Posts published in “Jones”

April 12 saw the beginning of the unraveling of a chummy troika of strongman rule among Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Victor Orban and America’s Donald Trump. Over the past decade or so, each leader has been in a different stage of gaining complete control of all levers of power in their respective countries. Hungarian voters dealt Orban a massive election loss on the 12th, derailing his quest for unlimited power.

Putin began consolidating power in Russia after the turn of the century and achieved absolute control following his first invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Victor Orban started his journey to tyrannical rule upon being elected as Prime Minister of Hungary in 2010. He became Putin’s closest friend in the European Union and used the Russian tyrant’s playbook to tighten his grip over Hungary to the point of establishing a dictatorship.

Russia is a kleptocracy where Putin and his cronies have gained massive wealth through their control of the economy. Orban followed suit in Hungary. He helped his son-in-law, Mészáros L?rinc, become a billionaire. Not to be outdone, Donald Trump and his family have doubled their fortune to about $10 billion since his election in 2024. Trump is now negotiating with his own IRS to settle a seriously flawed lawsuit he filed against that agency to collect $10 billion. An obvious case of self-dealing.

Trump has been very close to both of the wealthy tyrants. He has consistently agreed with them on numerous things, including disparagement of NATO, Putin’s war against Ukraine and elevating the economic and political rights of the favored few.

What does a freedom-loving population do when it experiences its voting, economic and other precious rights being eroded away by a strongman. The Hungarians have shown the way–organize, demonstrate and vote. The April 12 emasculation of Orban was not a surprise to me. I was electrified by the Hungarian desire for freedom when I was just 14 years old.

There was great fear in America in the mid-50s about a potential war with the Soviet Union. Kids in school were drilled to respond to a Soviet atomic attack by hiding under their desks. When news came out that Hungarian students and factory workers had risen up against their Soviet masters in October of 1956, I was captivated and inspired. I studied every news report about the Hungarian Revolution and prayed mightily that the freedom fighters would win.

It first appeared that the revolution might succeed. Our Radio Free Europe had been urging the captive nations in Eastern Europe to throw off their Russian chains and we had implied that we would help. After that initial encouragement we did not lift a finger for them, which was absolutely heartbreaking for this 14-year-old. As it turned out, the Soviets responded with crushing force on November 4, 1956, killing thousands of brave Hungarians and installing a repressive leader.

That, however, is not the end of the story. I traveled to Hungary in 1964 to see how things stood. Almost everywhere I went, you could see that the embers of freedom were still burning. The guides, border guards and many folks on the street were friendly and pleased to see Americans. Some made guarded, but favorable, reference to the uprising. It was a marked contrast to the gloomy atmosphere and armed military presence I encountered in East Berlin and Czechoslovakia, which were also under Soviet occupation. While the uprising failed, the Soviets applied a lighter touch of suppression in Hungary because of it.

Hungary was finally freed of Russian control when the Soviet Union crumbled in December of 1991. The country enjoyed a period of democracy until Orban began turning it into a dictatorship. The legacy of the Hungarians’ desire for freedom gradually grew in response, resulting in Orban being cast from power by a two-thirds vote in the April election–too much to overturn with false claims of election fraud.

The other two members of the strongman troika should take heed. Putin has such a strong grip on power that it may be hard for Russians to topple him, although the populace has become restive because of the over million dead and wounded suffered in his Ukraine war. It is not too late, however, for Americans to take heart from the Hungarian freedom-lovers and forge our own rebirth of freedom during this 250th commemoration of our casting off the chains of the British monarch.

The US has a tradition of freedom more deeply ingrained than the good people of Hungary. Americans need to organize, resist and vote to reject the repressive agenda being imposed by America’s member of the strongman troika. If Idahoans can defeat Trump’s Idaho enablers–Senator Risch and Congressmen Fulcher and Simpson–we can undercut his hold on power. It’s all in the hands of Idaho’s freedom-loving voters.

