Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.
An internet article dated Sept. 19 was titled, “Pessimism about the direction of the country is growing among Republicans.” It is on The Associated Press-NORC poll website.
The subtitle on the above story is: “Forty-nine percent of Republicans say things in the United States are heading (in) the right direction, (which is) down from 75% in June.” That is a phenomenal drop of 26 percentage points in three months.
Here is a quote from farther into the article above: “Most Republicans say (Donald) Trump’s actions are about right, but nearly a quarter believe deploying the national guard and his using presidential powers are excessive, and about a third feel imposing new tariffs has gone too far.”
Where this country is going is just starting to come into focus. Trump’s “theory” of leadership is to use a “gun-in-your-face” approach, arm-twisting, stepping on toes, lying, backbiting, double-crossing and backstabbing. One article on the Axios website had an excellent summary of all the things Trump is causing to happen. It is titled, “Behind the Curtain: Four ominous trends.” The trends are about: political violence, mass shootings, school shootings and toxic content on social networks.
The killing of Charlie Kirk was a very stupid act. And, regarding what Jimmy Kimmel said, I think he could have chosen his words more carefully before dunking on Kirk and “Make America Great Again.” And, if you read the following extensive article on MSNBC, Fox News is not innocent, either: “Fox News host Brian Kilmeade’s call to execute mentally ill people was a mask-off moment.”
Political violence is not on both sides! According to this report by the National Institute of Justice (part of our U.S. Department of Justice), it really is worse from the right: “What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism.”
Be glad that archival websites exist to capture that which is removed, as explained in this Guardian piece: “US justice department removes study finding far-right extremists commit ‘far more’ violence.”
A lot of people never think about the many bad secondary effects, reactions or outcomes you get after they say or do something. All the “conspiracy theories,” all the hypocrisy, all the “jumping to conclusions,” all the “it’s the other guy’s fault” and all the reasons for “retribution and revenge” have gone out of control. I found the best list of what is known and what is not known in this CNN article: “Fact check: The fake photos, false claims and wild conspiracy theories swirling around the murder of Charlie Kirk.”
I am happy that many Republicans want to dial down political violence, too, as reported in this Axios article: “‘Wrong and dangerous’: Some Republicans warn against politicizing Kirk’s death.”
Our next “cloud of gloom” is the plan Trump and his buddies have to vastly expand their control over the media and our freedom of speech. It will become like it was in the Soviet Union and in Nazi Germany. He already threatens, sues, prosecutes or otherwise bashes anybody or any source that challenges him. Investigations of his enemies have started. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission, etc., are organizing a “Trump gestapo.” This Yahoo article explains “Why Trump wants federal workers to ‘snitch’ on each other.”
And you know from this NBC News article that more people are going to get fired: “Pete Hegseth tells Pentagon staff to hunt for negative Charlie Kirk posts by service members.”
But I was happy to see a Republican senator from Texas stand up against the actions to get Jimmy Kimmel fired, as the BBC reported: “Senator Ted Cruz says US broadcast regulator acted like ‘mafioso’ on Jimmy Kimmel.”
What else is going on? This Pew Research story explains that the way Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing things is not good: “More Americans disapprove than approve of the job Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing as U.S. health secretary.”
How about progress on Trump’s “golden age”? This Reuters article says we are still going the wrong way: “US manufacturing contracts for sixth straight month amid tariff drag.”
Another bad news piece, from CNN, says: “‘Tidal wave of problems’: With harvest here, Trump’s trade war pushes some US farmers to the brink.” I quote from that article: “The world’s biggest soybean buyer, China, is so far this year refusing to purchase American soybeans — a critical export that the US Department of Agriculture said was worth nearly $25 billion last year — turning instead to Brazil as part of Beijing’s response to the tariffs Trump imposed on Chinese goods in February.”
Topping them all off, this Freight News article reports how Canada and Mexico have set up $120 billion worth of trade with each other to bypass Trump and the U.S.: “Skipping the US: Mexico and Canada enter into trade bypass agreement.”
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
