To the Editor:
Martin Farrell, Editor and Publisher
Fillmore Gazette
I had planned to comment on the tragic politicization of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) by the Trump Administration, wherein the formerly apolitical, world-respected agency was reportedly "corrected" by the president to insist that masks are not needed and advance the ridiculous claim that a safe vaccine will be ready "in a few weeks." But I am diverted to a more troubling purpose this week. It involves responding to Martin's two editorials last week.
Trump has been in office for four years and can no longer claim that he is not a politician. I am disappointed to see that that experience, instead of broadening his understanding and appreciation of the fact the president represents all of the citizens, Democrat and Republican alike, has only narrowed his interests. He has not brought the country together, but has encouraged fear and distrust in this country, and has shown admiration for the world community of despots while snubbing our allies.
But what darn near broke my heart, Martin, was your suggestion, in your first editorial, that there may need to be a need for Second Amendment action by owners of “civilian-owned firearms“ and a possible "civil war" if the election results take longer to count than you think necessary, or are not in your favor. Coupled in the second editorial with the opinion that, if Trump were Andrew Jackson, who was well-known for his murderous impulses against Native Americans, the House and Senate would be “littered with bodies,” you are dangerously close to advocating that violence, another "civil war," may be the appropriate remedy for our political challenges.
Trump himself has repeatedly said that he may not accept the results of the election: "I'll wait and see." This self-proclaimed "cheerleader" of our country has stated that the results of the election may be so flawed that "we will never know the results" of the November 3 election." He does not mention that he is primarily responsible for the fear-mongering about the election process and the pre-election crippling of the USPS. Hillary did not call for violence and did not try to create public doubt about the ultimate results of the coming election; she just urged that all votes be counted before anyone concedes.
I urge you to withdraw that anti-democratic and dangerous statement about resorting to guns and violence and an insurrection, Martin. Democracies are designed to avoid that very tragedy, though MAGA supporters have already disrupted voting in Virginia. You are, I hope and believe, too responsible to muse about the use of brute force, post-election, that you so passionately decry in Portland, Chicago, and Seattle.
Kelly Scoles
Fillmore