 

A quiet, well-respected Republican Senator recently exhibited something extremely rare in present-day politics—leadership and courage. At a time when extremist political groups are doing their level best to shove money into the campaigns of culture warriors who will do their bidding, it is a calculated risk for honest legislative candidates to stand up for reasonable, responsible policies. There are more votes in getting people riled up over fake issues, than in responding to the actual needs of the public.

When a cut-to-bone budget bill that would hurt his rural constituents came to the Senate floor on March 13, Senator Jim Guthrie of McCammon knew he had to stand up and speak out to protect his people. Guthrie knew it was likely to pass but feared the damage it would inflict on working families in his district and across the state. His factual and impassioned speech brought the draconian bill to a screeching halt on a 10-25 vote, with 18 GOP Senators joining him in opposing it.

Among other things, Guthrie argued that the budget problem was largely “self-inflicted” because the Legislature dished out $450 million in tax cuts last year, then made additional tax cuts this year, and refused to use $1.7 billion in the state’s rainy day fund to fill the budget gap. He correctly pointed out that every agency, except the Legislature, was being cut. “We’re not taking a pay cut; we’re not compromising our benefits.”

Guthrie is certainly not a showboat, but he has a tremendous impact in his quiet way as Chair of the Senate State Affairs Committee. One of his jobs is to act as sort of a gate keeper to winnow out divisive, nonsensical pieces of legislation that are only introduced to score political points. That is a time-honored function of committee chairs. If there is adequate support for a bill, it can make its way to the Senate floor for a vote.

Guthrie has become a top target of the culture-war extremists. They have no use for legislators who refuse to bow to their will. The Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) gives Guthrie low ratings because he strongly supports Idaho’s public schools and higher education. Last year he voted against forcing taxpayers to subsidize private and religious schools, mostly in urban areas, to the tune of $50 million. His constituents get virtually nothing from this voucher scheme. He has also irked the IFF by standing up for farmers whose livelihoods depend on immigrant labor.

The culture war groups have been supporting a primary opponent who will do as they wish. David Worley, a Christian nationalist, is running against Guthrie in the May primary. His main claim to fame is being relieved of his command in the Idaho National Guard in September 2024. He was found by the Assistant Adjutant General of the National Guard to have demonstrated counterproductive leadership that reduced morale, eroded trust and showed little respect for others. An officer has no business trying to influence the religious views of the troops.

In January 2025, Worley filed a 138-page lawsuit against the National Guard and Governor Little, claiming religious discrimination. Worley’s attorneys included Liberty Counsel, often considered to be a Christian nationalist law group. The suit was filed in the federal court in Idaho, seeking reinstatement to his position and compensation. The Attorney General’s office, representing the Governor, asked the judge to dismiss the case because Worley’s claims were “based on a non-existent policy concocted by” Worley. The judge apparently agreed and issued an Order on February 12, dismissing the entire case.

Despite his staff’s dim view of Worley’s lawsuit, Attorney General Labrador has just endorsed Worley’s primary challenge against Guthrie. Labrador claims the guy who “concocted” a lawsuit against the state will, in his words, “bring integrity, courage, and common sense to the Senate.” More likely, Labrador shares the Christian nationalist views that Worley would bring to the Legislature.

It should not be forgotten that Labrador has cozied up with Christian nationalists since taking office three years ago. He has worked in tandem with a group much like Liberty Counsel to advance the Christian nationalist legal agenda. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been listed as a hate group, has teamed up with Labrador on several culture war lawsuits, which raises real ethical concerns.

Labrador’s endorsement of the opponent of a sitting Senator is also concerning. The Legislature is a client of the AG and individual members should not have to worry about the State’s top legal officer targeting them.

Despite the badmouthing by Labrador and Worley, I think Guthrie’s willingness to stand up for rural values will serve him well in the primary election. The voters are desperate for courageous public servants who are not afraid to demonstrate real leadership.

