by Tom Koch, Sr.
I have been a lifelong Republican. I remain active in the Barre Town, Washington County, and Vermont State GOP committees. I will be voting for Republican candidates this fall. However, I am totally fed up with the antics of our President Donald J. Trump.
He has started a war that he does not know how to finish, resulting in gas prices in excess of $4.00 per gallon.
He has imposed tariffs at will, with or without authority, the cost of which is inevitably inflationary and borne by us—the consumers.
He has insulted our friends (Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, and others) by suggesting that all or parts of their lands ought to be part of the United States.
He and his appointees have allowed ICE to run amok, exceeding its lawful jurisdiction, thereby putting its proper mission in jeopardy while violating the constitutional rights of innocent people.
He has demonstrated his egocentricity by replacing the names of public places with his own name and by ordering the construction of monuments and facilities (the East Wing ballroom and the arch on the Mall, e.g.) which will forever be associated with him.
And just in the last few days, he has promised to pay every adult U.S. citizen $5,000.00, provided Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress in the coming elections—at a cost of $1.3 trillion, which would be highly inflationary and stick our grandchildren with the bill!
That is the short list. There is much more; every day we need to hold our breaths to see what the President decided to do when he woke up this morning. Short of employing the 25th Amendment, Donald Trump is likely to remain President of the United States until January 20, 2029. That is the law, and we must obey it, but I no longer recognize him as “my” president or as a Republican, and that leads me to the real reason I have chosen to offer these thoughts publicly.
We have an election coming up in less than two months, and I fear that some voters might tend to think of the Trump operation in Washington, D.C. and the work of local and state Republican candidates in Vermont as one and the same. They are not! Whatever Trump and his people may be up to has nothing to do with what our Vermont candidates propose to do as State officers and as members of the Vermont legislature come January.
Our candidates for State and Legislative office are concentrated not on national, but on state issues, things such as education reform and property tax relief; full funding of the highway fund so as to enable proper maintenance of our bridges and roads; proper support for law enforcement and bail reform; permit and finance reform; and much more. These things our candidates pledge to tackle head on in January; they also happen to be things the Democrats with their majorities and super-majorities have promised to fix in the past but have failed to do, or in some cases—criminal law, for example—have actually made worse.
As you consider how to use your votes, I ask you, first, not to conflate Vermont Republicans and Trump Republicans. They are vastly different in temperament, in authority, and in the issues they will be dealing with. And while I expect to get lambasted by a few friends who are loyal to Donald Trump, I believe that the majority of grass roots, individual Republicans in Vermont are also disillusioned with the performance of the President, but they also realize that there’s not much they can actually do to change that. Yes, replacing the loud, disrespectful voice of Becca Balint with the dignified and reasonable approach of Gerald Malloy will be an improvement, but in reality, that’s only one vote out of 435.
On the state level, we can do no better than maintaining the present course with the leadership team of Governor Phil Scott and Lt. Governor John Rodgers. And in the Washington Senate District (Washington County plus the towns of Braintree, Orange, and Stowe) we are proud to support three common-sense, ordinary citizens: businessman and former legislator Rob LaClair; Barre Town farmer Chris Neddo; and music teacher and band leader Peter Schmeeckle. Please listen to these people as they campaign over the next two months, and compare what they say and believe to the accomplishments or failures of the three incumbents.
My friend, the late Ralph Wright, former Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives, used to emphasize that “all politics is local.” I think he was absolutely correct, and it’s extremely important this year to look at the needs in Montpelier as opposed to the circus in Washington.