A WWII-era quote came to mind this week.
“First they came for the communists, then the socialists, then the trade unionists, then the Jews and I was none of these so I did not speak out. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me” (Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller).
Deportation of immigrants has been the publicized issue, but the new administration’s targets are much broader. It targets anyone exercising their right to freedom of speech if they disagree with Trump.
A GOP chair of the House Intelligence Committee was removed from his position because he expressed ideas the new president didn’t like.
A pregnant Democratic Representative’s request to vote remotely was denied. Reason? Voting remotely was declared “unconstitutional,” yet Speaker Mike Johnson has voted remotely nearly 40 times.
The Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard was fired — a white female.
I was born in Seattle to parents not yet citizens. I would have been denied my constitutional right to citizenship.
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, a white female, told Trump, “As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared.”
A GOP Congressman urged her deportation and Trump demanded an apology.
Meanwhile, the promise to lower food prices and housing costs weren’t even mentioned in the inaugural address. Are these the changes Trump voters asked for? Doubt it.
Norma Turner
Port Angeles