 

Idaho’s Attorney General circulated a political opinion piece on March 31, suggesting that babies born on US soil are not entitled to US citizenship if their parents are not lawfully residing in America at the time of birth. This is completely counter to the language of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, as well as a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court issued in 1898.

Labrador admitted as much in his opinion piece: “Automatic citizenship for anyone born on American soil, regardless of their parents’ legal status, has become so accepted that courts have treated it as settled law. Even I agreed with this interpretation for a while.” So, what could have changed Labrador’s mind? It was likely a royal edict, issued by that universally-recognized legal scholar, Donald J. Trump.

On January 20, 2025, Trump issued an executive order calling for an end to what is known as birthright citizenship. Almost immediately, Labrador snapped into line, claiming that he and the rest of us have all been wrong about our reading of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution all these many years. Labrador and 23 other Republican Attorneys General have asked the Supreme Court to overturn what has long been the well-established law of the United States.

The actual words of the Fourteenth Amendment are so clear that anyone with a basic understanding of English should be able to understand what they mean: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” It does not take a law degree to gather that almost every baby birthed on American soil is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. In its 1898 decision, the Supreme Court indicated that “children born of alien enemies in hostile occupation and children of diplomatic representatives of a foreign State” were not subject to US jurisdiction and not citizens.

These extremely narrow exceptions to birthright citizenship came to us from the English common law, which still applies in the US, except where changed by laws enacted since our country was born. As an example, an Idaho statute incorporates the common law, except where changed by federal or Idaho law.

Trump has falsely claimed that no other country has birthright citizenship, but all counties in North America and almost all in South America derived it from Western European countries and still observe it today.

The meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment comports with the vision of Abraham Lincoln’s administration, well before the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted on July 9, 1868. In November of 1862, Lincoln’s Attorney General, Edward Bates, issued a legal opinion stating: “Every person born in the country is, at the moment of birth, prima facie a citizen…without any reference to race or color, or any other accidental circumstance.”

Labrador’s opinion piece was published the day before the US Supreme Court heard arguments on the birthright citizenship issue. The Court appeared to throw cold water on Labrador’s flawed viewpoint. It was an uphill fight for the 24 GOP Attorneys General because there is no language in the Fourteenth Amendment that supports their contentions. It says nothing about the residence, domicile or allegiance of any parent. Citizenship is bestowed on the newborn merely because the birth took place on US soil.

Some would see Labrador as a bit of a curmudgeon for trying to deprive others of what he does not have–birthright citizenship. Those born in Puerto Rico have citizenship under a mere Congressional statute, rather than under the Constitution. The Jones-Shafroth Act, passed by Congress in 1917, granted statutory citizenship to residents of Puerto Rico. The underhanded purpose of the law was to make Puerto Rican men subject to being drafted for World War One.

That brings me to something that has puzzled me for quite some time. In an October 2024 Trump rally in Madison Square Garden, a so-called comedian famously called Puerto Rico a ”floating island of garbage.” That was a despicable, mean-spirited slur that had no place in public discourse. What was truly head scratching is that Labrador chose to dress himself in a garbage bag for Halloween a few days later. It demonstrated extremely poor taste. A person proud of his birthplace would normally call the culprit to account for his atrocious conduct, instead of appearing to go along with it.

While we are on the subject of Puerto Rico, it’s time the MAGA crowd stopped making that US territory the butt of jokes and start recognizing its value to the nation. Its citizens pay federal taxes, except for income derived on the island, and they send their sons and daughters to serve in the US military. About 227,000 have served since 1917 and more than 1,225 of those have died in that service. About 48,000 served in my war, Vietnam, and 357 of those died. Let’s quit trying to force Canada and Greenland to become part of the United States and offer that opportunity to a territory that has been with us through thick and thin since 1898. Puerto Ricans are entitled to voting representation in Congress and the right to vote in our presidential elections, if they so choose.

