To the Editor:
The Post-Standard’s Editorial Board wants to start holding politicians responsible for their racist rhetoric (”Challenge racist beliefs that fueled Buffalo mass shooter,” May 16, 2022). That’s good, but we also need to hold politicians accountable for the racist impact of their actions.
Take Congressman John Katko. In 2020 he supported Donald Trump — the man most responsible for the political violence and racist right-wing terrorism that threaten America today — but the Post-Standard endorsed the congressman for reelection that year anyway.
What a mistake that turned out to be. The Editorial Board predicted that the congressman would help “hold the fragile center” and help heal the Republican Party if Trump lost. Instead, the Congressman voted to replace Liz Cheney — a centrist — with Elise Stefanik — an insurrectionist — in Republican leadership. Stefanik has used her position to amplify the specific bit of right-wing lunacy, Great Replacement Theory, that inspired racist terrorist Payton Gendron to kill 10 people in Buffalo. While the Republican Party lurches toward fascism, in part due to Katko’s support for Trump and Stefanik, the congressman decided to abdicate responsibility altogether and leave Congress.
The board seems not to care that they have so poorly understood the dangers within the Republican Party and Katko’s willingness to defend democracy. When Katko announced his retirement, after his Stefanik vote, the board wrote him a glowing review that ignored his role in handing the Republican Party over to far-right extremists.
Words matter, but so do actions. The Editorial Board should not let politicians like John Katko off so lightly just for saying the right thing when they turn around and vote to further divide our country and make us less safe.
David H. Knapp
Syracuse
Also in Opinion: Rep. Elise Stefanik’s tragic spiral into outrage politics (Guest Opinion by Brian Huba)
Ad Choices