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by\u00a0John B Alexander<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friday, February 21, 2025\u00a0(DailyKos.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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There are no greater cowards than the Republican members of Congressional House of Representatives and the US Senate. Collectively they have betrayed the American people and forsaken all of the real heroes who gave their lives to protect our freedom. Knowingly, they relinquished their constitutionally mandated responsibilities and placed fealty to an individual above any sense of loyalty to their oath of office or personal integrity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With unfettered hypocrisy the new Trump Administration rebukes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to the point of erasing American history<\/a>, while endorsing their quixotic version of meritocracy. Compounded by the unconscionable cowardice of the GOP members of the Senate, they have ratified the single least qualified Cabinet in modern U.S. history. Hegseth as Secretary of Defense<\/a> was the first. A Fox News second-stringer with no successful experience in organizational leadership, and only low-level military experience, was nominated over tens of thousands of better qualified people. Similarly, Tulsi Gabbard<\/a> has no intelligence experience, is considered a national security risk and yet became the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Again, there were tens of thousands of better qualified individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other key positions, Republicans confirmed Russell Vought<\/a>, an author of the USG destroying Project 2025, to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Ceding the burgeoning renewable energy advances to China, they approved a petroleum executive, Chris Wright, as the Secretary of Energy<\/a>, and anti-environmentalist Lee Zeldin<\/a> as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Then WWE executive with no experience in education<\/a>, Linda McMahon, was nominated and approved to be the secretary of Education. Her assigned mission is to eliminate the entire Department of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the most egregious nominations, yesterday (20 Feb) Kash Patel was approved to become the director of the FBI, an organization he has openly disparaged. Despite the fact that he published an enemies list, and stated he would close the Hoover Building <\/a>on his first day and make it a museum, the GOP cowards approved his nomination. Under the control of a criminal POTUS<\/a>, the damage Patel is likely to do to the FBI<\/a> is immeasurable. His immediate boss, Trump sycophant AG Pam Bondi, has already signaled the Department of Justice is no longer independent. Her inappropriate actions have already resulted in the resignations of several lawyers with personal integrity. Notably, Trump lied about those lawyers being Biden appointees who would have been fired anyway. Actually, Acting US Attorney of the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon,<\/a> was one he appointed. The others were nonpartisan career DOJ employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, every GOP senator who voted to confirm Trump\u2019s incompetent nominees did so knowingly betraying the country. Some may try to evade their culpability of betrayal by claiming they didn\u2019t know those nominees\u2019 background. If so, those senators are too ignorant to hold office and immediately should resign in disgrace. Of special note should be Mitch McConnell who did vote against Hegseth and Gabbard, two of the least qualified cabinet nominees in American history. He should not be lauded for his protest votes, as he is personally responsible for most current conflagration of the U S Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The silence of the cowards is deafening as Trump himself parrots<\/a> the position of declared war criminal, Vladimir Putin, that it was Ukraine that caused the invasion of their country. Then Trump, himself a military coward, falsely claimed that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a dictator<\/a><\/strong>– a comment more akin to his own actions. As an extreme warning to all Americans, on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump posted \u201cLong live the King.\u201d That was followed by a picture on Musk\u2019s X platform of Trump wearing a crown<\/a>. A note to all MAGA supporters, he is not kidding! Again, the silence of the cowards is deafening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Trump supporters were na\u00efve and gullible enough to believe they were voting for lower egg prices and cheaper gas, they were actually voting to support Putin\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine <\/strong>as Cadet Bone Spurs again capitulated to an adversary and spouted his talking points. Remember it was under Trump\u2019s first administration that that he ceded Afghanistan to the Taliban.<\/strong><\/a> Trump did so without including the existing Government of Afghanistan or our NATO allies. Similarly, Trump\u2019s minions are directly negotiating with Putin\u2019s consiglieres in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia without either our European allies<\/a> or the Ukrainians<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The damage that Trump has done to the United States literally is incalculable. As a nation, America is run by cowards<\/strong>. We are completely unreliable to honor any treaties or agreements, even those that have kept us safe for seven decades<\/a>. There was a slim plurality of MAGA voters that elected Trump and installed bodies of cowards in both the House of Representatives and Senate. Inexplicably those narrow election wins are referred to as \u201cmandates\u201d or \u201cdecisive,\u201d or \u201cthe people have spoken,\u201d when none of those are true statements<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am aware that many other people are ringing the alarms. Some also categorize the GOP Senators as cowards, which they most certainly are. Everyone who recognizes what is occurring as the nation is being dissected by incompetent tech bros<\/em> led by a foreign adversary who not only bought an election<\/a>, has a personal relationship with Putin<\/a>, bought a country, and nearly doubled his personal wealth<\/a>.