Guest post: Thune has no honor

Donald Pay has a long history in South Dakota environmental politics and lived in Rapid City when career politician John Thune was elected the US Senate by accusing Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of being a career politician.

When the history of the Trump era is written Thune will be considered just as many of the conservative leaders in Weimar Germany are now considered: deluded by their own selfish desire for power and prestige. The Weimar conservatives placated a narcissist with extreme and crazy ideas just so the could gain power. They thought they could control this leader or guide him to be more reasonable. They were just as deluded as the man who kill millions and start World War II.

Trump is not going to be controlled by Thune, a man who has gained his own perch of power by going along and getting along. Thune has proved over his long career that he has no real core and no courage. His Chrisian faith is whimpy, at best. His so-called “conservative” values about the sanctity of life vanish as fast as Trump’s thugs extiguish more lives on the streets of major cities. That’s how the Holocaust started, but Thune summon up the courage to confront the demon. He’s gutless, if not a demon himself, just as the Weimar conservatives were.

Thune brings dishonor on his party, but maybe he knows history a bit more than I give him credit for. Hitler, after all, kolled off many of the conservatives, too. And, of course, he threatens family members of politicians who gave him too much trouble. I suspect that hangs heavily on Thune, as it would with many folks. 

No, Thune will never be a hero. To find those, look to the streets of Minneapolis. That’s where you’ll find many ordinary folks confronting Trump’s thugs. They risk death to raise their voices against Trump’s Gestapo. The real heros of the Trump era are nowhere near the US Senate. They are in the streets.