The problem with regret
Hindsight often brings regret. We think of how we might have done things differently, which can leave us filled with regret. Ask Adam Kinzinger. According to the Guardian, Kinzinger is filled with regret for his failure to vote for Trump’s impeachment the first time around. He should be. Trump’s attempt to blackmail President Zelenskyy was wrong, and every Republican in Congress knew it. They were either afraid to cross him or blindly following simply because they are Republicans. Kinzinger’ regret is useless. He should have voted his conscious before, and he would not be regretful. Kinzinger’s sentiments came to light for him because of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Trump withheld aid to Ukraine to blackmail President Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on President Joe Biden. As Kinzinger is quoted: “[what Donald Trump did was] a shameful and illegal act, directly hurting the Ukraine defense today.” For possibly the first time, Kinzinger acknowledged publicly that Republicans must “put all the interests of our nation above our party.” Well, duh. They should, but they won’t. Edward Luce, a journalist with the Financial Times, called Kinzinger on his regret: “It’s always admirable to admit mistakes-it would be an even greater service to hear about the psychology of such politics as most of his colleagues are still acting that way.” Luce is correct; however, Kinzinger will never make any headway with his colleagues. They’re all pissed with him now for serving on the House Select Committee, and many of them still refuse to see anything wrong with Donald Trump even though it is all right before their eyes. Republicans may never see anything wrong with Trump and how he operates, but the American people see things differently.
According to Newsweek’s latest poll, more Americans are criticizing Trump’s apparent allegiance to Vladimir Putin. Trump initially praised Putin for his actions. On March 10, Sean Hannity (of all people) encouraged Trump to say that Putin is evil. Hannity referred to Putin as a “murdering authoritarian thug” and advocated for someone to “take him out.” During that show, Hannity gave Trump the chance to do the right thing and condemn Putin for his actions in Ukraine. Instead of answering Hannity’s question, Trump went into a tirade about Ukraine being an independent nation and Putin “changing” because he wasn’t dealing with Trump. What an egotistical idiot. He never knew Putin; Putin merely humored Trump while Trump licked his boots. This is yet another reason that this country is so much better off without a bumbling idiot at the helm. Unbelievably, Hannity asked Trump to explain why things would be different were he still in office, which, of course, gave Trump an opportunity to brag about things that don’t matter, but in the end, he will never admit to his blackmail and how that hurt Ukraine.
Adam Kinzinger is regretful; that’s nice, but it doesn’t change anything. In all fairness, however, had Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump the first time, nothing would have changed, as no Republican save Mitt Romney voted to impeach him. Kinzinger at least has a conscience.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years