‘Surreal’ indictment? The only thing surreal about Trump was his election. | Opinion

Unprecedented

Former President Donald Trump’s recent indictment has been referred to as “surreal” and “unprecedented.” The only event that can be called surreal is that he was ever elected. Time and time again he has proven that he has no morals and that he thinks he is above the law. He clearly incited the Jan. 6 riot at our nation’s capital and has tried to do it again by saying his indictment would bring “death and destruction.” Any other person would be in jail by now.

His outlandish rhetoric has given every so called “patriot and religious zealot” the courage to come out of the closet and try to destroy the very fiber of our democracy. Every other democratic country is laughing at us, and China and Russia are licking their chops at our failure to be a united country. We have never been more divided and vulnerable.

There is one reason for our very dire and sad state of affair and his name is Trump. If by chance he is elected again, we can kiss our country good bye. The inmates will be running the asylum and we will continue to go backwards instead of forward. He should be under the jail!

Sara Wellnitz, Lexington

Republican support

It hurts me to my core every time Republican officials make public statements saying Former President Donald Trump is a victim of political prosecution. What? Every time a Republican official says Trump hasn’t done anything wrong to deserve what is happening to him, I can’t stomach it. I feel the need to take another dose of my prescription nausea medicine.

People don’t realize the gravity of their statements and what they mean. My country keeps breaking my heart. Everybody knows Trump is guilty, but Congressional Republicans subliminal message is deafening. HE’S A WHITE MAN! WHITE MEN RULE THIS COUNTRY! WE CAN’T LET THIS HAPPEN!

Yolanda Avarette, Lexington

Rule of Law

Former President Donald Trump indicted! Unprecedented! Yes, it is unprecedented. Trump behaved in countless unprecedented ways while he was in office. He thumbed his nose at the law, tradition, rules and regulations and his supporters cheered him every step of the way. Unprecedented indeed. It was one of the reasons he was elected. Now it is time for the rule of law to take some unprecedented steps.

DeAeth Ross, Lexington

Duped supporters

Well boys and girls how does it feel to once again been duped by former President Donald Trump’s latest cry of “The sky is falling!” — that being his “I’m going to get arrested” plea after which he sent out mass emails prompting people to contribute even more millions to his “campaign” fund? Everything is a fundraising opportunity for Trump.

And for all the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who jumped at the arrest horror and demanded a formal House investigation just one day after Trump cried he would be arrested, I guess that might be useful if you investigated how Trump’s legal team prompted the House to start formal Congressional assessments of what New York was doing.

How does it feel to be played like a cheap fiddle? It’s like the late Yogi Berra said, “It’s Déjà vu all over again.”

I thought our Kentucky Republican Congressional representatives were smarter than to fall for this kind of manipulation. I guess I might have been wrong.

Gene Lockhart, Lexington

Guns first

My response to the horrific killing of three children and three adults at The Covenant Elementary School, a private church school in Nashville is: “Yes, Republican Party, It Is The Guns!!!!”

Republican legislators all over America, put yourselves in the shoes of parents who have lost a child to gun violence. If you would do that, you would vote to ban assault weapons and pass other sensible, life-saving gun control laws.

Voters in every state in our country must demand that gun violence issues are debated and voted on in every future local, state and national election. Candidates owe it to the voters to let them know where the office seekers stand on the gun issues before Election Day.

The number of mass shootings continues to grow in our country, but our elected legislators in the House and Senate, especially Republicans, do nothing to save lives from unnecessary gun violence. Any politician who won’t vote for a federal ban on assault weapons has to be defeated at the polls. A vote for a ban is a no-brainer.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr., Louisville

Shooter drills

After telling every female in this country they no longer have control over their own bodies, Republicans still can’t figure out why their predicted “red wave” didn’t occur in the last election. Once again, their blatant disregard for common sense will result in more losses for their party in 2024.

Thanks to the Republicans’ refusal to keep assault weapons in the hands of the military (which is the only place they belong), those who’ve reached legal voting age have been forced to participate in active shooter drills throughout grades 1-12. They will not forget, nor will they forgive Republicans for choosing weapons rather than providing safer learning environments. Their choices for safer learning consists of banning books and refusing to let students learn the history of the Civil War.