But, I digress. Getting back to the birthright citizen issue, it is close to a certainty that the Supreme Court will turn aside the effort of Trump and Labrador to destroy our birthright citizenship tradition. It has been the law of the country since 1868 and the only lawful way to change it is to amend the Constitution. An unlawful executive order won’t suffice.

 

As the 2026 session of the Legislature thankfully comes to a close, we can only hope that there will be enough turnover so that the ugly process is never repeated. One of the bills, which cut $131 million in necessary funding from a wide variety of programs, was aptly described by the House Majority Leader as a “crappy bill.” It passed, nevertheless, along with a number of other crappy appropriation bills.

There were several factors that contributed to the dysfunctional budget process–no real leadership from the Governor, a budget committee (JFAC) led by two city slickers from Eagle, a failure to seek meaningful input from affected parties and too many culture war JFAC members who were just fine with cutting state programs to the bone.

Governor Little initially called for a 3% across-the-board cut for all state budgets, except statewide elected officials, the courts and K-12 education, for the current fiscal year ending June 30. In its “crappy bill,”JFAC provided for 4% across-the-board cuts that included the state officials and courts. The court system was able to get some of its cuts restored, but the statewide officials were out of luck.

The Attorney General sought to have his cuts restored, correctly pointing out that 89% of the AG’s budget goes to staff compensation. The cuts would require salary cuts or layoffs. Even though I disagree with Mr. Labrador on a wide variety of issues, he is correct about the effect of the budget cuts on his office. Unfortunately, the Idaho House displayed no sympathy. A bill to restore funding for both 2026 and 2027 failed by a 33-37 vote. All 9 Democrats and 28 Republicans, including the Majority Leader, rejected his funding request. It indicates broad unhappiness with his legal performance.

What we are left with is a budget that will, among many other hurtful things, make significant cuts to Medicaid, hamper higher education, adversely impact a variety of essential programs and largely ignore the $100 million shortfall for special education.

After the Governor made his budget recommendation, he just sat on his hands and allowed JFAC and the Legislature to throw a budget together. He took the position that it was not his job to exercise leadership over the budgeting process. There are three things that Little could have done, were he not frightened of stepping on the toes of the MAGA crowd. He could have come out against adopting the tax cuts contained in the BIG Beautiful Billionaire Bill that Congress passed last year. Or, he could have asked that the tax rate of the higher earners in Idaho be slightly increased to partially make up for the $5 billion in tax cuts imprudently made over the last five years. Or, he could have dipped into the $1.3 billion in the state’s rainy day funds. He chose to do nothing.

It used to be the case that rural legislators presided over the Legislature’s budget writing committee (JFAC), making sure to equitably fund both urban and rural needs in Idaho. When I was Attorney General, it was Rep. Mack Neibaur of Paul and Sen. Atwell Parry of Melba. In more recent years, it was Rep.Maxine Bell of Jerome and Sen. Shawn Keough of Sandpoint. They had a thorough understanding of taxing and spending issues and exercised leadership in getting the best bang for the bucks.

The JFAC co-chairs, Sen. Scott Grow and Rep. Josh Tanner are both residents of Eagle and don’t seem to have an appreciation of the needs of rural Idaho. For instance, both voted for the education tax credit bill last year that has little value to country folks across the state. JFAC pushed out legislation early in the session that would have cut funds for water management and wildfire suppression during what promises to be a drought year in Idaho. Wiser heads have prevailed on these critical needs because funding for both have been restored.

Many country folks wonder why JFAC cut every government department except the Legislature. Sen. Jim Guthrie called for legislative cuts: “We’re not taking a pay cut, we’re not compromising our benefits. We are tightening the belts of Idaho citizens, and the feedback from my constituents is that they are not happy about it.”

