A simple timeline: The Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and theft of the Crimean peninsula. During the Republican National Convention in 2016, Trump's team insisted on the removal of military support for Ukraine from the party platform. During President Trump's meeting with Russians in the Oval Office in 2017, he is said to have assured them that their meddling in the American election was OK because the U.S. had been guilty of similar attacks on democracy in the past. (You might note that this could be construed as an admission that Russian meddling was not a hoax.)
Then we come to the current crisis brought on by the American president apparently using the withholding of military support from Ukraine to attempt to get dirt on a political rival. This seems to have not surprised anyone. We expect such behavior from mob bosses, not from patriots.
So why has Ukraine become so important in this? It's because Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimean peninsula and faced crippling sanctions for being a very bad actor on the world's stage. Trump loves Putin.
Every intelligence agency in the world is well aware of Russian meddling in elections, but now Trump wants to lay blame on Ukraine and shift blame off the Russians. Whose side is he on? I hope y'all might be able to figure things out for yourselves.
DOUG STOWE
Eureka Springs
Need new leadership
I can't understand why the Republican Party continues to defend and support Donald Trump. Doesn't the party have some quality replacement leadership?
You (the party) can't (and shouldn't) support someone who lies about almost everything. You (the party) can't (and shouldn't) continue to defend someone whose past business practices tell a story of scandal, bankruptcy, corruption, and tax evasion. And shouldn't the lifestyle of an American president be a model for our nation?
Republicans: Spend your time and money on cultivating new leadership.
P.L. GUSTAFSON
Hot Springs Village
Do the job, Congress
Wouldn't it be nice if the people we send to represent us did the job we sent them to do? They are supposed to pass a budget each and every year before the start of the next fiscal year. When was the last time they did this must-do job?
Wouldn't it be nice if they spent the very little bit of the time they are in session, compared to how often the average person spends doing their job, to do the job of doing what is best for the people they represent? Like pass infrastructure, the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, do something to lower cost of drugs, fix the mess they created with Obamacare driving up everyone's cost.
What do they do in the House? They investigate, they act, they badger anyone who appears before them. They spend a large part of their time trying to divide the people in this country. What is important to them is getting re-elected and getting power. If I could, I would replace all 535 of them with people who want to represent the people who sent them there and would work for better things for all the American people. But alas, they are by and large professional politicians, people only interested in getting re-elected. And I mean all, both Democrats and Republicans; I think it is just the Democrats that are doing everything they can to divide, and they have done more to hurt this country than Russia has ever done. The Republicans aren't much better. All of them should be sent home in disgrace. Shame it won't happen.
MIKE SCOTT
Benton
The important issues
This Old Republican was both amused and amazed at Cal Thomas' recent column. After slinging mud at the whistle-blower who hasn't even had his say, Cal T. concludes that "there is no there there." But the amusement turned to amazement when writer Thomas listed "deeper issues for 2020," naming the usual litany of the wealthy and well-placed: capitalism as a religion, employment even as income disparities rise, strict interpretation of the Constitution, good health care for those who can get it, and, apparently, the economic safety-net programs that have given several generations of working Americans a reason to work and hope for a small but ensured piece of the American pie.
Mr. Thomas' thoughtless piece, seemingly endorsed by the Tribune Content Agency, seems ignorant of other issues that Americans list as much more important: a deficit that is running amok, a world suffering climate change that can and must be turned around if we hope to avoid global doom, constant and continuous attacks on settled abortion law. I would add the necessity of moral behavior and honest discourse in public and political affairs, but I don't believe Mr. Thomas is capable of such. It would require careful listening, honest weighing of contradicting opinions, and even the probability that he might not get paid by the Tribune Content Agency.
I could add that Cal Thomas comes across as snarky, but that would make this an opinion piece ...
CLIFF HARRISON
Hot Springs Village
Editorial on 10/07/2019