Thanks to Republicans though, forced pregnancy victims and their families can buy assault weapons to kill their monsters. Set aside China or terrorisms, one of the largest and most lethal threats to this country is those who believe weapons of war belong in the hands of civilians. It’s up to voters to do what Republicans refuse to.

Cindy Sutton Hargett, Lexington

Democratic failures

Many of us know why Kentucky Democrats are losing elections outside our biggest cities. We remember that just ten years ago our party held the majority of the seats in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Kentucky Democrats were the last state Democratic party in the south to control a house of the state legislature. We were exceptional.

Our party’s fortunes changed abruptly after that as we’ve seen. Some might say the emergence of the Trump movement was the cause and undoubtedly it had a big effect. But, I’ve come to believe that another change had an even bigger effect.

It appears to me that Kentucky Democrats do not communicate with Kentuckians outside our biggest cities anymore. To make matters worse, we convinced ourselves that we could win statewide elections on the urban vote alone. Never mind that our two biggest cities comprise less than forty percent of the statewide vote.

My suggestion to our party would be that we begin learning the profound method of communication known as “nonviolent communication.” Most writers on the subject cite “five pillars” --- Respect, Understanding, Acceptance, Appreciation and Compassion. As those pillars imply, Democrats need to begin a dialogue that would reach more Kentuckians.

Tom Louderback, Lexington

Drug pricing

I was surprised to hear that, earlier this year, the first of many biosimilar versions of Humira finally came to market after decades of being at the mercy of AbbVie’s monopoly pricing power. As someone who had to stop taking this drug because of its ridiculously high price, I really hope biosimilars will help lower the price.

I took Humira to treat my chronic plaque psoriasis, and it worked like a wonder drug! It relieved the painful sores caused by my condition. Then when I retired, one month of Humira cost me $4,000 out of pocket. How am I supposed to afford that when I receive less than $2,000 a month from Social Security? I had to stop taking Humira entirely.

While patients like me struggle to afford Humira, AbbVie raised its annual price to more than $80,000 by building a wall of patents that has prevented any competition from coming to market for 20 years. Now, with the first Humira biosimilar on the market, and additional biosimilars expected to be available later this year, I really hope that competition can drive down prices for patients like me — we’re tired of waiting for relief.

Sue Lee, Crestwood

COVID closings

Kentucky State Sen. Mike Wilson’s (R-Bowlng Green) recent OpEd featured some misleading information. He stated, “Glass said we needed to focus on academic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, when he and his governor are directly responsible for closing schools.”

To be clear here, Gov. Andy Beshear did not create or cause COVID. He did deal with it as effectively as possible under the circumstances following guidance from experts in the field and Former President Donald Trump’s Whitehouse guidance documents, which he often referenced during his daily briefings. During this time, the Republican majority in the Kentucky state legislature did not offer up alternative plans, although individual members voiced complaints against Beshear. Remember that over a million Americans have died due to COVID, and Beshear closed schools before the vaccine rollout, as did other governors across our nation.

Many Kentucky school employees lost their lives due to COVID, along with some students. How many more would have died if schools had remained open with no vaccines or other mitigation strategies in place? How much more full of very sick patients would our hospitals have been that were already overflowing? The baseless armchair quarterbacking by state politicians on COVID needs to stop!

Thankfully, Beshear did his job.

Suzanne Barker Griffith, Ashland

Government rule

“What brilliant criminals the Leader and his crowd are. They kidnap the nation by seizing our children. Hitler said his would be a thousand year empire. This is how he will achieve it.”

That is from the thriller “Garden of Beasts” by Jeffrey Deaver set in 1936 Berlin.

Hitler knew that controlling the thinking of the young would be the cornerstone of the Third Reich. He was the founder of the National Socialist Party (NAZI) and knew that controlling through regulations and crippling fear plus demanding solid loyalty to the Reich were essential to his dream of a forever powerful Germany.

There are some parallels to present day America. The far left is content to go after our children and groom them starting from kindergarten through college. If we cannot see this and act upon it we can only blame ourselves. Remember that from Hitler youth they moved to the brown shirts to the storm troopers to the Gestapo and the SS.

Pay attention.

Wayne Burns, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey