MENU

Sections

More

February 10, 2026

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Trump Lacks the Leadership Gene by Steve Parks

by

We’re not self-quarantining. We went supermarket-shopping last weekend. My wife and I will venture out for a half-hour walk once I finish writing this piece online. But we’re pretty much hunkering down.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, we spent parts of weekday mornings, after exercising at our Easton Club East clubhouse (now closed) or in YMCA’s pools, watching the news. Speaking for myself, I could only take so much. Most days I’d get so worked up about the president’s inane, often hateful tweets or egregious decisions that I’d have to restrain myself from throwing objects at the TV. At those times, I’d retreat to my man-cave and watch sports. It didn’t matter. Whatever was in season. Whatever I recorded the night before. But now, because of the pandemic, there are no sports to watch. (Kudos to commissioners who made those decisions, as much as I’m disappointed.) Now I bide my time writing, reading or watching movies ancient enough that every actor on screen is deceased.

The pandemic can’t touch them. 

But inevitably, we get back to news because it affects us all. What are the latest restrictions? What can we expect next? Then, there he is on TV spreading more misinformation—if not outright lies—babbling excuses, spreading blame to Democrats, journalists, presidential predecessors or anyone who utters a syllable of criticism.

In a Rose Garden press conference, reporters gathered on the lawn, side-by-side in rows of folding chairs, while a gaggle of scientists and politicians were arrayed, standing virtually shoulder-to-shoulder behind the president who, after declaring a state of emergency proceeded to undermine it with false assurances, then invited everyone behind him to speak. Each one adjusted by hand the microphone Trump had just released, each gripping the podium he’d clutched with both hands. Though one speaker awkwardly bumped elbows with the president, most shook his hand before returning to their places, reflexively touching their faces.

Everyone present knew the president had been exposed, briefly, to at least two people at a Mar-a-Lago party who tested positive for COVID-19. 

Two reporters asked if the president accepted responsibility for the months-long delay in delivering testing kits to determine who does or does not have the virus. “No, I don’t take responsibility at all,” the president declared shamelessly, deflecting blame on the Obama administration, out of office more than three years. He dismissed a follow-up question as “nasty.” In 2018, the president and national security adviser John Bolton fired the pandemic team from the White House staff—appointed by President Obama. Trump has made it his mission to undue everything Obama did. Again, Trump refused to take responsibility. He turned to those behind him, asking if anyone knew who made that decision. “It wasn’t me,” he said, admitting twice in the same press conference that the buck stops anywhere but on his desk.

Before his national emergency declaration, the president all but dismissed the pandemic as a “hoax” blown out of proportion by Democrats and the news media, even Fox at times. The sad and dangerous side-effect is that Trump devotees believe him, literally repeating to reporters who ask them that the pandemic is a hoax created by Democratic “fake news”—as if live video feeds of empty streets in Italy, across Europe and now New York City, were staged to frighten us, to spook stock markets and undermine the president’s re-election. Trump has espoused all these “hoax” motives, each recorded for posterity on video. Somehow his most loyal supporters find space for denial.

While we’re entertaining preposterous conspiracy theories, how about this one? Trump refused the offer of the World Health Organization—he despises global organizations dominated by “experts”—to supply the United States with testing kits in January. Two months later, we’re still behind in delivering our own brand. Why might the president want to foster a delay? How about suppressing the number of Americans infected so the economy wouldn’t plunge into recession? I don’t actually believe the president is capable of sustaining such conspiratorial deception. But it’s no more implausible than a partisan pandemic hoax. Trump practically confessed his darkest wishes when he said he didn’t want Americans onboard a virus-infected cruise ship to disembark because it would add to bad USA numbers. Off-shore, they don’t count. And dead Americans can’t vote.

In case you haven’t noticed, Donald Trump lacks the empathy gene. He mocks widows of American heroes, Democratic and Republican. He doesn’t care about your suffering. He shuns leadership because he thinks leaving tough calls to others—such as a national lockdown—gives him room to scapegoat. It’s long been his modus-operandi, dating back to serial Atlantic City casino bankruptcies. 

