Rebuttal to Jack Seward Jr.

Jack Seward Jr.’s recent letter attempts to pass off ideological grievance as fiscal responsibility, but let’s be honest, it’s less about budgets and more about buzzwords. While he’s certainly entitled to his opinions, his position as an elected official in Washington County should come with a higher bar for accuracy and nuance.

His ridicule of scientific research, citing studies on chimpanzees and selfies, ignores how science actually works. Federal agencies like NIH and NSF fund peer-reviewed research that often leads to breakthroughs in medicine, psychology, and public health. If all it took to determine research value was reading the title out loud in a sarcastic tone, we’d be running our country via Reddit threads.

On immigration, Seward’s language is designed to inflame, not inform. His portrayal of immigrants “disappearing” under the Biden administration is intentionally misleading. Immigration enforcement still occurs, but with attention to legal process and constitutional rights. The fact that due process is being followed isn’t corruption-it’s how laws are supposed to work in a democracy.

Then there’s his defense of fringe political figures like Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr., who aren’t being ignored; they’re being fact-checked. When your brand involves misinformation, you don’t get silenced; you get sidelined. That’s not media bias, it’s accountability.

And finally, the invocation of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is tired. Many of us object to Trumpism not out of obsession, but out of deep concern for democratic norms, truth, and leadership rooted in integrity. Calling those concerns deranged is a cheap way to sidestep responsibility.

Elected leaders have a duty to elevate conversation, not reduce it to Fox News punchlines. Taxpayers deserve more than theatrics and recycled outrage. They deserve facts, and officials who take their platform seriously.

— Tara Carpenter, Rubio