Why Trump?

To the editor:

Eric Meyer hits all the right notes in his Dec. 11 editorial asking will we save democracy.

We are in perilous times. The free press with open access to the facts is critical for our survival. Sunshine disinfects. Long live the Marion County Record.

But I am puzzled and am striving to understand what democracy has given us.

From my far off perch in Florida and since the raid on the Record, I have been following the many goings and comings of my new neighbors in Marion County.

I think I know much more about them now than my neighbors in Marion County, Florida, only 70 miles up the road.

They bring sharply to mind all the good friends I made long ago while at college and living in Kansas City.

I now have new Kansas neighbors whom I would like to know even better.

When you can gather together regularly for “bull sessions” about any number of subjects, as I did with my college friends, you really know them.

Even when opinions were vastly different, our discussions were not angry. Often, after reflection, opinions changed. Back then, I was open-minded, seeking answers.

If I were in Marion today, sitting around at the Wagon Wheel or CB’s, I would love to have a civil “bull session” about political views.

I noted that the presidential vote in Marion County was 3 to 1 for Trump. Considering what I think of Donald Trump, this truly mystifies me.

But knowing that I probably could not find any better representation of solid, good-hearted, down-to-earth people than exist in Marion County, I would love to understand how this could be.

I expect that the general climate in Kansas is conservative, and that does not trouble me. We need well-reasoned and argued positions on both sides of the political spectrum to ultimately reach a workable compromise.

To me, that is democracy functioning at its best. But I am truly concerned with what has become of the Republican Party.

In my own state, I had great hopes for my senator, Marco Rubio.

He exhibited intellect and a well-stated conservative position. He was young and attractive and seemed to me hold a lot of promise for the Republican Party that existed only 10 years ago.

In 2016, as a candidate for president, he stated in a CNN interview:

“If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, we’re going to have a party that’s divided. We’re going to have a party that’s going to have to somehow justify to itself why it’s voting for this man. I think it’s hard to win an election with a nominee like that….

“Donald Trump has been perhaps the most vulgar — no; I don’t think, perhaps — the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency in terms of how he’s carried out his candidacy.”

But then Trump prevailed, calling Rubio “Little Marco.”

I wrote to Senator Rubio several times asking him to exhibit some political courage and stand up for his positions. He never responded and fell in line behind Trump.

I can only conclude he put his career and political power over principle.

Very similar quotes could be set out for now vice president-elect J. D. Vance and many others. What has happened to political courage?

What Rubio foretold in 2016 has come to pass, except that the Republican Party of 2016 has not been divided as much as consumed.

A wolf in Republican clothing has appeared and devoured it. This new Trumpublican Party leader wants to be a king whose word is law — to wit, a dictator. In many ways, he seems to be getting away with it.

What I see in news photos today brings starkly to mind the photos I have seen of almost 100 years ago in Italy: Trump standing with a smug look on his face, head tilting back, chin thrust out, with everything except the military uniform of Benito Mussolini.

So I would love to sit with my Marion neighbors and listen and learn. What do they really think of our new president in their hearts? Do they like and admire him? If so, why? I truly want to know.

C. Andrew Coomes
Orlando, Florida