By Doug Vieyra
With the new Russian Ambassador, Donald Trump, in the White House, it will be extremely difficult I know, but — America does desperately need a modern-day Charlie Wilson (Charles Nesbitt Wilson – 1933-2010) in the U.S. Congress.
It need not be another Texas Congressman, but there must be someone in the Republican Party that has the courage and backbone to stand up to Vladimir Putin’s henchman in the White House. Charlie Wilson (12-term Democrat, Texas Second District, 1972-1996) had the vision (and backbone) to drive the invading Russian hoards out of Afghanistan in the 1980s, now we need another Charlie Wilson to save the innocent people of Ukraine, both from Putin and from his zealous sycophant, Donald Trump.
Of course, I know that one man will quickly be ‘run over’ by the Trump steamroller (or to use Putin’s tactic, “Fall out of a Window”), but behind the scenes there must be enough Republicans who can form a collective and robust coalition to form a strong united front that can present a sane Republican alternative to the Russian Surrogate Donald Trump.
It is so sad that today we find such shallow thinkers who do not believe in either democracy or critical thought; not to mention using assumptions to replace meaningful and thoughtful deliberation, or acceptance of divergent thought. I was always fearful of Trump’s myopic and shallow understanding of Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat; that notwithstanding, I was hoping for something better than what he seemed likely to do. So, I gambled and voted for Trump.
However, the straw that ‘broke the camel’s back’ for me and for a great many others, was his crude, bullying, and downright mean treatment of a foreign leader (Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky), in an obviously orchestrated vicious and brutal attack on the television show Trump held in the Oval Office.
Most of the Democratic Party can support the idea of Russia being a ‘bully of the neighborhood’, however, without some strong Republican support in both houses of Congress, the modern-day Charlie Wilson will not be able to survive the ruthless brutality of the ogre who now dominates the lemmings who blindly follow Donald Trump.
Speaking of the Republican lemmings (and also of the Democratic lemmings), I am reminded of the 1940 fable by James Thurber, “The Owl Who Was God”. Sadly, its message still resonates today and still makes a good read today.
Charlie Wilson — where are you?
Doug Vieyra is a Kneeland resident.
