Letters: MAGA faithful at Trump trial; Thompson’s Farm Bill must address impact of climate change

MAGA faithful at Trump trial

The escalating corruption of our democracy is evidenced by the daily lineup of elected officials at a Manhattan courthouse. The MAGA faithful, including a handful of vice-presidential hopefuls, are there to pledge their allegiance to the first former president ever to face a criminal trial, and to hurl the broadsides that a gag order prevents Trump from launching himself.

Comically decked out in matching suits and red ties, these so-called public servants displayed a level of submission and subservience demanded of kings.

Senators and Representatives are paid to enact legislation on behalf of their constituents. So many Republican Representatives attended Trump’s trial that at least one committee hearing had to be held at night.

These lawmakers take an oath to uphold the Constitution, which specifies separation of powers across three branches of government. Their presence demonstrated utter contempt for an independent judiciary.

Consider the shocking attacks on the judiciary by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, second in line for the presidency, who assailed the Trump trial as an illegitimate “sham” and declared Trump “innocent of these charges.” Johnson attacked the judge, sought to discredit witnesses, and basically told the jury to ignore the evidence presented — virtually everything the gag order prevents Trump from saying. This from a man who previously claimed that Trump “lacks character and moral center.”

Imagine how long we’d be employed if we took paid time off work to attend a friend’s criminal trial — and to act as the defendant’s mouthpiece to trash our employer.

Thompson’s Farm Bill must address impact of climate change

There are two bills currently in Congress, one in the Senate sponsored by Senator Stabenow (Michigan) and the other in the House sponsored by our own Glenn Thompson. The Senate bill contains a detailed proposal that puts climate-resiliency as its priority and ensures long-term funding for PA farmers to continue conservation efforts, preserve farmland, and natural habitats, according to Stabenow. Thompson’s Farm Bill will slash climate-smart agriculture funding and cut protections for farmers — including the many farmers he directly represents in western and central PA, and represents a fundamental attack on climate-smart agriculture practices that will lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, worse soil health, and weakens the resilience of our farms and food systems, according to the environmental group Penn Future.

We would like to see Representative Thompson not follow the illogical and ideological policy of systematically dismissing the impact of climate change on farming. He should accept the science espoused by nearly every climate scientist of standing, as well as the vast majority of the faculty of the agricultural university in his district.