To the Editor:
In the May 13 edition of The Smoky Mountain News, a writer from Macon County asked you to stop publishing letters from David Snell that are critical of Donald Trump. In his opinion, what Snell has to say is “tiresome.”
David Snell is “tiresome” for calling out Donald Trump? Who could be more tiresome than Trump himself! Every day for 10 years now we have heard Trump tiresomely brand as “a loser,” “stupid,” “fake,” “crooked,” “disloyal,” “enemy” and “scum” any American who opposes or even slightly questions what he says or does. Trump is the original cracked record.
And daily for 10 years we’ve heard Trump heap golden praise on himself. He’s a “genius.” His every word is “perfect.” He is rich beyond all get-out. The economy under him is “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.” Stand aside Washington and Lincoln, here comes Trump. He’s no mere president, but king, pope, and Jesus all in one.
But after listening for years to Trump put down others and glorify himself, it is clear to me that the word “tiresome” does not do him justice. He is suffocating. And the way he is bent on turning our government into his own personal wrecking ball, revenge machine and mid-term election fixer, it’s clear that suffocation is what Trump is trying to do to our foundational principle of rule by law, not rule by one man. One of the few Republican senators who still dares to speak his mind, John Cornyn, put the case exactly last week when he said that Trump won’t settle for anything less than “slavish adherence to whatever he wants.” That’s not the description of a president, but of a tyrant.
From his letters, I know that David Snell is a military man of 20 years active, 10 in the reserves, sworn to defend our Constitution. No wonder he is distressed by the self-serving anti-democratic spectacle that is Donald Trump and outraged by the damage Trump is doing to our country. I was happy to see another of his letters in the June 10 issue of this paper. I hope he keeps on ringing his Patrick Henry bell.
Burt Kornegay
Cullowhee