"A picture says 1,000 words," the adage goes.
As the picture above shows, Stark County's leading Republican leaders:
- Stark County commissioner Bill Smith (then candidate Bill Smith),
- Stark Count commissioner Richard Regula,
- Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar,
- Stark County GOP vice president Jane Timken (now Trump supported Ohio GOP chair),
- Stark County Republican chair Jeff Matthews, and
- Stark County 50th House District Christina Hagan
in deciding to show up in September, 2016 to a Donald J. Trump campaign rally were "all-in" with the most outrageous major political party candidate to ever run for president of the United States of America.
Not there because of a "prior commitment," but equally supportive of the incorrigible Trump at that time, was Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton. Countywide, Creighton is the most powerful vote getting candidate that today's local Republican Party has to offer.
In an Op-ed piece in The Repository yesterday former WHBC talk show host Ron Ponder (Points to Ponder) in writing about the Trump presidency to date (Sometimes I hate to be right) had these poignant questions to ask of our local/Ohio politicos:
But what about local Republicans in locales like Stark County? Where do they stand? With Trump? And where do the candidates for state offices stand, such as the Republican candidates for governor? Do they support this man? Do they support his policies? Do they support his methods?
Will the Republican Party itself be identified as being racist? Will this perception of the Republican Party “trickle down” to DeWine, Husted, Renacci and Taylor, Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidates? Would it be fair to do that? Should they answer for the sins of Trump?It is "fitting and proper" to ask the posed questions of politicians that many of us rub shoulders with.
Compliments to Ponder for devoting yesterday's piece to pointing the "accountability" finger at local/Ohio political leaders. The only thing missing was at the Stark County level; naming names.
The Stark County Political Report (SCPR) does name names and, of course, show pictures of those named "in action."
Moreover, it was a bit bizarre to see the 50ish Jane Timken acting the high school cheerleader at the Trump sited Canton rally of September, 2016.
Back to the Ponder piece: "Should they answer for the sins of Trump?"
Indeed, they should except perhaps for Mike DeWine who seems to have kept a "I'm not too sure about this guy" distance from the irrepressible president.
Ponder does not mention him, but Republican and Governor John Kasich is to be lauded for his sense of political decency and his intuitive reflect of "ya know, there is something highly troubling about this guy" as a president of the U.S. stance.
Back on July 28, 2016 (right after Trump in mid-July had been nominated as the Republican Party candidate for president), Ponder emceed, in the wake of police/African-American citizen confrontations sprinkled across the nation, a local forum on police/community relations at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
Before the event got underway, Ponder asked me what I thought of the Trump phenomenon.
My response: "I can't get beyond (the largely Trumpian) lack of 'civility' aspect" of his rise to the head of the national Republican Party let alone his inflammatory policy pronouncements along with his disrespectful of women, Muslims, African-Americans and others rhetoric.
- Lying Ted,
- Little Marco,
- "Many lies by Ben Carson,"
- "Nasty," (Jeb Bush), and
- "No honor," (Lindsey Graham),
Nor should they.
However, in embracing Trump (September, 2016), they all showed an incredible lack of sound judgement on discerning minimally acceptable political campaigning behavior or, alternatively, are so blinded to and by Republican Party political interests that they reveal themselves as being suspect in assessing and acting in the public interest over and above their political party identity.
As they stand now, the likes of Matthews, Hagan, Smith, Regula, Creighton, Zumbar, Timken, Renacci, Taylor and Husted have a lot of explaining to do.
Moreover, they carry the burden of offering that their "all-out" support of Trump was a rare mis-step in judgement not to be repeated.
Silence is not good enough.
A recent poll shows that most Americans including many Republicans are embarrassed by the rhetoric of Donald J. Trump.
The question is as a follow up to the Ponder Op-ed: Are our Stark County Republican leaders sufficiently embarrassed in having supported Trump for president willing to admit in having made a "mistake in judgement" that has brought harm to the United States of America?
If not, Stark Countians should weigh-in on the lack of an apology in their having engaged the insupportable misjudgment in having backed the caustic Trump in any their future election/re-election bids.
