LETTER: ‘Bone-spur draft dodger’ orders attack on patriot, GOP obeys

To Ozaukee Press:

After a lifetime of patriotic service to “duty, honor, country,” a great American patriot, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, is forced to endure fantastical attacks on his character and truthfulness by the true enemies of the people and our democracy—the right-wing media and their enslaved Republican politicians who have been ordered to the attack by a man those of us who have served would call a cowardly bone-spur draft dodger.

Make no mistake, those who would bear false witness against this patriot would, and will, do the same to any other man or woman of honor who dares to speak the truth. Belligerence and mendacity are their only remaining weapons, and they will fire them with complete indifference and callousness at anyone who threatens their raw, ill-begotten power.

Try to comprehend: What remains of the Republican Party is willing, even determined, to literally destroy the reputation, or in some cases threaten the lives, of anyone willing to speak truth to their perverse power. Today they threaten the reputation of Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. and Col. Vindman.

Yesterday they eviscerated Hillary Clinton with endless lies and empty, meaningless investigations, and today they are caught extorting foreign governments to manufacture filth about Joe Biden, another great American public servant and patriot, not because they believe he has really done anything wrong, but totally because they believe that an “investigation” of any kind will satisfy the blood lust of Trump’s base.

The behavior of Trump and his Republican cult of supplicants has claimed the presidency through a shroud of lies and misrepresentations. In the end, the question is: Will we allow them to hold it the same way?

Donald Harvey
Port Washington