Thune backing aid to Ukraine but angering Trumpsters

Amid the continual sturm and drang from Senator John Thune (Earth hater-SD) is a constant harangue at his Faceberg page from the far white wing of his political party who revere Donald Trump's patron, Vladimir Putin. 

Recall that in 2005 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) Republicans like Bruce Rampelberg helped to make Ellsworth Air Force Base an even bigger target for retaliatory attacks but today exercises over the Powder River Training Complex are suspended in part because of the poor condition of B-1 bombers stationed at Ellsworth. 

The Trump Organization had planned to spend at least half a billion taxpayer dollars on each new B-21 Raider and some $1.4 TRILLION on a proposed Defense Department budget instead of really making America great again. Trump wanted to put the now $700 billion over-budget bomber in red states to avoid confrontations with Democratic governors but Republicans are whining about the poor condition of the obsolete B-2 and the B-1B Lancers some of which are stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in occupied South Dakota. Why? Because the Republican government shutdown and the 2013 sequester to embarrass President Barack Obama ripped into military readiness. 

Meanwhile, deteriorating B-1s are eating up resources and the seventy year old B-52 continues to rain death on civilians in war torn countries on stages in the usual theaters of war. So, instead of rattling impossibly expensive sabers Trump should have been accelerating the cleanup of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminating nearly every military base in the United States and in the other countries subjected to American imperialism.

The 2024 South Dakota Legislature considered two spending measures for construction projects aimed at preparing for an influx of military personnel and civilians arriving with the launch of the new B-21 Raider bomber program at Ellsworth Air Force Base. But Morgan Gruebele, a budget analyst with the state Bureau of Finance and Management, told senators it would be unfair to provide extra state money to Douglas schools when other districts across the state are not receiving it. The Senate Education Committee passed the bill on a 5-2 vote, but the Joint Appropriations Committee rejected it in an 11-7 vote. [B-21 Ellsworth expansion getting mixed support in Pierre]

The GOP is Trump’s party now so the Reagan and Cheney voters are wandering in the wilderness and likely to stay home in November dooming many down ticket Republicans. And, with Mitch McConnell going away John Thune will find himself straddling a very rickety fence especially after voting to aid Ukraine in her fight against Vlad the Impaler.