News & Press

Dear Editor

I appreciate the core idea behind your column “No Kings – and no double standards,” but the opinion piece itself is riddled with double standards. It is loaded, in every sense of the word, with inaccuracies and false equivalencies, for example implying that government soldiers disappearing US citizens off the streets is justified because of “Antifa”. Spoiler: it is not.

Approximately 7.5 million people in this country marched in No Kings rallies on Oct 18 to oppose President Trump’s unbridled and illegal grab for power, marching in opposition to reckless abandonment of historical precedent and the rule of law itself… which is the behavior of someone who sees himself as king. Article 1 of the Constitution clearly states that Congress has the power to control spending, but Trump has illegally blocked the spending of funds Congress committed for the nation’s health, education, and safety. He ignores both emoluments clauses to greatly enrich himself and his family to a degree never seen before. He has turned the Justice Department into a tool for personal and political revenge. He is physically destroying the White House, the People’s House, to create a palace for himself and his robber baron billionaires. These are just a few of his attempts to undermine our Constitution, and therefore our democracy itself. And now there is talk of him violating the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, planning to remain in the White House long after 2028. So yes, we said “No Kings”.

This daily onslaught of lawlessness is unprecedented in our history, and yet you equate this assault on democracy with the Democrats nominating Vice President Kamala Harris for President without holding a full primary (without the time for one). False Equivalency! While the abridged nomination process might have been frustrating for some, there was nothing in the least bit illegal about it. She was, after all, the elected Vice President who had served a full term in that position, and was constitutionally Biden’s successor should he have been unable to serve. She even encouraged others to jump in to that quick race! However there are numerous historical precedents when no primary was held for presidential candidates - in fact, in 2020 the Republican parties of Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina, and New York canceled primaries, and Alaska and Kansas canceled caucuses to end challenges to Trump. 

You shame the Pentagon for trying to control the press and ask why there was not equal outrage when James O’Keefe’s rights as a journalist were “violated” by the FBI. Again, False Equivalency! O’Keefe was known to have Ashley Biden’s stolen diary in his possession, and more significantly, he had a well-established record of deceptively altering videos in order to falsify information. Raiding the apartment of a well known right-wing agitator with a loose claim to journalism is not remotely equivalent to the wholesale censorship of the press by the Pentagon. The Pentagon’s silencing of the press - while simultaneously shooting innocent civilians in boats - is a warning that this government will act in an authoritarian and fascist manner to silence anyone. 

The Biden administration’s attempts to stop social media from publishing inaccurate information about COVID treatments is not equivalent to the Pentagon trying to wholesale prevent the press from doing their jobs as journalists in regard to military actions. Civilian control of the military is another fundamental American democratic principle, as is freedom of the press. The Supreme Court threw out claims that the Biden administration unlawfully coerced social media companies to remove misinformation, conspiracy theory and AI bot generated content. Remember that in that pandemic, misinformation and intentional disinformation was literally costing people their lives by discouraging public health practices and encouraging unfounded treatments (remember ivermectin?). 

You justify ICE agents concealing their identity when they go on attack by saying their safety has been threatened. Should judges and elected officials also wear masks? How about police officers? They have all been attacked. But you fail to mention that ICE agents are operating under a different set of rules, terrorizing communities and ignoring the rule of law themselves by kidnapping people off the streets without evidence and without Miranda rights - actions that our police officers would never get away with because they enforce laws, while masked ICE agents are enforcing the raw political will of a narcissistic President with unchecked power. 

And yes, let’s please talk about “Antifa.” This has become the unhinged accusation that is consuming right wing media. Yes, there were some people who called themselves “Antifa” during the civil unrest after the George Floyd murder, and yes they were lawless and did damage, representing a small percentage of the Americans who protested at that time. Antifa is more of an idea - ANTI-FASCISM - than an actual membership organization, and the proportion of violence has been demonstrably exaggerated for political effect. And no, Soros is not funding Antifa - actually we all protested for FREE. Rioting is bad, but is not morally equivalent to the President unleashing a military operation on our streets, commanding ICE agents to commit lawlessness, stealing government funds from appropriated purposes to disappear people INCLUDING American citizens. Broken windows vs. unlawful kidnapping… both bad, but not the same! 

Trump is trying to criminalize dissent, using Antifa as a literal boogyman to label and criminalize any protester or group that resists, including those of us that attended NKD.(Long live Aunt Tifa, the septugenarian symbol of NKD!) He is making politically motivated decisions about funding to states, about paying the wages of government employees in the shutdown, using the government as a weapon against his enemies - and now, even which kids get to be fed.  We know exactly what Trump was trying to communicate with his scatological AI generated poop bombing video - he is not the President of all Americans, but only those who voted for him.

It's true. We will not stop talking about January 6, 2021. Because it was as clear then as it is now that Trump wanted to overthrow American democracy that day and allowed a literal attack on our institutions, that now continues in a different form. You knew what it was then, but you somehow rationalized it, excused it, pushed it to the side…and now here it is all around us. Breaking windows in protest is never okay, but especially not when those windows are in the US Capitol. It is time to boldly call Trump’s lawlessness for what it is, not couch it in some false equivalency that diminishes its impact on all of us.

Jennifer Colamonico

Chair, Putnam County Democratic Committee