by Martha Bleicher, Missoula
Voting for a felon? Think again.
I have noticed people sporting t-shirts (mostly women) that proudly declare, “I AM VOTING FOR A FELON 2024.” Not only was the 45th president convicted of 34 felony counts of fraud, he was convicted of rape! As a mother of a daughter, it is NOT okay to allow ANYONE to “grab [her] by the p***y”—celebrity or otherwise, let alone rape!
Sadly, this speaks to a lack of self-respect as an individual and as a nation. And other countries are taking notice. When there is lack of respect for the rule of law, there is a large window of vulnerability.
I have traveled to 10 countries in the last two years and people are baffled by how Donald Trump became president of such a great nation, and appalled by the prospect of a second term.
I heard the question over and over: “How can anyone vote for Trump? He should be in prison!” A Moroccan gentleman referred to Trump as a “buffoon” — and English was his fourth language!
At a Ravalli County commissioners meeting, a “pillar” of election integrity and shameless Trump supporter insisted our inflation rate is “40 percent.” That is laughably absurd! Our annual inflation rate over the last 40+ years has NEVER been that high, topping out at 14% in 1980. But Trump dangles “word carrots” to incite people beyond what is sane. Abortion, inflation, immigration: he trots out buzzwords to instill FEAR—the most powerful manipulation tool! The rhetoric is as false as it is exhausting and puts us in peril.
Grocery prices, housing, fuel; I am not naïve. These problems are real and affect me as much as all other Americans. But out of the 10 countries I have visited in the last two years, we have the LOWEST gas prices and that is not recent, but historical.
In July in Canada, Petro-Canada was $1.55.9 PER LITER. The US is one of only three countries that uses the Imperial measurement system, so a gallon of gas in Canada would be approximately $5.81. In New Zealand in March, a liter of gas was $2.74.9 or $10.28/gallon!
These prices are not offset by food, housing etc., and our dollar is stronger than every other currency except the euro. Currently, the euro is worth about 10 cents more than our dollar, but in the land of Trump crony Victor Orban, it takes almost 357 Hungarian “dollars” (forints) to buy one of our dollars! Look at an international conversion chart!
Greed lies at the heart of price gouging. Average Americans trying to build a life while supporting an anti-democratic tyrant like Trump, are choosing to make the ultra-wealthy wealthier – at the expense of the middle class, and their own interests. Loving hate and deceit has never been what our values are as a nation.
Voting for a felon who worships at the altar of money and paves the path to greater prosperity for fellow billionaires isn’t going to fix middle-class problems. You can oversimplify complex issues and choose the Democrat of the moment to blame, but until the tantrums stop and real solutions are sought for real problems, it will not only be more of the same, it will be far worse.
A lovely gentleman in New Zealand said to me, “The United States is the beacon to the world. If the US falls… we all fall.” That is a high standard we will never achieve by voting for a felon.
We can do better. For the sake of the world, we must do better. And that is not achieved by voting for a felon.
WMA says
“Judge Lewis Kaplan confirmed this, as reported by various news outlets:
“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape,'” Kaplan wrote. “Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
While it is correct that Trump was not “convicted” in a civil trial, he was found by a jury to be responsible for the offense. Apologize for a criminal like Trump all you like, he is and always will be a convicted felon.
Tommy Johnson says
How’s that kool-aid?
He was not convicted of rape. There were not criminal charges even filed. Even was civil trial focusing on liability. The burden of proof required is a civil trial is way lees than required in a criminal trial.
Go watch the whole clip, not the CNN bite. He said “he could have grabbed” them. He did not say he grabbed them.
And the 34 counts of fraud are coming under heavy scrutiny and will most likely be overturned.
Clark P Lee says
but a convicted felon he is whaatever he grabbed.