stay mindful of how propaganda works, and choose compassion, truth, and unity over division.

Stephanie Dunaway, Ashland

Public broadcasting

So, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr wants to run for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. In hopes of improving his chances to be elected Barr has declared that he is all in on the MAGA agenda, which includes tariffs replacing the income tax, a ridiculous fantasy concocted by a senile President Donald trump. The MAGA agenda also includes defunding any government program that provides assistance to average citizens, and following the propaganda of the Heritage Foundation, such as the notorious Project 2025, that we all somehow benefit if rich people are made richer.

That means Barr also agrees with Trump unilaterally deciding to defund PBS and NPR. So, Barr agrees with Trump that he doesn’t want to learn anything from Kentucky Educational Television, probably the best educational PBS network in the country, or any of the NPR stations in Kentucky, including our local stations WUKY and WEKU.

Barr probably doesn’t know that KET also allows the Kentucky Emergency Response team to use the KET network of transmission towers to broadcast instructions during bad weather alerts. Trump also wants to defund FEMA, so I guess there won’t be future bad weather alerts.

Too bad for those people in Eastern Kentucky in flood prone regions.

Kevin Kline, Lexington

Edited by Liz Carey