“This is one of the rudest audiences I’ve ever encountered,” said Sen. Roger Marshall in, of all places, Oakley, Kan.
Primarily elderly veterans and farmers attended the Saturday morning forum. And no, as Marshall’s staff later asserted, the forum was not purposefully packed with Democratic “operatives,” but rather those wanting answers.
After 40 minutes of being peppered with questions about federal cuts to programs that provide services to veterans and farmers, the United States’ waning support of Ukraine, and the outsized influence of Elon Musk, the Senator had had enough and called the meeting off.
The Oakley gathering came on the heels of Friday’s contentious encounter with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House. There, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukraine’s president as an unworthy beggar because he wasn’t “holding any cards,” as the president said.
Well, no. He’s dedicated everything during the past three years to defending his country from the giant of invaders: Russia. That pretty much uses up anyone’s stock.
On Saturday, Sen. Marshall said he’s ready to wash his hands of helping U.S. allies.
“Personally, I think we’ve done enough to help foreign conflicts,” he said.
But that’s not what Trump is saying.
Instead, he’s apparently siding — and taking the United States along with him — with Russia, the aggressor; Putin, the autocrat.
Trump is taking pages directly from Putin’s playbook. To wit:
• Rewriting history by blaming Ukraine for starting the war with Russia and even saying it “may be Russia someday;’
• Distorting the facts by handpicking which media outlets are allowed to ask him questions;
• Breaking our alliances with Western democracies by siding with Russia, North Korea, and a tiny bloc of Russian allies to vote against a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine;
• Endorsing Russian propaganda by refusing to acknowledge Putin’s guilt for murdering Russian activists such as Alexei Navalny or Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2016;
• Advocating for the election of the right-wing, pro-Russian, anti-NATO AfD party in Germany, and
• Pausing spying operations on Russia without any justification. On Saturday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered the U.S. military’s Cyber Command to halt offensive operations against Russia.
Members of Congress are our closest link to the President. If they are sincere in hearing our concerns, then they should have the fortitude to hear them out, as well as get the word out.