Speaking of legislative pay, Rep. Tanner got a nice contribution of $200,000 to his Idaho Summit PAC earlier this month. Some might see this as a conflict of interest. One wonders what he had to do to get that bonanza. Big money has certainly found its way into Idaho politics of late.

In sum, throwing together feathers, hoping for a duck, aptly describes how this dysfunctional budget was fashioned. Idaho deserves better.

 

Vietnam War Veterans Day is observed on March 29 of each year, marking the day in 1973 when our remaining combat troops left Vietnam. While it recognizes those 2.7 million Americans who served in the Vietnam War, the focus is primarily on the 58,220 brave souls who lost their lives in service to their country.

Every time I think of those who lost their lives, the more than 300,000 who were wounded, the many thousands whose lives were ruined by drugs, PTSD and ailments like cancers related to Agent Orange, it hits me right in the heart. And, it isn’t just American troops, it’s also the South Vietnamese troops I lived and served with and the kids in the Cao Dai Orphanage that my 4-man group helped. Those memories are why I titled my memoir, “Vietnam…Can’t Get You Out of My Mind.” It is always there.

When the Communists waged their surprise Tet offensive on January 30, 1968, it contradicted the rosy picture being dished out by the top brass and politicians. The photo of a Viet Cong prisoner being shot in the head by a Vietnamese police officer, which appeared on the front page of many American newspapers, further eroded public support of the war.

Americans had a bad taste in their mouths about the Vietnam war and those who had served in it throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. They grew weary of the Iraq War that was clearly an unnecessary war of choice, as well as the Afghanistan War that started on a justifiable note but turned into an unjustified 20-year slog. We spent an inordinate amount of blood and treasure for both wars, with practically nothing gained from either of them.

You would think that any President with a sense of history and a lick of common sense would not have started another totally unjustified and unlawful war, without at least explaining the necessity to the American people. Neither the President nor his “war” secretary have given a coherent explanation of the Iran War’s necessity or of when and how it might end. That is why that war is very unpopular.

On the one hand, Trump says the Iranian public should rise up and overthrow their vicious government. They might have the inclination to do so if we were not killing hundreds of innocent civilians like the 175 killed in the girls’ school, thanks to outdated targeting intel. Trump claimed we had won on the first day of the war, so why are we positioning up to 8,000 troops in the vicinity? And, why is Trump considering $200 billion in war funding? It looks like we may be in for the long haul.

It was rather obvious that the Iranians would close the Strait of Hormuz, causing the cost of oil and fuel to skyrocket, but Trump and his war planners gave it nary a thought. This crap show is going to get much worse before it is over. And, it’s all because the geniuses who are responsible for the fiasco did not learn the costly lessons that so clearly came out of the Vietnam War.

Those of us who served in that war would feel better for our heartache about its outcome, if the present administration had just spent a few minutes studying the causes of our heartache. Trump made no explanation as to why a war was necessary. He did not even make the pretense of getting Congressional approval. The spineless GOP legislators would likely have given it to him. Both Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have gone all in for the war, fearful of stepping on Trump’s toes. Risch contends the war is a “defensive” war, rather than a “forever war” and that it will “end rapidly.” We’ll see.

For his part, Trump has found good use for a picture of the casket of a soldier who died in his war. The photo is embedded in a Trump political fundraising request. It shows Trump wearing a baseball cap, peering over a soldier’s casket at a March 7 dignified transfer ceremony. As a Vietnam veteran who volunteered to serve, I have a few observations: (1) take off the GD cap, these are the remains of a person who gave his life for his country and he deserves respect, (2) it is revolting to use a soldier’s casket in a political fundraising appeal and (3) for a draft dodger to commit such offenses is particularly appalling. No veteran should ever suffer the indignity of having their mortal remains being featured in a presidential fundraising appeal.

Idahoans should use the occasion of Vietnam War Veterans Day to remember and pay respects to veterans who have served in all of the nation’s wars.

