To the Editor:

Martin, if I recall correctly, you have always tended a bit “gloomy.” I assumed it was because we all failed to meet your standards of heavenly perfection. Politically, I saw you as “conservative,” longing for the “good old days,” but now you are a Far-Right Radical, partisan about the Constitution, committed to telling other people what religion they should follow, how to raise their children, and what values they should practice (Trump excepted). Yet, you defend Trump and other political officials, including SCOTUS, when they repeatedly violate what appear to be your personal morals and ethics, because they are authoritarians.

As have non-believers, Judaeo-Christians, too, have perpetrated atrocities over the centuries. For instance, the Holocaust, and the Russian attack of Ukraine Many people claim religious moral values, but very few seem to live them, even as they try to coerce them in others. While moral conduct may derive from religious ideals, it always arises, or doesn’t, from the impacts of conscience.

Your commitment to Ukraine, which I also support, is inconsistent with your endorsement of Trump. In a recent telephone conversation, Trump teased Zelensky, promising a “fair” peace treaty if he is elected in November. But in a plan prepared by General Keith Kellog and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s National Security Council (2017-2021), the “peace” would be based upon the territories occupied at the time of the cease-fire. Trump already knows Putin won’t cede ground, so it will be up to Ukraine.

Those terms would be an endorsement of invasion by a larger country of a smaller country to gain territory and dominance, a betrayal of democratic-leaning countries, and a weakening of NATO. An international stunt encouraging future conflict and world-war. Brilliant.

Trump’s admiration of despots is motivated by his fear of them. He is enamored of Kim Jong Un, has complimented Putin on his “genius” attack on Ukraine, extolled Orban, and has indicated his lack of support for NATO unless the members “pay up,” or “Putin can do whatever the hell he wants.” “America First,” is another blatant example of Trump’s short-term, hustler view of U.S. interests. While MAGA celebrates that small-world idiocy, China and Russia are financing transportation and infrastructure projects in Africa, South America, and elsewhere, creating future allies, as Trump denies familiarity with Project 2025, whines about nickels and dimes, and prepares tax cuts for billionaires.

I don’t know all MAGA individuals. My criticisms are of facts. The MAGA movement under Project 2025 endorses, knowingly or not, the Republican authoritarian model to supplant much of our government, and to create a forced religion-based social and legal order.

Equating constitutional concerns with “Hunter Biden’s laptop” is all you got, Martin? Two years of tax resources and Republican voodoo warnings and hearings on the President being head of the “Crooked Biden Family” went nowhere. Any apologies for that?

Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca.