Was familiar feeling

Years ago a commercial showed an American Indian rowing a canoe on a river that becomes ever more polluted. As he pulls his canoe onshore, we see a modern city, and a motorist throws trash out the window, covering his moccasins. As the camera pans up, he turns his head revealing a tear coming down his face.

Many of us felt that way on Jan. 6, 2021. A reprieve came later that day as many Republicans recognized that Donald Trump had finally gone too far. We all know that didn’t last long as Kevin McCarthy trekked to Mar-a-Lago weeks later to kiss the ring after realizing the base didn’t care. At first, blame went to Antifa because his supporters are “law-abiding.” As that narrative fell, it shifted to a rogue group, and DJT didn’t know what was happening. We know now that he was fully aware.

Now, over 1,200 people have been charged, and over 450 given jail time. These people brutally attacked and injured over 150 police officers that day. Now, Trump’s supporters have dropped any pretext for what happened, and Donald Trump embraces people who have served time, plays songs from their “prison choir” at his rallies, and as a final nail in the coffin of common decency, have deemed them worthy of pardons and calls them hostages.

On Jan. 8, I called Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman, and Rep. Steve Womack’s offices, to ask if they believed those in jail were “hostages.” I spoke to two reps and left a voicemail at Tom’s office. Staff members were unable to answer this difficult question but promised to get back. As of Jan. 17, this apparently was still too tough.

Question is, can someone still try to claim your soul if you sell it to “own the libs”?

GREGORY ROUNTREE Scott