 

The MAGA movement is running its course both at the national and state level. Fiscal mismanagement abounds in Washington and Boise. Culture war issues at both levels are needlessly dividing us. They do nothing to put food on the family table or address the serious shortage of affordable housing and medical care. The objective of the MAGA warriors appears to be playing a reversal of Robin Hood–taking from the poor to help the rich. It is not a recipe that will continue to sell well with a majority of voters.

On the national level, we have an administration that inherited a growing economy and saddled it with massive, unsustainable debt and illegal tariffs. We are now in an unlawful and unnecessary war in Iran, with no strategy to disengage. The war has caused a massive jump in fuel prices, as well as fertilizer and many other products essential to our economy. From being the most admired nation on Earth, which helped immensely in making our economy the strongest, we have become the most warlike. Other nations will shrink back from helping the U.S. to continue financing its colossal $38.9 trillion national debt.

Trump grossly miscalculated the impact Iran could have on the world economy by closing off the Strait of Hormuz. Not being a student of history, he obviously did not recall the massive shocks that cutoffs of Middle East oil caused to the world in 1973, 1979 and 1990. Iran can keep the spigot closed, regardless of Trump’s massive bombing campaign, until he cries uncle. The new Ayatollah has Trump by the unmentionables and won’t let go until he gives them a favorable deal.

Both the national and state governments are making it difficult for rural families to keep their heads above water. Medicaid programs that are essential to keep both urban and rural families healthy are being ripped away by MAGA warriors at both the state and national level. When the state and federal spending cuts approved by the Idaho Legislature and our entire Congressional delegation start to sink in toward the end of the year, rural hospitals will close, doctors may have to relocate and people will die.

Farm workers, who are essential to growing our crops and milking our cows, are living in a state of fear. Most of Idaho’s 35,000 undocumented workers have been here for years. The great majority are law-abiding and tax-paying residents. They don’t deserve to be terrorized by masked federal agents. Yet, MAGA warriors in the Legislature continue to use them as punching bags while the workers try to render their essential services. These state politicians should take note that Donald Trump has recently acknowledged the farm worker shortage but done nothing effective to address it. In May 2024, a comprehensive bi-partisan immigration bill was teed up to resolve this and a host of other immigration issues but Trump killed it solely for political purposes.

Speaking of our farm economy, which is the lifeblood of Idaho, the combination of the illegal tariffs and unlawful war is a devastating one-two punch. The cost of fuel, fertilizer, farm machinery and a variety of other essentials is growing by the day. Prices have suffered from the loss of long-time markets as a result of tariff retaliation. Trump’s upping of beef imports has certainly not helped Idaho beef producers.

Idaho sugar beet growers are being severely impacted by sugar imports. Trump and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, who heads up the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over sugar imports, could solve the problem. When I worked for former Senator Len Jordan in the early 1970s, one of my jobs was to deal with Sugar Act issues. Jordan always worked hard, and successfully, with other Finance Committee members to protect Idaho beet growers from imported sugar. Our current MAGA officials could and should do likewise.

Instead of dealing with the real problems facing Idaho, MAGA legislators are tilting windmills on meaningless culture war issues–gay marriage, book bans, vaccine bans, torturing public schools and their teachers, you name it. A growing cadre of reasonable, pragmatic Republicans has stepped forward in the last two years to actually do the job of legislating to make lives better for Idahoans. They will undoubtedly be challenged in the GOP primary by MAGA warriors heavily financed by out-of-state money, but I think voters have had their fill of the culture wars.

By the time the November election comes around, the MAGA movement will have lost much of its appeal. The U.S. House will change hands and, possibly, the Senate. The Idaho Legislature will have fewer MAGA followers. There will be more reasonable Republicans willing to work across the aisle to address real problems facing the Gem State. Amen.