As I watched the news on Sunday, before switching to a 1941 film noir and later the Democratic debate, I was enraged to see what transpired at international airports across the U.S. Trump had announced cancellation of flights from Europe—without notifying Europeans. Americans returning from the continent were to be screened for the virus. To my horror, as it should be to anyone viewing these pictures, thousands of American citizens were packed like cattle, waiting hours to be screened, touching and breathing on each other all the while. Exponential viral exposure is inevitable. Meanwhile, at Disney World Sunday, thousands more spent hundreds of dollars to be COVID-19-exposed on the last night before the theme park closed for months. Donald said not to worry. So, they didn’t. 

We once believed our presidents. We do so now at our peril.

“I don’t take responsibility at all.” Besides the empathy gene, Donald also lacks the leadership gene.

NOTE: As I finished this commentary Monday afternoon, President Trump suddenly got serious at a press conference, though he later tweeted snarky complaints about two governors and the New York Times. Trump has not yet earned the benefit of our doubt. But let’s hope he rises to the occasion, however belatedly.

Steve Parks is a retired New York journalist now living in Easton.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Trump’s Proposed Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Cuts Draw Fire

by

Members of Congress, state lawmakers and environmental groups are rallying against President Donald Trump’s 91% funding cut for Chesapeake Bay cleanup and restoration included in his 2021 fiscal budget.
“While the Trump administration continues to turn its back on the bay, we will keep fighting to protect one of our most precious natural assets,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said in a statement.

For the fourth year in a row, Trump has suggested a drastic reduction in funding for the Annapolis-based Chesapeake Bay Program — which is managed by the Environmental Protection Agency and coordinates bay cleanup efforts by the federal government, the watershed’s six surrounding states – Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York – and the District of Columbia.

The program funnels about two-thirds of its budget to state and local efforts aimed at bay “restoration, protection and monitoring,” according to its website.

This funding drop to $7.3 million came weeks after both chambers of Congress passed a 16% increase in the program’s 2020 federal allowance and Trump signed off on the $85 million allocation. And just days before the budget proposal was unveiled on Feb. 10, the House voted to fund the program with $455 million spread over the next five years.

Trump proposed 90% slashes to the program’s funding in his budgets for the last two years and recommended nixing the program completely in 2017.

Congress has reversed these cuts in final spending bills. Chesapeake Bay supporters are hoping for similar congressional support this year.

“Since President Trump took office, we have worked on a bipartisan basis to prevent these damaging cuts — and last year we were successful in securing an even larger investment in the Bay Program,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said in a statement. “As in years past, I will fight tooth and nail against this administration’s attempts to undermine bay cleanup, so we can preserve and protect this vital treasure for years to come.”

Van Hollen, who serves on the Senate’s budget and appropriations committees, has helped lead the charge to increase federal funding for the bay’s cleanup in recent years.

Hogan said he’ll use his position as chairman of the six-state Chesapeake Executive Council to garner bipartisan support for the restoration of funding.

Trump’s $4.5 trillion budget proposal also puts the bay in danger by cutting funding for the U.S. Geological Survey Bay Program, which received $5.7 million last year, and the National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways Program, which was allocated $3 million for 2020.

The lack of White House support for the program undermines the “trust, collaboration and partnership” between the states and the federal government established in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, according to the nonprofit protection group the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The cuts also would threaten clean water for the more than 18 million people who live within the watershed, the foundation said.

William C. Baker, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s president, said he looks forward to working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to ensure funding for the program is secured. This support is crucial with only five years to finish implementing the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, Baker said.

No state within the watershed is completely on track to meet the water quality goals established by the blueprint, according to a 2019 Chesapeake Bay Foundation assessment, but Maryland is close to meeting its pollution-reduction goals by 2025.

“The administration is already attacking many of the bedrock environmental protections vital to the health of local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay,” Baker said in a statement. “This drastic cut could be the final nail in the coffin for science-based restoration efforts.”

By Bryan Gallion

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

McCarthyism…Trumpism? By Angela Rieck

by

PBS American Experience aired the story of McCarthyism this week. I was struck the similarities to our current environment.  

McCarthyism began and was fueled by fear—fear of communism. The Eastern European countries and China became Communist regimes. North Korea invaded South Korea. From America’s perspective, its enemy, communism, was spreading like a virus. In our own country, some intellectuals, believing that greedy, rapacious capitalism was the cause of the depression, dabbled with Soviet-funded communism as a solution. The conservative press printed sensationalist stories about the spread of communism into America.

