Judy Parr: Time to halt President Donald Trump’s mayhem

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

Those who have eyes to see could foresee the mayhem that an unrestrained President Donald Trump could unleash.

California Congressman (now Senator) Adam Schiff, in his closing statement at Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial on Jan. 23, 2020, warned us of the profound disaster that would ensue from impeaching without also convicting President Trump and removing him from office:

“The American people deserve a president they can count on to put their interests first ... Colonel Vindman said, ‘Here, right matters. Here, right matters.’ Well, let me tell you something ... If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost ...

If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost. Framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves, if right and truth don’t matter. ... No constitution can protect us, [if] right doesn’t matter anymore. And you know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump. He’ll do it now. He’s done it before. He’ll do it for the next several months. He’ll do it in the election if he’s allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters and the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, we saw the effects of Trump’s rhetoric in inciting the violent riot of his followers in the Capitol. His attempt to circumvent election results failed, but he succeeded in pardoning many of the rioters in one of his first executive orders as president for a second term beginning last year.

In March 2025, the Trump administration defied a federal judge’s order by sending hundreds of Venezuelans accused (without having gone through legal due processes) of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador.

Since Sept. 2, the Trump Administration and War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth have overseen the murder of more than 100 men in small boats off the coast of Venezuela. Congress has not given Trump the power to declare war on Venezuela. The defenseless men murdered were not given hearings to verify charges against them of smuggling drugs. Such extrajudicial killings are prohibited by U.S. law. By their silence, the Republican-dominated Congress is complicit in these crimes.

And on Jan. 3, 2026, we woke up to learn that President Trump — without any congressional authorization — had ordered the violent kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. While we were sleeping, American forces invaded Venezuela and bombed military and civilian sites, killing more than 40 people. American special operations forces seized the couple from their bedroom and flew them to the United States. These actions are violations not only of the couple’s human rights but of international law and of the sovereignty of Venezuela.

This is something that the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court should address. For too long, our nation’s checks and balances have failed to check our president’s lust for power and greed for the natural resources of other nations. Might does not make right. Haven’t we learned anything from our invasion of Iraq, fueled in part by our interests in obtaining Iraq’s oil? President Trump should no longer be granted immunity and impunity from his violent actions, including those deemed by our Supreme Court to be “official.” 

Like Adam Schiff, we should have seen this coming. We should have prevented this chaos. It’s long past time to call a halt to his mayhem.

— Judy Parr resides in Holland.

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