Letter to the Editor

Editor:

The Republicans in Congress are at it again—playing politics in a crisis.

They’re conditioning financial aid to Ukraine and Israel on managing the U.S. Southern border. Good luck with that. Both political parties have pretended to try to solve the immigration problem for years, but for political reasons, neither party has put forth serious proposals to do so.

Republicans, in particular, love to cry and moan about what’s wrong, but rarely offer practical solutions. They pulled the same stunt with abolishing Obamacare. Remember how they relentlessly bemoaned it as bad healthcare, but never offered an alternative—despite countless empty promises from Trump that they’d be rolling out “better” plans “any day now”?

Now they’re standing in the way of aid to Ukraine and Israel. If Ukraine falls, Russian President Vladimir Putin benefits. If Israel falls, the ayatollahs in Iran benefit. But, of course, many Republicans have proved themselves traitors to the U.S. Constitution. What else can one call those who supported Donald Trump, the would-be dictator, in his attempts to overthrow the government when he was fairly and fairly and deservedly defeated in the 2020 election? (Fox News even cut into a recent live Trump rally in Iowa to correct his “untruths” about the last election – https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-cuts-off-donald-trump-iowa-rally-arthel-neville-1849215)

The wars in Ukraine and Israel are linked; Russia, Iran and Hamas are working together to destabilize democracies and upend the world order. And yet
Republicans play politics with desperately needed aid to both countries.

Whose side are they on anyway?

William J. Rothwell
State College