This column is addressed to Sen. John Hoeven. Sen. Kevin Cramer is excused because I think history has proven that its content is beyond his comprehension.
Sen. Hoeven, you've been lied to. Independent Presidential Fact-Checking companies have been in existence since President Eisenhower. They are currently fact-checking President Biden as I write this. These organizations unanimously agree that Trump has verbalized, exclaimed, tweeted, bragged, raged over 22,000 factual inaccuracies the past four years. Lies, if you will.
Major Lie No. 1: The election was stolen. Senator, you and your party refuse to believe the hard factual data proving the results this presidential election. Joe Biden won. You know it but you won't own it. It's been written (metaphorically) that “Senator Hoeven can be found hiding under his desk in a fetal position...”. Does that mean you don't dare stick your neck out and defy your party? You've endorsed nearly every unethical policy presented to you as a senator. Why are you unwilling or afraid to reveal what your core values really are? Or is it that you don't really know?
Major Lie No. 2: Trump did not incite the riot. I'm wondering if you were literally under your desk during the Jan. 6th invasion. What were you thinking when our Capitol was being vilified, disgraced, dishonored and metaphorically raped? What raced through your mind when you heard the cries “Hang Pence...Find Pelosi...shoot the politicians...Cruz wants us to do this...let's kill these f...ing commies...” Did that experience affect you emotionally, spiritually philosophically, physically?
Didn't the reality of this insurgence shake you to your core? Didn't the experience force you to ask yourself critical questions about why you have this adoration for Trump? Did anything rise to the surface to make you realize that you and your Senatorial brothers/sisters are merely puppets to a narcissistic, diabolical shaman?
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Apparently not. The day after the insurgency, you and your cadre of unbelievers rejected the state of Georgia's senatorial electoral results certifying Biden's victory. Why? Because your colleague GOP Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia objected to the election results in the state claiming they were "faulty and fraudulent." You voted along with the majority of GOP senators. Guilty as charged.
Major Lie No. 3: His Most Lethal Lie: “COVID will go away.”
February: “The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
March: Officials say we've tested one million people last week...will complete four million tests next week.
April: "I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And there's a way we can do something by injection inside. It gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs.... "
May: “We’ve done a GREAT job on Covid response, making all Governors look good, some fantastic, but the Lamestream Media doesn’t want to go with that narrative.
Oct: “Our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid." “By the way, on November 4th, you won’t hear about it anymore.” "But it’s going to disappear; it is disappearing." Current death toll: 464,000 American souls.
Look, Sen. Hoeven, I don't know you. I just know what I've read and seen over the years. You appear to be and reflect the common sense decency that defines our state. I'd like to think that you carry our values of honesty, trust, importance of family, faith in God, in justice and fairness. But you haven't expressed those virtues while you've been under the spell of Trump. You've done just the opposite. You quietly affirm his every deceitful action by staying invisible and by directly, consciously endorsing by vote, his unjust, inequitable (and hateful) actions and policies.
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Trump needs to be impeached. All of his illegal, unethical, immoral, corrupt, shameless actions occurred while he was president. That's relevant and constitutional. Senator, please, you need to recognize your true convictions. Look in the mirror. Look hard. Be honest with yourself. Damn the disdain of your colleagues. Do the right thing. Vote to impeach Trump.
Ferragut is a special ed para-educator for Fargo Public Schools and a longtime contributor to The Forum's Editorial Page. Email him at jferragut50@gmail.com.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
