The true meaning of MAGA

Primary and caucus voters are known as the most hardcore of a party’s supporters. In the recent Iowa Caucuses, 49% of the Republican base voted AGAINST Donald Trump. That bodes well for Democrats if The Orange Menace evades justice long enough to run in the general election. The mainstream media, full of false equivalencies and clickbait horse race bulls**t, cannot be counted on to protect our democracy. Granted, you cannot reason a person out of a position they have not reasoned themself into, and the MAGA cult is nothing if not irrational. But MAGA’s talking points/lies must still be confronted. For instance, inflation has been a GLOBAL phenomenon beyond Joe Biden’s control. And the border is not “open.” Meaningful immigration reform is needed, but Republicans want to reduce LEGAL immigration with their draconian measures smacking of white nationalist “replacement theory.” In 2017 and 2018 Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress and all they “accomplished” was a tax cut for corporations and the rich. There was no infrastructure plan, no health care plan, nothing. And the current GOP majority sh*t show in the House further demonstrates the mind-boggling incompetence of MAGA when something other than stoking fear and inciting grievance is called for. “MAGA” surely stands for: Moronic A**holes Gaslighting America.  

David A Sorensen – Duluth, Minnesota  

Evangelicals baffling love affair with Trump

In light of the “God Made Trump” insanity floating around social media, where Donald Trump is actually being touted as the 'chosen one', almost a 'second coming', I've stumbled across yet another FaceBook posting that says it all and needs to be shared. Again, with apologies to the originator of the post, I'll repeat it here.....”Satan's best work was being able to convince evangelicals that a racist who makes fun of handicapped people and dead soldiers, calls POW's 'losers', gropes women (and brags about it), incites violence, and almost NEVER tells the truth, was sent here by God”.....   In what alternate universe could that possibly be true? I defy the evangelicals, or anyone else, to point out even ONE Christian character trait in this man.  

Lynn Scott – Soudan, Minnesota 

With Trump...

Saying it's "So" doesn't make it so, especially with Trump. His latest attempt to make people think he's all-powerful was his comment after the Iowa caucus that, if he'd been president. there would be no war between Hamas and Israel. Then he said, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine.  But that's Trump. People with a damaged ego are always trying to  "PUMP IT UP," and make it seem things are better than they are. It helps that with his sociopathic mind, he believes if he thinks it, it must be true, which is another component of his damaged ego. (Ever notice how he's never wrong about anything. His ego can't handle being wrong. And if one has the audacity to say Trump's wrong, one can expect to be demeaned and criticized like a mortal enemy, which to his ego, you've become.) Ask Michael Cohen if you think I'm wrong. An adviser to Trump, who was being interviewed on BBC radio, said Trump would be loyal to you if you were loyal to him. What he meant was "If you were loyal to his damaged ego, he'd be loyal to you." That's not the same thing.  Needing to feed his damaged ego guarantees Trump will have "delusions of grandeur," where his actions are bigger and more important  than reality. His ego needs to think he could've stopped the war in Israel or Russia invading Ukraine. This also supports the need of Trump and his cult followers to look for others to blame their emblems on. For their beliefs to work, it's necessary that it must always be someone else's fault.

Gary Burt – Marble, Minnesota

Wrong thinking, Mr. Bracken

Charles Bracken, thank you for your letter to the Reader – Gun control? Not! Gun control? Yes! The 2nd Amendment does not say that all citizens should have guns. It says that well-trained citizen militia should have them. When the Constitution was written, the colonies did not have armies. I agree that hunters should have guns, but now pistols, assault weapons, et cetera, are available, so we have an epidemic of gun violence! We cannot be safe in shopping malls, other public places, churches nor schools! I am glad that I cosponsored handgun control legislation with your Sen. Conzemius of Canon Falls in the 1970s. President Reagan and his press secretary Jim Brady were shot in front of Hilton Hotel when I was a diplomat in Washington and happened to see it as I Was just below them with our son. Federal government enacted Minnesota law after that tragedy! How many children will die before the NRA and our chickenshit Congress will stop assault guns? Out of 100 children in the world that are killed with guns, 97 are in USA! The pro-life politicians are hypocrites! “Born again Christians,” 50 percent of Catholics and other ignorant people voted for Trump, who is neither a Republican nor pro-life! I worked with Abraham Lincoln Republicans, who are almost extinct. I miss them because they were better on many issues than Democrats.

Mike Jaros, extinguished politician – Duluth, Minnesota  

Champ or chump?

Now that closure seems apparent, we can exhale. The tortuous journey of waiting for the truth to unfold seemed faint. One bad apple had the throne for four years and went on a ruthless rampage. The damage inflicted on our democracy is nearly immeasurable. He sought eager minions to serve him with blind obedience. His bitterness has trapped him and now no one can hear him howl at the moon.

Gerald Norrgard – Duluth, Minnesota  

Pet peeve

Here we go again. Winter weather is here and the snow has fallen. All of the lazy dumbass people who won’t take a few minutes to clean the snow off their vehicle windows are hazardous on our roads. It’s equivalent to putting paper bags over our heads, as they put the pedal to the metal and drive around in their selfish little worlds, not thinking about other people and the lives they are endangering.

Ann Martin Duluth, Minnesota