President Donald Trump recently tweeted that a 75-year-old peace activist injured by the police “could be an ANTIFA provacateur” — an egregious statement that originated with a “journalist” who has connections to the Kremlin-funded newspaper Sputnik.
Like other Republican senators, ours dodged any comment about this. Sen. Dan Sullivan, when asked about the tweet, said he would see it when he saw it. Willful blindness at its best! Sen. Lisa Murkowski took the side of Gen. James Mattis when he expressed concern about our dear leader, and said she struggles with the decision of whether to support Trump. Struggles?
Our one and only representative in the House voted - as instructed by the party - against oversight of the massive funds allocated for small business, some of which ended up in the coffers of large corporations. This created outrage, so it was brought up again. He didn’t even show up for a second vote on the issue.
They all should heed a statement by Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. When asked if she worried that her actions standing up against the recent violent clearing of peaceful protesters would incur the wrath of the Republicans in the Senate, she said, “every anxiety that you can imagine, or every concern that you can possibly think of, I’ve had. At the end of the day I had to do what’s morally right, legally right, and it turns out those things are also politically right.”
She is right. Maybe someday we'll have that kind of leadership.
Jim Thiele
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.