Dear Congressman, Comrade, Play-Like Patriot and Trump Toady Tom Cole:
Enough should be enough, but it probably still isn’t.
Odds are you didn’t watch the testimony of top Justice Department officials revealing in tragic, sickening and crucial detail Donald Trump’s attempt to stay in office even after knowing he had lost the election in November 2020.
You and all four of your House congressional colleagues from Oklahoma voted on Jan. 6, 2021, to deny Joe Biden the presidency. You are my congressman. I’ve known you for 40 years. I’ve bragged on you in front of rooms full of Democrats for much of your good work. For example, you have always pushed for more funding for the Centers for Disease Control, diabetes research and other important programs that made me proud regardless of party registration.
And on a personal note, my brother ran against your mother for a House seat in 1980 and lost to her in a close election. He conceded and went on with his life.
Your father was a career Air Force enlisted man who took seriously his oath of office to defend the Constitution of the United States. Your mother Helen did too in her many years of time in office. And I thought you coveted your oath as well as an elected state senator, United States congressman and even as Gov. Frank Keating’s Secretary of State.
Today I have learned otherwise in very graphic terms your fealty to Trump mattered so much more to you than what is demanded of those who take the oath of office. Sad, just sad.
But you, a very smart political animal with an earned PhD in, of all things, English history, are so immersed in seeking and holding political power you threw away your family’s well-earned reputation as patriots, possessors of proud tribal heritage and esteemed public service – all in the support of a fraudster, a liar, a phony and corrupt businessman from New York City whose behavior makes Richard Nixon look like a choirboy.
And you did that because he is simply a Republican which apparently matters to you above your oath to the Constitution of these United States and your oath of office to the state of Oklahoma.
Tom, I have a suggestion for you that you, of course, will totally ignore but here it is: Your parents knew what the oath of our country meant. You do, too. Redeem yourself, endorse the panel’s work, and regain a smidgen of your former reputation for understanding and believing in democracy … small “d.”
You will win re-election whether you take my advice or not, but I suspect you won’t, so let me just end with a question for you to ponder.
What would your mother do if faced with the reality of who and what Trump is? And your father as well?
It isn’t what you have chosen so far. Now is your chance once again. What will it be … a cowardly lion or courageous leader or do you not know the difference anymore?
