Voting Trump and Ohio Republicans Out of Office

In letters last month supporting the re-election of President Donald Trump, state and local Republicans have outlined reasons that Ohio voters should consider voting for him in the upcoming election.  But it seems they have left out several important factors that Ohio residents need to consider and they fail to address many issues critical to Stark County voters.

The astounding corruption scandal that engulfed top elected Republican leaders in the Ohio legislature last month is the elephant in the room weighing heavily on the minds of many voters in Ohio. The $60 million bribery and racketeering enterprise led by Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was breathtaking in scope and eye-popping in its size and arrogance.   If we are still interested in “draining the swamp” then a good place to start is within the top echelons of the state’s Republican elected representatives.  This alleged criminal conspiracy involving secret corporate donations, pay-to-play scheming, laundered campaign funds, and dark money seems to have found a home in Columbus. There are strong hints of financial irregularities among top Trump campaign officials as well, some of whom have been or are still in prison.

Claims that President Trump has provided leadership in protecting our country from the Covid-19 pandemic is way beyond anyone’s honest evaluation. The Trump administration’s response to the Corona virus is nothing short of catastrophic. From his initial denial of the looming crisis in February to the lackadaisical approach to preparation and education in March and April, Trump’s management of ongoing disastrous developments has been marked by ongoing denial, delay, and chaotic decision-making. To this day, half a year into the maelstrom, there is still no cohesive national strategy or effective planning.  Even as the USA is still the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth, we have the worst track record in dealing with the disease, leading the world in infections, disease and death.  As nervous parents try to figure out how to send their children back to school, Trump tweets out bizarre conspiracy theories from questionable doctors espousing useless medicine, evil spirits and demons. The ongoing calamity continues to disrupt lives, exhaust health care workers, bankrupt small businesses and scare seniors and their families.

Any discussion of re-electing the President must consider the years of blatant bigoted and prejudiced statements spoken and tweeted out by Trump against various American minorities.  Voters understand that tacitly supporting radical fringe groups like white supremacists and nationalist or even neo-Nazi far right marchers led to the violence against people of color, immigrants, and Jews. This kind of evil, that many of our parents and grandparents fought against in World War II, is what has led to the Black Lives Matter movement.  Young people, Black, Hispanic and Native communities, suburban moms, sports organizations, corporations, and many others are striving to put an end once and for all to the 400-year stain of racism in our country.  Rather than help, Trump and his followers seem to want to fan the flames.

Finally, and this issue will be paramount to Ohio voters and in particular Stark County residents, the rolling disaster that is the current American economy will determine how people vote this Fall. Once again, a Republican president is presiding over yet another Great Recession. The American economic engine has sputtered and stalled; its pistons misfiring.  Unemployment has spiked to over 11% and the gross domestic product has sunk the fastest and furthest in the history of record-keeping.  Renters are panicked4 as evictions begin. Foreclosures are forecast to jump. Funding for school districts, cities and townships and states will shrink next year. Small businesses are shuttering their doors and bankruptcies are rising. While Republican leaders tout the stock market, the national debt balloons to astronomical heights.

It is ironic that Trump supporters are trying to scare Americans with visions of socialism and communism coming to America. A hallmark of 1970’s communism was long lines of unhappy consumers waiting in lines to purchase bread and other common goods.  As we observe our country in 2020, we have seen long lines at food banks, shortages of toilet paper and cleaning supplies, cars snaked for miles to get covid testing and voters waiting for hours just to cast ballots.

President Reagan asked voters in 1980 if they were better off or worse off than four years before. With no end in sight to the epidemic and economic turmoil, worsening climate change and still no health care fix,Is it any wonder that working class and middle income Americans are abandoning trumpism in droves, and that even Ohio, a traditional swing state, may well join a blue wave.

Craig Covey is a resident of Jackson Township and the Democratic candidate for Stark County Treasurer.