MY TURN: Regan’s ridiculous redux
Reading Regan’s ridiculous Trump redux of July 14, one can see just how hard he’s trying.
Perhaps he believes that if he screams “Hunter Biden’s Laptop” loudly enough into his “My Pillow” it will turn out that every felony Trump is being indicted for will disappear.
Let’s examine his claims about Trump and the economy, for instance. Annualized growth in the average of real gross domestic product, and real gross domestic income from first quarter to the last quarter under Trump was 1.8%. Under Biden, growth is almost double at 3.3%.
I also question Regan’s delusional belief that the legal repercussions Trump is facing for his outrageous attempt to overthrow the government, consciously and selfishly denying the results of the most-scrutinized election in history of the United States, amount to an “inquisition.”
That kind of inflammatory language is typical of Regan and the John Birch Society. Most of the statements Regan makes in his Trump Redux screed are vast simplifications, broad overstatements and/or outright lies.
Speaking of lies and inflammatory language, take for example his comment that “ … it is the underlying agenda of the Biden administration to beat down and humiliate a proud America.” Do you really believe Biden spent his entire life in public service in order to beat down his own country?
It’s because of their extremism that the JBS consistently hides behind some other organization. They can’t get the membership they seek unless they declare themselves “Republicans” or disguise themselves as “America First” or the so-called “Idaho Freedom Foundation.”
Have you ever wondered exactly what’s “free” about JBS thinking? The JBS thinks that democracy is mob rule (Not much freedom there). Robert Welch, the founder of the JBS, was so extreme that he believed that Eisenhower was a communist. Over the years, the JBS has opposed federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, public education, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, sex education in public schools, fluoride in water supplies, and American military intervention overseas. In other words, they won’t support struggling democracies — like that of the war torn and beleaguered Ukrainian people.
Why should JBS members care? They don’t even believe in American democracy, let alone another country’s attempt to escape oppression. And if you’re receiving Social Security and Medicare, a Bircher is likely to call you a communist. Any of you United States military veterans feel like being called a communist?
The truth about Trump is that he has a demonstrated record of shady and fraudulent business practices. Long before the current and multiple charges against him, he faced fraud charges regarding his shady charity (forced to close) and his fake university (forced to return tuition). Trump is currently using campaign donations to pay his legal fees. He is now and always has been a conman. He isn’t running for office because he has a grand vision for America. He’s running for the presidency because he hopes it will keep him out of jail. Mr. Regan, you must have very little common sense to support a second Trump presidential bid.
Much like their beloved Trump, Birchers don’t have a solid understanding of government nor of how to achieve cogent policy. They come to destroy the government, not to save it. As Bill Barr, Trump’s former Attorney General, pointed out in a recent interview on C-SPAN, “[Trump] does not have the discipline, he does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking or setting priorities, or how to get things done in the system. It is a horror show when he’s left to his own devices. You may want his policies, but Trump will not deliver his policies. He will deliver chaos.”
The same is true for the JBS. They’re just like delinquents that throw rocks through windows or write rude epithets on walls, but instead these vandals threaten our community institutions with ruin. The JBS would also throw away democracy itself for a fool like Trump who wants to rule as a dictator.
Regan’s acolytes lied and bullied their way on to NIC’s board and on to the library board. And, like Trump, they only deliver misery and chaos. The only “deep state” we must contend with now is the John Birch Society’s deep state of antipathy toward constructive governance.
No, Mr. Regan, you and your JBS buddies have already shown your intentions and so has Trump. There will be no Trump redux and with any luck the JBS will fade away here in Idaho as Americans recognize it as a hate-filled and dysfunctional organization that cannot govern.
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Ethel Steinmetz Marmont is a Coeur d'Alene resident.