 

Setting aside the fact that Donald Trump’s war against Iran is illegal under both U.S. and international law, there is no rational explanation for his actions. The claim that Iran was about to attack the United States is delusional, if he actually believed it, or simply another big lie. Either way, the war is extremely harmful to America’s security.

After giving any number of reasons for going to war, Trump made the claim that: “It was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn’t do it.” Pentagon briefers told Congress in a March 1 classified briefing that there was no intelligence suggesting that Iran planned to attack American forces. Trump was either delusional or dishonest in using this explanation for his snap decision to start the war.

In fact, shortly before Trump gave the attack order, the mediator handling the U.S.-Iran negotiations stated that the parties had made “significant progress” toward a resolution.

A more likely explanation for Trump’s decision to declare war is that he finally gave in to the continual urging of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch an attack. Netanyahu was likely unsettled by the possibility of a peaceful settlement and determined to foreclose that possibility. Trump obviously agreed.

Trump has little knowledge of history, particularly of the proven historic proverb that “it is easier to start a war than to stop one.” That is abundantly clear from his vow that there will be “no deal” with Iran except “unconditional surrender.” He seems to be oblivious to the untidy outcomes of the nation’s wars in the last 80 years–Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. The outcomes of modern wars are seemingly unending slogs that have drained our military forces, as well as our national treasury.

It might be well, also, for Trump to consider the history of Iran’s last great war. It was attacked by Saddam Hussien in 1980 and suffered through a vicious, grinding war for eight years that ended up with a virtual draw. The military deaths suffered by Iran in that ugly war likely exceeded 200,000, with almost twice that number of wounded. The country can absorb massive casualties and still maintain its repressive government structure. It will not be a pushover today.

We can bomb the daylights out of Iran all day, every day, but cannot force its surrender. Iraq is a good case in point. Without a massive commitment of ground forces, which would entail many dead and wounded American troops, there is no possibility of coming close to an unconditional surrender. To believe otherwise is delusional.

The absolute worst thing about Trump’s war is that it diverts attention and forces from existential security concerns facing the United States. The war in Ukraine is at the very top of the list. Trump has largely disconnected from the genocidal war being waged by Russia against Ukraine. Iran is simply a wild goose chase that diverts attention and resources from that threat. U.S. security depends on the NATO alliance which has kept the peace in Europe ever since the end of World War II. If we allow Ukraine to fall to Russian aggression, it will be a hammer blow to NATO and our nation’s security.

Here are the problems being exacerbated by Trump’s Iran fixation. The U.S. and its Gulf allies are exhausting their inventories of sophisticated anti-missile defense systems. Replenishing the supplies will take years, leaving Ukraine essentially defenseless, while Russia is relentlessly pounding Ukraine with missiles and drones.

Trump has removed some oil sanctions against Russia that will increase its income and prolong its war against Ukraine. At the same time, Russia has been providing intelligence to Iran to target U.S. forces. It makes absolutely no sense to ignore the great security threat that Russia poses to America, while expending so much of our military resources going after a country that poses no substantial threat to America.

One of Trump’s gripes against Iran is that its repressive government has killed somewhere between 7,000 and 30,000 of its own citizens. That is certainly a source of concern but it does not justify a declaration of war when there is no direct threat to America. If there is a bloodcurdling statistic that, combined with a threat to American security, would merit a strong response, it is the devastation that Russia has imposed on our Ukrainian allies. Russia has killed about 16,000 Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine’s military has sustained 250,000-300,000 dead and wounded. About 20,000 Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by Russian forces. That should be our focus.

There is not much that individual citizens can do to change Trump’s warmongering, but we can put the heat on our Congressional representatives to take action. The gutless members of Idaho’s delegation are all behind Trump’s military adventurism, completely heedless to the fact that the U.S. Constitution places the war power directly in the hands of Congress. We can all demand that they stop cowering in their offices and take action to stop this pointless war. Those who decline should be replaced at the ballot box.