Trumpism was created and is fueled by fear—fear of losing our standard of living. So, he made immigrants the bogeymen.  Many Americans have experienced a downturn in their standard of living while Wall Street has gotten richer and richer. High paying, skilled jobs have been moved offshore by greedy capitalists, leaving low-paying service jobs. Wages are declining and many fear that the cause is undocumented workers who are willing to work for lower wages.  These Americans perceive that they are ignored or mocked. The conservative press prints outrageous stories about immigrants, their detrimental impact on society and how they are taking over America.

Enter Joe McCarthy. He was a failed junior senator, lacking a moral compass and worried about re-election. In a speech he gave at the Wheeling Women’s Republican club he claimed to have the names of 205 communists working in the government. It was a lie, but the conservative press picked it up. 

Enter Donald Trump, a failed businessman lacking a moral compass. With over 3500 lawsuits brought against him, having declared bankruptcy, most of his empire came from selling his brand. Trump claimed that immigrants were coming to rape, murder and steal our jobs. The conservative press reported supportive stories while the mainstream press ridiculed him.

Joe McCarthy loved the limelight. He held televised hearings to harass and destroy the “elite” government insiders, accusing them of being members of the communist party. When he lacked evidence, he lied. His supporters marched in the streets. Aided by the conservative press, he searched for other high-profile government insider “communists” to humiliate and destroy.

Donald Trump loves the limelight, believing that any press was good press.  He lied and harassed people on the election trail, creating the “lock her up” slogan about his opponent. His supporters marched in the streets, carrying obscene signs about his opponent and immigrants. The conservative press supported his accusations.

Joe McCarthy craved the spotlight. He investigated over 600 people in 15 months. He used lies, innuendo and outrageous statements to make the front page.

Donald Trump craves the spotlight. He uses lies, attacks, rumor, innuendo and outrageous statements to get attention.

What brought down Mr. McCarthy?  Most of us believe that it was Edward R Murrow’s broadcast condemning McCarthy and his tactics.  That awakened many, but it mostly spoke to those already opposed to McCarthy. 

McCarthy’s downfall came when he went too far. He attacked the Army, Eisenhower’s “club”.  Eisenhower had been content to ignore McCarthy; he wasn’t willing to lose the support of McCarthy’s followers.  But after the attacks on the Army, Eisenhower worked with the senators to hold televised hearings to investigate McCarthy, shining a light on his misstatements, lies and innuendos.  Still, his followers continued to support him. Ultimately, moderate fellow Republicans decided that “enough was enough” and courageously risked losing the support of his voters by censoring him.  After that, McCarthy lost his spotlight and declined into alcoholism.

What have we learned from this?  We have learned that the human condition does not change a whole lot, even as we think that we are getting more sophisticated.  When fear is the motivator, bad decisions follow…always. But mostly, we learn that the press can’t fix this, only moderate members of Trump’s own party can.  They must decide “enough is enough” and no longer fear his supporters. They must be the change.

Let’s hope they will.

Let’s hope that it is not too late.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

 

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

House Impeaches Trump: Here’s What Maryland Leaders Said on the Floor

by

Maryland’s congressional delegation voted along party lines as the U.S. House voted to impeach President Trump Wednesday night, making him the third president to be impeached in U.S. history.

Trump was impeached on charges that he abused power and obstructed Congress. The charges surround allegations that Trump improperly pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival in an effort to interfere with the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

No House Republicans voted to adopt either impeachment article. Two House Democrats voted against both articles of impeachment — Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey. Van Drew is reportedly planning to switch parties to become a Republican.

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted yes on the first article but against the obstruction of Congress article. Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard voted “present” on both articles.

Maryland’s delegation voted entirely along party lines.  Democratic Reps. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John P. Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown, Steny H. Hoyer, David J. Trone and Jamie B. Raskin supported both impeachment articles. Republican Andrew P. Harris voted against both articles.

All but Trone spoke on the House floor Wednesday.

