Letters to the Editor | Week of Aug. 5-10, 2024

Comments about letters

Basically, what Jamey Honaker said in his recent letter to the editor was that America was doing well under Donald Trump’s tenure. More money in our pockets, gas was affordable, we could go on vacations, buy homes and not worry about border invasions. Trump, so says Jamey, created the greatest economy since the ’60s, lowered unemployment levels, U.S. energy independence, Middle East peace, successful foreign relations and kept us out of war. This sounds pretty good for a guy who spent most of his time playing golf and defending himself in courts from serious allegations.

Yes, Trump was a bad boy, Jamey admits, but then he rationalizes that Bill Clinton was much worse! As if this is supposed to minimize Trump’s “moral indiscretions.” Hoo-boy.

And the only incentives Democrats have to offer, Jamey says, are “unlimited abortion and the one that says, ‘You’re an oppressed minority, powerless to ascend that bondage without Big Government controlling your destiny’.” Ouch! What does this even mean? But, as Joe Biden would nicely say, “It’s a bunch of malarky!”

And for the icing on the cake, Jamey tells us that the tactics Democrats use are outrageous! Hmm — compared to what the MAGA GOPers use, I say they are pretty reasonable.

On July 11, Mr. Jim Tweed’s letter to the editor was a jewel worth reading and repeating. Here’s a sample of what he writes about, what Jamey calls the MAGA “movement”:

“They still call themselves something they are not, ‘Conservatives.’ True conservatives value character, civility and intelligence. Trump-pets reward arrogance, anger and self-delusion. … Using partial truths is not just a way to fool others. It’s how we fool ourselves. If you embrace Donald, you embrace his lies and self-delusions. You become what he is: a fraud. You’ll make excuses, find scapegoats and rationalizations. But in the end, you will be a mere follower of a pathetic, narcissistic bully. If you are one of those silent conservatives standing on the sidelines who still respects the Constitution, democracy and the rule of law, but allow yourself to be intimidated by Trump trolls, the death of our democracy will be on you.”

To Mr. Tweed’s comments I say, “Amen!”

Italo J. Zarate

Brownsville

Shooting euphoria

For the party of shock and awe, what transpired in Butler, Pa., left them in a state of euphoria, while the country looked on in shock and sadness. It was in their faces, in their shouts of rapture and ecstasy, in their triumphant jubilation as a fisted arm raised up from ashes of his burning rhetoric of hate, violence and vengeance. They sowed the winds of chaos, distrust and and hate, and so they reap the whirlwind to their delight. Their prayers and thoughts answered. Their martyr rises. The celebration begins.

How sad to think this way. To feel this way. After having lived through Kennedy, King and Reagan, and having felt the pain and sorrow of betrayal and treachery deep inside my soul. And now, to believe the impossible, the incredible, the inexcusable — just one more fabricated, manufactured, manipulated moment in a campaign of lies, deceit, deception and chicanery.

I wish it were not so. I wish it had not happened. But devious minds work in mysterious ways. And how many times must one keep yelling “wolf” and “witch hunt,” before it becomes self-evident, self-serving, and a marker of what lurks in a cunning mind that only knows the art of deceit?

The events of July 13, a page out of the counterfeit martyr handbook — complete with blood, gore and shock — that fascinates and infuriates the hearts and minds of patriots of every kind and every stripe, as it should. As it did.

But the unhinged speeches calling for revenge, vengeance, retribution and violence — too caustic and too blatant to ignore, or to dismiss, as the trigger to the spectacle that crowned a martyr and certified as acceptable and desirable — a life of lies, deceit and arrogance.

The new normal in America: lies, duplicity and violence. America no longer the leader of the pack of nations, but simply a straggler following in the footsteps left behind by Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China, Russia, and countless Middle Eastern and African nations.

We will learn soon enough what it feels like to experience the insolence of power and of the powerful — something already begun, even before the votes are in.

Euphoria — like all sensations — fades and wears out, leaving behind only the shock and awe of promises never kept, and pledges never meant.

Al Garcia-Wiltse

San Juan

Editor’s note: We welcome your letters and commentary. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters of 200 words or fewer will be given preference. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Letters may be mailed to P.O Box 3267, McAllen, Texas 78502-3267, or emailed to letters@myRGV.com.

The post Letters to the Editor | Week of Aug. 5-10, 2024 appeared first on MyRGV.com.