Support for NPR reporter; Trump as ‘advocate of religious liberty’
Support for NPR reporter
As a member and volunteer of WPSU-FM, 91.5, I am writing to express my support for Mary Louise Kelly, who is an NPR reporter. She was recently verbally abused by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a most offensive manner. She was doing her job in a professional and conscientious manner asking questions that Secretary Pompeo needs to answer. He shouted expletives at her and made untrue accusations.
How does his behavior as a high ranking official look to young people? Our schools are striving to reduce bullying among students. Pompeo’s behavior completely nullifies those efforts. If government leaders can engage in this kind of cruel behavior, students will ask: Why can’t we? What kind of example does Pompeo’s behavior model? This administration, from the top down, seems to think yelling, name calling, ridicule, vulgar language is appropriate for our country’s leaders. I strongly disagree. We must bring back civility at all levels of government and show the upcoming generation this is not the way decent people behave.
Trump as ‘advocate of religious liberty’
Mark Galli in his condemnation of the prayer of Evangelicals for Trump shows his lack of understanding of the Scripture. I realize that if I pray the Scripture, I know I am in God’s will. Isaiah (54:17): “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord. Here is another: (Ephesians 2:4-7) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” So rather than making an idol out of Trump, all Christians have the position of being seated with Christ. He won that for us on the cross. I pray this every day for everyone on my prayer list, including President Trump. Lord, protect them in body, mind and spirit from all the assaults of the evil one. I pray that no weapon formed against them will prosper but be rendered useless in the great ocean of your love and power.
Trump has been an advocate of religious liberty, very pro-life and a friend of Israel.
A genuine trial or a cover-up?
On Jan. 26, the New York Times reported: “President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.”
Bolton’s assertion constitutes first-hand evidence that President Trump attempted to bribe Ukraine into providing him with a personal political favor – an investigation into the Bidens that would benefit him in the 2020 presidential campaign – in return for his release of congressionally appropriated funds that he had no legal authority to withhold.
Trump’s attempt to bribe Ukraine corresponds with his general approval of bribery. A new book, “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America,” reveals that Trump disapproved of America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which outlawed bribery. Worse, Trump showed his profound ignorance of and contempt for law in general by ridiculously ordering Stephen Miller to draft an executive order that would repeal it (page 171).
Finally, the Times’ article places pressure on the U.S. Senate to conduct a proper impeachment trial – one that actually includes the subpoenaing of documents and witnesses. Given that Mr. Bolton has expressed a willingness to testify to the Senate, a vote by 51 Republican Senators against seeking documents and against calling witnesses clearly will be viewed as a shameful cover-up servicing the rendering of a bogus acquittal of Trump.