“When somebody is president of the United States, the authority
is total.”
DONALD J. TRUMP, APRIL 13, 2020
Enough is enough.
This newspaper concerns itself with the affairs of Boone County, Illinois and neighboring communities.
Our mission is the betterment of Belvidere, and the villages surrounding it.
Although this newspaper has been outraged by the antics of President Donald J. Trump during the past
three-plus years, we have held our tongues, even when Mr. Trump was impeached. Consistent with our
mission as a local newspaper, we have publicly condemned the Trump Administration on only three
occasions:
Mr. Trump’s attack on the health care of Boone Countians.
Mr. Trump’s bigoted remarks and those of his Vice President and Attorney General, which affect
the well-being and safety of Boone Countians of color.
Mr. Trump’s threats against the employees of the National Weather Service, who warned against
Trump’s ridiculous claim that Hurricane Dorian was a threat to Alabama. The National Weather
Service keeps Boone County apprised in the event of threatening weather, and an attack against
their integrity is an attack against us.
After Donald J. Trump’s claim of “total authority” on Monday, April 13, Mr. Trump sent three messages via
the Twitter service four days later on Friday, April 17, directing his sycophants to “LIBERATE
MINNESOTA”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd
Amendment.” Not surprisingly, demonstrators attempted to blockade the Michigan State Capitol and
brandished semiautomatic firearms.
This is the very definition of sedition.
With the words “Real journalism for a real democracy” appearing in every issue of this newspaper for the
past twenty-four years, we cannot allow these chilling, dangerous, and outrageous utterances to stand
unchecked.
While Mr. Trump’s devoted disciples will justify these statements as “Just Trump being Trump,” we ask
them where is the line between “Trump being Trump” and a serious violation of President Trump’s oath of
office to defend the Constitution of the United States. The separation of powers is a sacred hallmark of
the American system of government. This nation was specifically founded on the rejection of monarchial,
dictatorial rule. Words do matter, and so do deeds.
Donald J. Trump’s statements on April 13 and April 17, 2020 disqualify him from serving as President of
the United States.
This nation, and indeed the world, finds itself in time of peril. A deadly, highly contagious virus is gripping
the entire planet. This pandemic has, in a few short months, killed many, and taken multiple lives in
Boone and McHenry Counties. The grim forecast includes the death of millions more and threatens to
ravage the world’s economy as well. Bread lines have formed in Boone County and elsewhere.
This is a time when we need leadership. Many have risen to the cause, and are doing their utmost to
preserve lives. Countless others worldwide have practiced social distancing, often accompanied by great
personal sacrifice. Others, like President Trump, have treated this as a political opportunity. Governors
of states who are trying to save lives have found the need to coddle Mr. Trump’s fragile ego and his need
for continuous praise in order to obtain the lifesaving equipment residents of their states deserve. The
video and audio record of Mr. Trump speaks for itself.
Mr. Trump is incapable of admitting even the slightest of his mistakes, is devoid of empathy for anyone
but himself, cannot contain his temper, and is a habitual liar. Again, these charges are well-documented
by widely accessible video records of Donald J. Trump’s conduct. These are not the qualities of an
effective leader.
Despite it being a lie worthy of Pinocchio, and a videotape to the contrary, we will suspend disbelief and
assume that Mr. Trump was indeed being “sarcastic” when he proposed injecting disinfectants last week
on April 24. We ask his acolytes and other supporters if “sarcasm” is appropriate at a time when 50,000
Americans have lost their lives to the coronavirus, with unquestionably many more obituaries to come.
Sympathy cards have become difficult to find in the card racks of many communities. We ask our
Republican friends who back Donald J. Trump if they would have found it appropriate for Lyndon Johnson
to have been “sarcastic” over the deaths of American soldiers in Vietnam. The American casualties of
coronavirus have already surpassed the American death toll from that conflict.
We are not going to blame Donald J. Trump for the coronavirus, nor the obvious initial mismanagement of
the crisis in China, whether or not that occurred in Hubei Province or by the Government in Beijing. But
we do believe that Mr. Trump’s denials, unpreparedness, and lack of aggressive action has made the
crisis worse. Mr. Trump may personally thrive on creating chaos, but chaos, as entertaining as some of
his supporters may find it, is not in the best interests of the people of the United States or the rest of the
world. Nor is it appropriate for someone the likes of that to have the codes to launch a nuclear war.
For these reasons, we find Donald J. Trump unfit for public office.
Isn’t it time to stop making excuses for Donald J Trump?
We ask those who still support him—to be quite blunt—is it your hatred for minorities (clandestine or
otherwise), resentment of “elites,” and/or your “right” to brandish semi-automatic weapons on the grounds
of a state capitol that is so central to your personage that you are willing to support Donald J. Trump no
matter how he behaves? Are there any limits? When is enough enough?
Republicans do us a disservice. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center noted that 41 percent of
Democratic registered voters are not happy with a Democratic nominee for the 2020 election being a
“white man in his 70s”.
Republicans should nominate someone other than Donald J. Trump in Charlotte. Of course, Mike Pence
is a joke, but what about Marco Rubio, John Kasich, or Mitt Romney? What if Republicans actually
nominated someone who gave Democrats a plausible option to abandon Joe Biden? While Mr. Biden is
not nearly as odious as Mr. Trump, his record troubles us, and we find him one of the least desirable of
this year’s crop of Democratic candidates. At the Democratic County Chairmen’s Breakfast this past
summer, there was no support among the party faithful for Joe Biden. We’ve attended a number of other
partisan functions where the enthusiasm for Mr. Biden was no greater. But, with a candidate like Donald
J. Trump as their nominee, the Republicans are as culpable as the Democratic National Committee
operatives in shoving the unwanted Joe Biden in reasonable voters’ faces.
We expect that Donald J. Trump will be the Republicans’ nominee. That’s too bad. We need a president
who will be there for us in the next four years, not a seditious liar. America could use a miracle in both
Milwaukee and Charlotte this summer.
We are not going to dwell on this issue. Perhaps we should. We are in for some difficult times. Instead,
we intend to stick to our central issue, the future prosperity of Boone County. Our community has
become a very stagnant place, with a number of serious challenges. For its own good, the “business as
usual” attitude in Boone County needs to change
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