I don’t know Chris Pappas. I have no insight into his personality. But the word on the street is that he is a nice guy.
The truth is, the world is filled with nice people.
Many nice people are currently on the streets of New Hampshire’s cities, holding signs, asking for money and, in many cases, appearing powerless to their own circumstances.
Chris Pappas’s signs are huge.
Over the past few months, we have seen his campaign produce content, advertisements, statements about his Senate campaign, fundraising appeals, and warnings about Washington corruption. We have seen the polished machinery of a well-funded modern political campaign operating at full speed. And his message consistently implies moral urgency.
But what about genocide in Gaza?
I am neither a political supporter of the Palestinians nor the Israelis. I’m an American. And having lived and worked in the Middle East and having listened to many opinions on Israel and Palestine, I feel even more grateful to call myself an American. As an American, taking sides on this issue means allowing hell to grab you. The violence and hatred on both sides are unthinkable.
I would be more supportive of both peoples if their leadership were to change. I am sure they could say the same about our country. But history has proven that blind support can make bad situations worse. And these days, when it comes to the politics of the Middle East, we are blind enough to know that the only thing we can confidently support is diplomacy.
It seems simple.
We need to stop the killing. We especially need to stop the killing of civilians. We should be extraordinarily protective of the lives of children. And we can’t let genocide happen in foreign countries with weapons we produce. If any of this were to happen, our elected leaders should be screaming from the watchtower to make it stop.
Twenty thousand children killed in Gaza. Thirty thousand wounded. Fifty thousand overall.
Kids.
Whatever concern our Congressman Pappas has demonstrated about Gaza has been repeatedly outdone by the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Piers Morgan, and others in the right-wing media.
It’s just foul.
Buried beneath the rest of his political messaging, he has written statements echoing the interest his society around him feels. But he follows behind and drags his feet. I don’t hear moral clarity. I don’t hear leadership.
And then there is the money.
The fact that he received around $820,000 from Netanyahu supporters turns whatever concerns I have into full-blown nausea.
$820,000.
What do they want?
What do they expect in return for $820,000?
Those are the questions I would have.
It would seem that a hundred thousand dead Gazans, the utter destruction of Gaza itself, silence from the United States Congress, and continued military support and funding for the Netanyahu regime would seem to be the appropriate cost in services for that kind of money.
Furthermore, keeping foreign thugs and lack of judgment in mind, there are the nine million dollars already raised for his Senate campaign. What do those donors expect from a United States senator from New Hampshire? How much more can nine million dollars buy?
Diving through all those receipts and checking the motivations of donors and promises given is an impossible task.
It would seem much easier to just stop feeding the beast.
People are complex. Power corrupts. Chicken tenders are very tasty, and Chris Pappas may indeed be a nice guy. But being nice is not the same thing as having clear judgment.
To this day, I haven’t heard anything resembling real concern, regret, or alarm indicating that he is aware he may have been receiving hush money from a genocidal regime. I just hear him asking for more money. So, I suggest the people of New Hampshire take a look around their cities at the people at stoplights holding signs asking for money and ponder the level of desperation behind those signs.
Around the time the bombing of Iran started and our country blew up a school with children in it, the most prominent response I saw from my congressman at that moment was concern about the price of gas.
It seems obvious that he needs a little time in detox. That’s what would be said in the general election, with more force than I have said here. He would make John Sununu look compassionate just as he currently makes Tucker Carlson look today.
As I said, I don’t know him. But he seems like a nice person.
We all get lost sometimes.