The vote came after a lengthy and heated debate on the House floor, as Democrats warned that Trump had trampled on the U.S. Constitution, while his GOP defenders accused the House majority of manufacturing a case for impeachment due to their disdain for Trump’s policies.

“The founders’ great fear of a rogue or corrupt president is the very reason why they enshrined impeachment in the Constitution,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president’s reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice.”

Only two other presidents had previously been impeached by the House: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both of those presidents were acquitted by the Senate.

Trump also appears to be headed for acquittal in the GOP-led Senate. A trial, in which House Democrats will argue their case before the upper chamber of Congress, is expected to begin next month.

Some senators have been cautious about stating whether they’ll vote to remove Trump from office, arguing that they’ll be jurors in the trial and don’t want to prejudge the outcome. But not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McConnell told reporters Tuesday that he is “not at all impartial” on impeachment and that it is a “political process.”

As lawmakers prepared to vote on Wednesday, Trump wrote on Twitter: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”

Trump held a campaign rally in Battle Creek, Mich., on Wednesday night. “By the way, it doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached, the country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong and we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like never before,” Trump said, according to The Washington Post.

Democrats, including some in districts won by Trump in 2016, streamed onto the House floor during the day-long debate on Wednesday to make their case for impeachment.

Hoyer, the House majority leader, said that in his nearly 40 years in Congress under six presidential administrations, he never expected to “encounter such an obvious wrongdoing by a president of the United States. Nor did I expect to witness such a craven rationalization of presidential actions which have put our national security at risk, undermined the integrity of our elections and defied the constitutional authority of the Congress to conduct oversight.”

Hoyer also paid tribute to one of his predecessors, the late Rep. Lawrence J. Hogan Sr. (R-Md.), one of the few Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee who supported impeaching President Nixon in 1974.

Republicans, meanwhile, spent the debate accusing their Democratic colleagues of pursuing a political vendetta against the president, pointing frequently to statements Democrats had made supporting impeachment before the Ukraine investigation was launched.

“The few Americans that are going to be watching this — because they know what the outcome is, we all know what the outcome is — they’re wondering why are we trying to negate the votes of 63 million Americans instead of talking about the things that Americans care about,” Harris said.

Democrats vehemently denied GOP attacks that they were pursuing impeachment because they hate Trump’s policies or dislike him personally.

“I resent those who say this is about reversing the election,” Ruppersberger asserted. “This isn’t about whether or not you like Trump; it’s about upholding our Constitution. Allowing this conduct to go unquestioned sets a dangerous precedent.”

One independent congressman, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, sided with Democrats to vote for both articles of impeachment. Amash, who helped found the conservative House Freedom Caucus, left the GOP earlier this year after calling for Trump’s impeachment.

Trump’s “actions reflect precisely the type of conduct the framers of the Constitution intended to remedy through the power of impeachment, and it is our duty to impeach him,” Amash said Wednesday on the House floor.

Here are remarks of Maryland’s other members on the House floor:

Brown 

“President Trump betrayed his oath. He abused his power, the immense power of the presidency. He threatened our elections by inviting foreign interference. He chose investigating a political rival over defending our national security. So today, we must use our power, the extraordinary power endowed by our Constitution and entrusted by the people, the power to impeach.”

Raskin 

“American elections belong to the American people, not the American president and not foreign powers. No president may cheat the people by working with foreign governments to steal from us a free and fair election. And no president who attempts it may cover up that cheating by systematically obstructing Congress and our work. Article 2 of the Constitution does not authorize a president to do whatever he wants. The reason we have a Constitution is to keep government officials from doing whatever they want.”

Sarbanes 

“Voting to impeach the president is a weighty decision. It is not something you reach for, it is something you’re brought to reluctantly, when the evidence presented can no longer be denied.”

“The president’s actions compromised the national security of the United States, undermined the integrity of our democratic process and betrayed the trust of the American people.”

“In soliciting foreign interference, President Trump took direct aim at the heart of our democracy. The American people should decide our elections, not a foreign country. As long as the president continues to invite foreign interference into our democracy, the integrity of the 2020 election remains at risk. The question is: Will Congress allow the president to place his personal interests above those of his country? I urge my colleagues in the House to join me in answering that question with a resounding no.”

By Robin Bravender

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.