<\/strong> That, while his tech savvy, but uneducated DOGE bandits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Unknowingly fired US nuclear weapons experts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Fired infectious disease experts <\/a>as an epidemic is unfolding<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Fired VA personnel involved with suicide prevention<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – <\/a>Eviscerated USAID<\/a>, leaving millions at health risk, undermining decades of soft power<\/em> efforts, and opening the door for China<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Falsely reported there are many people over 150 years old receiving Social Security<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Moved to cut Medicare telemedicine visits<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Cut the NIH research on Alzheimer\u2019<\/a>s & Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/p>\n\n\n\n – With a backlog of 3.7M case, last week DOJ fired immigration judges<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Reduced the FAA<\/a> during a spate of plane crashes<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Cut NOAA personne<\/a>l that provides weather information to local stations<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Cut the Consumer Financial Protection <\/a>Agency that helps protect people against scams<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Reduced the National Park Service staff<\/a> closing some facilities<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Reduced IRS employees impacting legitimate refunds<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Reduced the Social Security Administration staff <\/a>while making wild and unfounded claims about the savings<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Defense (DoD) is in grave jeopardy as the nonpartisan senior leadership has been threatened.<\/strong> Both, C, JCS GEN Charles Q. Brown<\/a> (who is black), and CNO ADM Lisa Franchetti (a female) <\/a>are seen as DEI hires by Hegseth<\/a> and Trump. They are being threatened, along with several other flag officers on Hegseth\u2019s list to be fired<\/strong><\/a>, as there is desire to implant ones who pledge fealty to Trump, not the US Constitution, a pledge which Trump himself personally frequently violates. (Note GEN CQ Brown was fired<\/a> the same day this was published) (CNO ADM Franchetti has also been fired)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, before the election several senior flag officers who had worked closely under Trump, spoke out publicly warning the nation that he was unfit for office<\/a><\/strong>. Those included GEN John Kelly, GEN Jim Mattis, GEN Mark Milley and Lt.Gen. H.R. McMaster. There were many other highly respected senior flag officers observing Trump and raising concerns, such as ADM William McRaven, GEN Stan McChrystal, ADM Eric Olson and many others. While recognizing that senior military officers often refrain from political commentary, the current situation is so dire it is incumbent on every one of them with a voice to speak out as Trump and Hegseth openly move to politicize the entire DoD. <\/strong><\/em>Even as threats mount, Hegseth threatened mass firings of DoD civilians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence is complicity. <\/strong> That applies to every Republican elected official at every level of government. There is no such thing as a moderate Republican. There is no conservative loyal opposition party. The former Republican Party does not exist<\/strong>, except as a contractual entity with a post office address. All participants of the GOP pay tribute to a self-aggrandizing monarch<\/em><\/strong>; one who told voters he would be a dictator. <\/strong> That is a promise he is keeping. They are all cowards who fear the wrath of that dictator who is supported by an unelected, extremely rich, foreign-born adversary, who threatens elected GOP representatives with primary opponents if they do not comply with all of Trump edicts. We all saw what they did to Senator Joni Ernst<\/a> of Iowa, when she questioned the nomination of completely unqualified Pete Hegseth. As both a retired military officer and a coward, Ernst capitulated, relinquished her integrity, and voted to confirm. The pressure can be great. For inspiration they should cross the Potomac River and visit Arlington Cemetery where real heroes reside. Interred forever they are betrayed by the GOP cowards.<\/strong> Once there those GOP officials should beg for undeserved forgiveness for their cowardice and damage they have inflicted on this nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is long past time to hear about what the elected Republicans \u201care saying in private.\u201d They are all cowards and complicit in the demise of American Democracy. They must be held accountable.<\/strong> The time to act is now. Contact them constantly, then vote them out of office. As the signs say in athletic stadiums GET LOUD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The silence of the cowards must end.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n End note:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazingly when I was searching for information about CNOs I came across this navy history web site.<\/a> Listing all the CNOs, it fails to mention ADM Franchetti. Instead, it states her predecessor, ADM Michael Gilday, as CNO \u201cfrom 2019 to the present.\u201d In fact, ADM Gilday retired in 2023, and ADM Franchetti was confirmed by the Senate and assume command on 14 August 2023. Personally, I do not believe that to be an inadvertent mistake,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by\u00a0John B Alexander Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.) Friday, February 21, 2025\u00a0(DailyKos.com) There are no greater cowards than the Republican members of Congressional House of Representatives and the US Senate. Collectively they have betrayed the American people and forsaken all of… Continue reading