I want to express my appreciation of Gary Hooser’s Sept. 2 TGI letter responding to basic freedom of speech, “Mutual respect, civility and aloha needed more than ever.”
Although Gary and I have major different opinions of political issues and President Trump, I appreciate his defense of freedom of speech and expression and his acknowledgement of the unjustifiable destruction of private property in regards to the defacing of the Kapa‘a Trump banner, the theft of two more Trump banners and the breaking off of American flags displayed around the banners.
I was disappointed regarding one paragraph in Gary’s article, and I want to address where he wrote: “But we must not allow President Trump, nor his supporters, to goad us into negative behavior that accomplishes nothing except to justify their claims against us. As former first lady Michelle Obama has said, ‘When they go low, we go high.’”
President Trump, nor any of his supporters, are goading anybody into negative behavior. In response to Gary, if President Trump or any other person has a different opinion than his, we’re not goading you or anyone else. You’re just a bit too sensitive and are offended easily; thin skinned.
If President Trump offends you, may I quote Eagles drummer Don Henley, “get over it.” The problem is with those who have little or no self-control and have to act out in the cloak of darkness and secrecy, committing acts of civil disobedience that they know are clearly wrong. People are not being goaded. They are facing a difference of opinion.
Those who committed unlawful destruction of private property demonstrate that they don’t believe in freedom of speech. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. By the way, this is the second Trump banner that has been attacked in the last 30 days, because it, to, ,was torn down. In 2016, four Trump banners were knocked down and destroyed in Kapa‘a and ‘Oma‘o and two were defaced at the Kapa‘a bypass traffic circle and on Rice Street.
Michelle Obama, quoting her husband, former President Barack Obama, at the 2016 DNC National Convention, said “When they go low, we go high” is quite hypocritical, when it’s been clearly revealed by the present federal Department of Justice, that the Obama administration weaponized the IRS, the FBI, the DOJ and CIA, which are the subject of a massive investigation by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham in conjunction with U.S. Attorney General, William Barr’s office.
The Obama administration will probably end up as one of the most corrupt administrations that tried to destroy an opposing political campaign, a newly inaugurated president, presidential transition and a presidency. So much for the hypocritical claim, “When they go low, we go high.”
I guess Sen. Hillary Clinton didn’t heed former President Obama’s advice at the 2016 DNC National Convention when, on Sept. 9, 2016, at a campaign fundraising event, she described half of the supporters of her opponent, Republica n nominee Donald Trump, saying, “They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenoophobic.” The next day, she expressed regret for “saying half” (secretly she probably wanted to say all), while insisting that Trump had deporably amplified “hateful view and voices.” Gary Hooser, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who’s calling the kettle black?
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Steve Yoder is a resident of Wailua Homesteads and chair of the Republican Party on Kaua‘i.
