Respect and Perspective
10:40 p.m. March 4, 2025: I watched it all, near two hours, of #47’s speech to Congress; and then the approximately 10 minute Democrat response of Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. There is nothing new in the President’s script. Sen. Slatkin’s response is on-line here, take the time to watch and listen, and especially make note of her three recommendations.
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Also, March 1, here
Friday was the shameful ambush of Ukraine President Zelinskyy in the Oval Office at the White House. It was a shameless rampage of bullies in my House but not in my name. Nonetheless, all of us are tarnished by the spectacle of a few brutes.
Tomorrow night the President speaks to a joint session of the U.S. Congress and Senate. I will write a short note to my Congresswoman and my two Senators today. The message will be brief, and it is my position on this matter (FYI my Senators and Congresswoman are all Democrats):
“I strongly support Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people. I also support freedom of speech, though a prime ethic learned almost from the cradle is to value the truth, a commodity in very short supply these days of mis- and dis-information. I will do all I can as an individual; all I ask is your public witness in support of Ukraine.”
Here is a photo of the Ukraine student delegation as they arrived in Minneapolis in August 17, 2023. I can’t attribute the source, someone sent it to me. I saw these students at another setting on August 22 – they speak for themselves.
We will be absolutely awash in “information” this week, as always. I put the word in quotations, since it is a fool’s errand to find truth among pious pronouncements.
Yesterday, looking for something else, I found some newspaper items from June, 2023, a couple of months before these students arrived in Minneapolis. The pdf is a dozen pages and includes at least 7 letters to the editor by citizens with varied points of view. Here it is: Ukraine Star Tribune June 2023. I know several of the writers. And I have had more than a casual acquaintance with one of the organizations mentioned. It may assist you in your own personal positioning.
But that is irrelevant to this conversation.
About all I ask is that we demand that our democracy continues, rather than ends in a trash heap as is now becoming more and more apparent. The task isn’t an easy one, but as I’ve said before, there are at least 75 million of us who marked our ballot for an alternative vision; and certainly among the 77 million who voted differently, and 90 million who didn’t vote at all, there are some who would feel differently if there was a do over of November 5, 2024.
August of 2023, I was invited to say a few words to the entire assembled group. All that I recall. saying for certain was “Slava Ukraini“. The kids understood. Last night someone uttered the same during the annual Oscars program.
PERSONALLY, I have been more than moderately involved in issues of peace and justice for many years, most especially since the tragedy of 9-11-01 where I felt our countries reaction – essentially vengeance – was not in our long term interest.
My personal bent is towards peace and justice. At the same time, I come from a very long background of military service, including my own, and a grandson who’s a present day Marine. It would be nice to live in a perfect world of peace and justice, but this has never been part of the human condition. There is always a new generation of despots who feel like they’ve figured out how to beat the system, which never works, but that makes no difference. One leaves and another follows. So the work is endless. Democracy, which is messy, is far better that the varieties of dictatorship that inflict us, including in the present day. I prefer the mess of Democracy, where people of differing points of view try to work things out. That was helpful in my career representing public school teachers.
POSTSCRIPT: Check back at this space probably Thursday, March 6, for post-Tuesday evening thoughts. I solicit yours as well.
Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American for March 3 is important reading, I feel. Also, Paul Krugman on Canada.
COMMENTS:
from Stephen: The Kremlin addresses Congress tonight
from Fred, from a conservative who went to Cuba in 1959: In the end, I don’t want my tax money going to any foreign leader more deferential than Zelensky to high political mucketymucks who negotiate over his head with aggressors. The US needs fierce and fearless allies, not lackeys. If the Oval Office conference didn’t go as expected, where does the fault lie — with the master negotiator who wrote The Art of the Deal, or the comedian-turned-warrior who refused helicopter evacuation and demanded ammunition?
I’m glad I happen to be reading Russia just at the time of the Zelensky-Trump crisis. It goes far to explain the world Z grew up in and inhabits, the relentlessness and inhumanity of the juggernaut he has been withstanding for three years now, and the difficulty or impossibility of getting business-oriented dealmaking Americans to understand it. The incommensurability is summarized in the absurd numbers of people convicting Z of “disrespect” for coming to meet Trump wearing the green track suit that has been his trademark since February 24, 2022. Sixty-five years ago Castro came to DC in his signature fatigues and nobody had a problem:
In the junk at my grandparents North Dakota farm I found a college text, “A History of Latin America” by Prof Hubert Herring, Second Edition Revised, 1961, Alfred Knopf. The last paragraph of the chapter on Cuba said this at page 422: “Reflecting upon the sorry state of Cuba in 1960, the onlooker could say that two things are reasonably clear: Cuba was indeed overdue for a revolution, and revolutions are never mild and gentlemanly.” Anyone with even a small interest in history and seniority in life, knows why Herring wrote that last sentence about the time preceding his revision; and what happened the next year and what we’ve caused to endure for the following 64 years….
from Jeff: the whole thing is like a performance… I mean the presidency…he trashes Zelensky, the Brits and French, tells Zelensky he has to make up somehow, now comes the news the mineral deal may be back on and Trump may be touting it tonight and of course telling the world his rude shit provoked the Zelensky kneeling….
Today the markets sell off again, wiping out all the gains since his election victory …and now comes the rumor that he is considering pausing or doing some carveouts on the 25% tariffs on Mex and Canada……its like crazytown….businesspeople cannot plan for this,
from Stephen to President Zelenskyy: Dear President Zelenskyy, I am a Vietnam Veteran who co founded Veterans for Peace in the 1980’s, and am now a member of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers who helped host a number of students from your country. My wife and I have attended many events hearing speakers about your country, especially at the Ukrainian Center in Minneapolis. We appreciate how our Senator Amy Klobuchar has strongly spoken on behalf of your country. Having been in combat myself, I know bravery when I see it, and we certainly are witnessing that from your resistance to Putin….thank You …Steve
from Ruth, in Canada: Canadians are pretty angry right now and feeling very anti-American. I had a Letter to the Editor of the Wpg Free Press saying we should retaliate against Red States and not punish the people who voted Democrat like Minnesota. Most Canadians don’t know the difference between Red States and Blue States. We will be retaliating on tariffs, and prices will go up, people lose their jobs and lots of Trump voters will be hurt. It is so nunecessary. We know it is hard on Democrats and Trump enemies. I was disgusted what he did to President Zelenskyy last Friday. I was watching the press conference in real time. Mezmerizing! Horrible! I am sure you agree. I think Trump wants to take over Canada and get our resources cheap. He is damaging our economy and threatening our sovereignty. Canadians are refusing to travel to the US, boycotting American goods and selling their US real estate. Our PM said today that a lot of people on both sides of the border are going to get hurt. It was all so avoidable! I think he is a modern Hitler.
I have no plans to watch or listen to that arrogant, narcissistic, five time draft dodging clown!
On the other hand and to be fair here, donnee did end the war in Ukraine and Gaza and bring down inflation his first day in office just as he promised, something that too many voters actually believed that he could and would do. He and President Musk are otherwise doing exactly as the votes wanted them to do.