Normally, the silly season that is politics is generally just a bunch of promises made by people who don’t have to pay for them. Instead, we do.
And, it usually involves both parties to one degree or a worse degree, with the latter often being Democrats. More taxes, more restrictions on liberty, more calling the U.S. a democracy — not a republic as it was created.
This year, however, knocking much of the general political hum drum off the news was the failed attempted assassination of former President Trump and the tragic death of the firefighter protecting his family in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Predictably, pathetic liberals were upset the shooter missed and posted about it online. Politics is nasty, but I thought this reaction by anyone was particularly evil.
Equally troubling were the facts coming out about security at the event. Actually, to be more accurate, the lack of security. A 20-year-old kid defeated a mess of law enforcement officers and shot multiple times into the crowd and nearly struck President Trump. And the information since then, although sketchy (largely because those that have it refused to share it even with oversight committees), has led to widespread rumors and leaks by whistleblowers about what we saw on that day.
People at the site saw the shooter and pointed at him. Somehow, that was ignored. Or maybe worse, communications between various agencies were poor due to tools they had that day. Radios, phones, hand signals, flash cards and witnesses yelling apparently were not enough.
One of the things I thought as I watched it was, “why were there no drones in the sky?” I know they have them, and I know they restrict airspace at events like this, so why not today? It turns out there was a drone, but it belonged to the shooter, which seems odd then that security wouldn’t want to know more about that.
But I have no doubt one day soon the FBI will find out the details of this. And perhaps they’ll find the owner of the cocaine that appeared in the White House some time ago. But first, they have to round up all the older ladies peacefully protesting at a abortion clinics, convict them and be sure they are in prison for a couple years.
Then they can get to the assassination attempt.
As for the Secret Service, they have to work harder, not at being better, but making sure the diversity, equity and inclusion policies are properly implemented. Because, as they say, implementing policy of color, gender or some other non-performance criteria is far more important than merit.
Locally, in the other Washington, we have elections for governor down to locals and, after reviewing my voters pamphlet, I am sure of only one thing. There are a lot of people I don’t know.
I have usually said parties are not my first concern about people I know, but we have evolved so far to the left, I’ve had to reconsider at the state level. I can’t vote Democrat. Abortion is a deal breaker for me, but so is crime and illegal aliens, human trafficking, taxes, electric vehicles and more.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson is running for governor, and I saw an ad he ran talking about the low number of cops we have here and how that's unacceptable. He’s right, of course, but he fails to acknowledge they (Democrats) ran cops off with their foolish policies, and he’s just promising something our all Democrat-controlled state won’t do. But it sounds good. Why do we need more cops anyway? Crime is down, isn't it? At least they keep saying it is.
Of course, if you don’t charge people who should be, or have intimidated cops from deterring crime because they get pummeled if they do, of course it looks down. But if you’re a victim and your only option is to call in a report and leave a message, well, your view may be somewhat different and you might be left feeling helpless. And you may not call them at all.
I’ll be supporting whoever is the Republican candidate for governor but, having worked with Dave Reichert, I like him right now.
There are lots of reasons to be concerned about the election just a few months away. Will only legal votes be counted? Will my candidate win? Will the elites of our country threatening to leave if they don’t get their way really go?
I can only hope.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
