Viewpoint: Midterm elections can’t come soon enough

Carl Davis

The majority of rational Americans now realize that Donald Trump’s presidency is solely about self-aggrandizement and personal enrichment, full stop. By his own admittance, Trump’s regard for American citizens is practically nonexistent beyond the rich and powerful. He continues to trample the Constitution and democratic norms, dismantle institutional checks and balances, and operates in contempt of the rule of law.

Our global credibility is in crisis, thanks to Trump’s whack-a-mole tariffs, senseless Iran War and sheer ignorance of world affairs. Almost an octogenarian, Trump’s mental acuity is seriously in question, as his prolific and bizarre late night tweets routinely attest.

Still, despite the constant Trump-generated mayhem, Montana’s four Republican Congressional representatives remain quiet as church mice. Responses to my phone calls and letters to Daines, Downing, Sheehy and Zinke about legislation and the state of the nation yield the familiar White House and MAGA talking points and pablum, as if written by brainwashed staffers inside a remote bunker with no outside contacts.

Despite their manly talk about “Montana values,” honesty, forthrightness and courage are supplanted by silence, obeisance and fear of retribution. Tribal loyalty is one thing. Watching unhinged Trump and cohorts run the country into the ground without voicing a single original thought is quite another. All hat, no cattle.

The November mid-term elections cannot come soon enough. It is time for Montanans,
whether generational or newbies, to return Montana to, at minimum, its former status as a purple state. Sensible Montanans recognize that such balanced Congressional representation works to everyone’s benefit over time and across a wide demographic spectrum. It can certainly work again. Please vote accordingly.

Carl Davis lives in Missoula