Illi's op-ed on Trump didn't hit the mark
As a fellow sportsman, I look forward to Warren Illi’s outdoors column, usually in Thursday’s Inter Lake. After reading his ringing endorsement that Donald Trump’s election victory “should bode well for federal involvement in the tradition of hunting and fishing” on the editorial page in December, it made me think he should stick to Thursday’s stories and leave the Op-Ed page alone.
I can’t disagree that if a conservative nominee for a Supreme Court justice is selected by President Trump, gun ownership will most likely remain wide open in the United States. Though I’m a gun owner, long-time hunter, and lukewarm member of the NRA, I question why some of the firepower is out there and who’s getting their hands on these weapons and ammo. There’s more to hunting and fishing (?) than guns. Mr. Illi takes a page out of “Trump-world” and makes a bizarre connection to Montana, gun laws, and some countries where “hunters must keep their firearms in government armories”; and Trump’s support of the Second Amendment.
As history has shown, picking a Supreme Court justice can sometimes be a crap shoot as far as ideologies go, once they are in place to actually interpret the law and Constitution. Mr. Illi labels President Obama’s nominee last March after the death of Justice Scalia, Merrick Garland as “liberal leaning,” when the wide-ranging consensus is he is considered a well-respected moderate. I guess we’ll never know as he has never been given a hearing by Congress and never will.
As president, Obama fulfilled his constitutional duty by his selection, but the timeline for final confirmation was left open by the Founding Fathers. I’m thinking that back in 1791, no one could have ever imagined a legislative body that would be so self-serving and lacking in integrity as we have in 2016 that this would be an issue. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saw fit to ignore that Obama was still the president, elected by the people of the United States, and he stalled until he could get someone he and his cronies like. If I were king, I would take them all behind the woodshed and give them a spanking for not doing their job.
The jury is still out, but so far Trump is a supporter of public lands, but considers global warming a “hoax,” (which he seems to be changing his mind on, after selling it to his fans while campaigning ). Judging from his Cabinet picks, I expect the environmental progress and conservation movement of the last century or so are going to take a big step backward. There won’t be much point in owning guns or fishing rods if there’s nothing or nowhere to hunt or fish.
Lastly, Mr. Illi’s assertion that the Trump kids, who are “very close political and business advisors” (Which is it? Can’t be both!), are dedicated “outdoor enthusiasts” is news to me. It makes me a little suspect that this was just more Trump campaign blabber. Somehow, coming to Montana to shoot a rifle for a photo op, doesn’t do a lot for me one way or the other, and especially doesn’t make me feel any better over what’s in store for the next four years.
Horelick is a resident of Libby