 

Imagine the shock, dismay and disgust Abraham Lincoln would feel about the state and national leadership of his beloved Republican Party, if he were to return to life today. He would find a leadership of the Grand Old Party dedicated to white nationalism, nativism and moral decay. He would undoubtedly feel that GOP leaders had wrongfully seized the GOP label and attached it to a group that opposed almost everything he stood for.

Throughout his political life, Lincoln strongly supported immigrants and immigration. In his stirring Gettysburg Address on November 19,1863, the Great Emancipator proclaimed that America “was dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.” In his annual address to Congress a month later, he called for passage of an immigration bill to promote immigration and welcome immigrants to the country as “a source of national wealth and strength.”

His Republican successors carried the message of inclusion, equality and decency for a century following his assassination. I had the high privilege of working for Idaho’s distinguished GOP Senator Len Jordan in the early 1970s. He was fiscally conservative, but a champion of human rights and dignity.

Like many of his Republican counterparts, Jordan voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He opposed two southern segregationists—Harold Carswell and Clement Haynsworth—who President Nixon tried to appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jordan would be repulsed by the current leadership of his beloved party, both at the federal and Idaho level.

Much of the moral decline of the GOP resulted from Nixon’s “southern strategy” that resulted in turning southern-state segregationist Democrats into southern-state Republican segregationists. Most remain so to this very day, although their numbers are being slowly whittled away by a new breed of Democrats who are actually standard bearers for Abe Lincoln’s legacy.

Unfortunately, Idaho’s top GOP elected officials—the Governor and members of our Congressional delegation— have bought into the crumbling anti-civil rights and anti-immigrant playbook of the segregationists. They have betrayed the legacy of Lincoln and Jordan, mainly out of abject fear of displeasing King Trump. The truth is that most Idahoans, including many in the GOP, are better than this. The apostates will be weeded out in future elections.

To add insult to injury, our top GOP office holders attend Lincoln Day events on or near Lincoln’s birthday in February of each year, pretending that they are honoring that fabled leader. Actually, they dishonor Lincoln by espousing policies and beliefs diametrically opposed to those of Lincoln. Imagine Lincoln’s revulsion if he were to learn that former Congressman Matt Gaetz was keynote speaker at the Kootenai County Lincoln Day dinner on February 28.

Senator Jim Risch, Rep. Russ Fulcher and Attorney General Raul Labrador were all slated to share the limelight with this bonafide sleazeball. Congressional investigators found Gaetz regularly paid women for sex, had sex with a 17-year-old girl (statutory rape in Florida) and frequently used illegal drugs. Idaho’s two Congressmen, Fulcher and Simpson, had voted in December of 2024 to block the release of the Gaetz report, but it came out anyway. Idaho’s Attorney General has claimed to be a protector of girls, but seems to have overlooked Gaetz’ deplorable misconduct.

Donald Trump had wanted Gaetz to be his Attorney General, but it was not to be. It must have been a real downer for Trump because the two have so much in common when it comes to sexual mistreatment of the female gender. Since the 1970s, at least 28 women accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Trump was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in May of 2023.

The details of Trump’s longtime friendship with serial abuser Jeffrey Epstein are just coming out, despite his administration’s dogged efforts to keep them under wraps. Our Congressional delegation fought against release of the Epstein files until a few GOP members of the House forced a vote, but there is still significant pushback against releasing what are likely the most incriminating files.

This moral degeneration of the top leaders of our state and federal government is nauseating. The fact that it degrades the moral fiber of our people down to the grass roots is heartbreaking. The fact that our top elected leaders have abandoned the high moral principles of our founding fathers, principles that Abe Lincoln tried to perfect with his new political party, is horrific. The worst thing, however, is that the new GOP defames the Great Emancipator by attaching his name to a dinner event and a political party that repudiates practically everything he stood for. The nativist, white nationalist, morally-bankrupt officials who sully Lincoln’s name are Republicans in name only (RINOs).