Reps. Barr and Comer: Please join your colleagues in fighting back against Trump | Opinion

We are at the one-year point of President Trump’s second term. And what a chaotic, troubling last few weeks we have had!

Rand Paul and Thomas Massie, thank you for your courage in standing up to Trump. We need to see even more resistance from you.

Mitch McConnell, we still have hope for you. You held the line following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021. Please speak out against what you know is very wrong for our country.

Andy Barr, never an independent thought as you seek the President’s endorsement for the KY Senate seat. And the plot thickens as Elon Musk dumps $10 million into Nate Morris’ campaign.

And James Comer, I read your editorial in the Herald-Leader for a Convention to pass a Constitutional Amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. We have enough political turmoil right now without adding more fuel to the fire. You need to focus your House Oversight hearings on requiring the DOJ to release all the Epstein files.

We must flood our Kentucky representatives’ phones, mail and email with our messages to stop the Trump Administration’s illegal power grabs:

• Only 1 % of the Epstein files have been released by the Justice department even though Congress passed a law that all the files be released by Dec. 19, 2025.
• Former Special Counsel Jack Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he found ample evidence to convict Trump for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. 
• The US military struck Venezuela and captured its president followed by Trump’s assertion that the US will run Venezuela for an unspecified period. The US has already sold $500 million of Venezuelan oil and plans to keep the proceeds in Qatar rather than in US banks. 
• Having control of Venezuela’s government is not enough – now Trump wants to acquire Greenland, and says he will do whatever it takes to take control of this territory, NATO be damned.  Trump announced a 10% tariff on goods from eight NATO countries opposing US control of Greenland until they approve a US takeover.  And Trump claims petulantly that he is demanding Greenland because he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• The unjustified killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, who, in one moment, smilingly told the ICE officer, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.”  Then that officer’s shots rang out, and Renee Good was dead. Quickly, Trump, the Vice President, and Secretary of Homeland Security defended her killing by calling Ms. Good a “domestic terrorist.” The ICE agent is currently not facing charges, and the incident may not be objectively investigated.
• Adding salt to the grievance of her death, other ICE shootings and multiple harassments of citizens and immigrants alike continue in Minneapolis.  Now the Department of Justice (perhaps it should be called the Department of Retribution) announced subpoenas for the Minnesota governor and Minneapolis mayor who have supported citizens’ peaceful demonstrations.

Is it just my imagination that the horrific acts of the Trump Administration in the past few weeks may have been a way to distract from the Epstein files and Jack Smith’s damning testimony? Are you concerned about the executive branch overpowering our legislative and judicial branches of power?

The Republican majority in Congress seem afraid to do their job, providing few guardrails on the Mad King’s power grabs. Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, we need to hear your voices loud and clear condemning the Venezuelan attack, ICE overreach in Minneapolis, and Trump’s demand for Greenland. And Rep. Andy Barr, grow a spine and do what you know is right.

Jeanette Coufal is an unpaid activist and retired Lexington professor whose last position was in Ethiopia.

This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 12:44 PM.