Trumpism is a local issue; local Republicans should be held to account for it
The Tribune Editorial Board says local Republican office seekers shouldn’t be held to account for President Trump’s “drama.”
Its Nov. 7 editorial – “Donald Trump’s drama isn’t a local issue. Don’t drag him into SLO County politics” – implies local Republican office seekers shouldn’t be required to discuss Trump at all with voters.
Elections are coming up next year. The Republican president is, among other efforts, dismantling California’s clean air standards, threatening oil drilling along our coast and — oh, right! — he’s being impeached.
Yet The Tribune says local Democratic candidates should focus on their own merits and on local issues, and not the most historic state and national issues of our time.
What, and ignore President Trump’s war on California and San Luis Obispo County?
Seriously?
“Don’t go there,” the Tribune’s Nov. 7 editorial scolds Democrats specifically. “Don’t point the finger at local candidates running for county supervisor or mayor or school district trustee and demonize them as evil ‘Trumpers’ because they belong to the Republican Party.”
Apparently, The Tribune believes it isn’t polite to discuss unpleasant truths during political campaigns. We should blithely act as if everything’s normal — which clearly it’s not.
I’ve been a subscriber of, reporter for and opinion contributor to the Tribune for more than 43 years. I’ve always found its editorials to be thoughtful and well-reasoned, even if I haven’t agreed with them all.
Not this time.
This is disturbing on so many levels. First, this apparently means The Tribune believes local candidates should ignore Trump’s assault on our coast and environment.
Are local candidates also to refrain from reminding voters of Trump’s demand for fracking in our environmentally delicate Carrizo Plain?
Are they to ignore Trump’s attack on California’s vehicle emission laws and longstanding right to establish our own air pollution regulations, his rollback of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act?
Are local candidates not to mention Trump’s tax cuts have drastically increased taxes on Californians by capping mortgage interest deductions on homes valued at more than $500,000?
Are Democrats to give local Republicans a pass on their support for — or silent approval of — all these Trump policies directly harmful to the environment, economy and residents of SLO County?
Are Dem candidates to pay no mind to local Republicans’ refusal to repudiate Trump’s attacks on our state or to defend our communities and our values against Trump’s constant barrage of insults?
The Tribune won’t require our Republican Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham to explain where he stands on Trump’s routine threats to pull emergency funding from California’s fire-fighting efforts, or Trump’s petulant, punitive attack on California’s federal highway funding over disputes in air pollution policy. Nor does the Tribune press to know what Cunningham might do about it.
“The voters will have an opportunity to express their opinion of the president and his policies 12 months from now in the next election,” his spokesman told the newspaper.
Softball pitched. Softball hit.
Are we to act as if Trumpism doesn’t exist in local government in SLO County?
That’s the second problem with the Tribune’s editorial: Trumpism does exist locally.
A clear example is the county’s Air Pollution Control District, whose locally elected Republican board members have repeatedly obstructed efforts to clean the air downwind of the Oceano Dunes – ignoring science and evidence to embrace fact-free, Trump-flavored, ideologically doctrinaire arguments.
More examples abound at various city councils and the county Board of Supervisors, such as recent, ill-informed decisions to deny community choice electricity.
If The Tribune won’t require local Republican candidates to account for Trumpism, local opposition candidates must.
By not denouncing Trump’s push for local fracking, by not standing up to Trump’s drive for drilling our coast, by not rebuffing Trump’s attacks on California’s air pollution and climate standards, Cunningham and other local Republican office seekers have spoken.
By not renouncing a political ideology that cages and kidnaps children at the border, seeks foreign help in rigging elections, lies, cheats and corrupts everything as easily as breathing, local Republican candidates have spoken.
Their silence says they support Trump’s affronts to California, SLO County, civilized society and democratic norms.
Voters are entitled to know exactly where local Republican candidates stand on Trumpism and the lawlessness, traitorousness, vulgarity and ill repute it represents — and its corrosive effect on local government.
The Tribune flubbed its Nov. 7 editorial. Do better.
