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Congressman Should Not Support Trump

Editor, News-Register:

Recently I wrote our first Congressional District representative, David McKinley, posing a very simple question that seems to have been either ignored or glossed over by your newspaper: Do you or do you not support and endorse Donald J. Trump for president of the United States? The first response I received from our congressman was curiously evasive and failed to address this rather straightforward inquiry.

I responded to what I referred to as a “nice dodge” by once again asking the same question. On July 15, 2016, I finally received my answer — sort of. The congressman’s second letter to me stated, in part:

“In interviews and meeting throughout the First District I have continued to express my support for the Republican nominee for the President of the United States. Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, and I will honor my word. We must unite behind our nominee to ensure conservative values can help shape the future of this great nation.”

While it is apparent that McKinley “supports” Trump, when it came to the issue of “endorsement” of him, McKinley curiously and cryptically replied:

“While I appreciate hearing the opinions and concerns my constituents have regarding our nation’s future, current U.S. laws forbid me to utilize my legislative resources to engage in any type of campaign activity. These laws are designed to protect effective and appropriate use of your tax dollars. As such, I may not use my official resources to promote or endorse any candidate in an electoral capacity.”

The question still remains: Do you, Congressman, give your full-throated endorsement to this man or do you not? Can you not tell the people of Northern West Virginia where you stand? Are you the only member of Congress who is constrained from endorsing a candidate due to some obscure law to which others do not adhere? Certainly your fellow congressmen who have given ringing endorsements of Trump must follow the same laws as you.

From McKinley’s response (typical political gobbledygook), the answer is not clear; however, a clarification is important of which all of McKinley’s constituents should be apprised. Here is why.

Donald Trump has proven himself ad nauseam by his actions, words and deeds to be a disgrace to our nation and unfit to be called the president of the United States. His insults to women as “pigs,” “slobs” and “dogs,” who would be a “pretty picture” “dropping to your knees,” to war heroes, alive and fallen, to Muslims, Mexicans and African-Americans clearly demonstrate his deep-seated character flaws of racism, sexism and severe lack of empathy. Now, the latest revelation is that he brags about hs sexual abusive treatment of women. “Locker room talk,” he calls it.

Amazing as it may seem, on Oct. 11, 2016, I called Congressman McKinley’s office in Washington to inquire whether his position had changed after the recent release of Trump’s hot-mike recorded comments on how he treats women. McKinley’s office informed me that his position had not changed.

Trump is a nihilistic, narcissistic, xenophobic bigot who believes thar he, and he alone, is able to solve the world’s myriad problems while lacking the basic understanding of world politics and history. His calling for NATO countries to pay up or not be defended by the treaty alliance is tremendously destabilizing to world peace and threatens our relationship with long-established allies and friends. He claims he knows more about ISIS than the generals while he gains superior knowledge from “the shows.”

This all brings me to my point. If David McKinley is throwing his support and endorsement behind this brand of person who aspires to be the leader of our country and the free world, does he possess the character and judgement to be our representative in Congress? Is his pledge to stand behind Trump’s “values” to “shape the future of this great nation” reassuring and comforting to us or is it disqualifying?

Charles Blow, op-ed columnist for the New York Times, put it much better than I. He said, “Trump is a mirror, He is a reflection of — indeed a revealing of — the ugliness that you harbor, only it is possible that you may have gone your life expressing it in ways that were more coded and politic.” Is McKinley, in fact, that reflection in that mirror to which Mr. Blow alludes? If he continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with Trump, this may well be true. By continuing his support of the Republican nominee, he lends credence to the fact that he is such a reflection and not worthy of the office he now holds.

McKinley is laying low on the question of his endorsement of Trump. David Brooks, conservative columnist, on this topic recently said, “there comes a time when neutrality and laying low become dishonorable. If you’re not in revolt, you’re in cahoots. When this period and your name are mentioned, decades hence, your grandkids will look away in shame.”

McKinley’s wishy-washy response to my straightforward question as to his endorsement of a Trump presidency is no more than an attempt to lay low. I hope his grandkids will be students of history and ask him at some time in the future the simple question: Why?

William E. Parsons II

Wheeling

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