By Susan Dollar, Special Commentary for KCDP
After reading Scott Kramer’s column on The Heart of America (Nov. 2, 2025), I feel compelled to offer a different view of the heart of America.
Mr. Kramer began his column complaining about name-calling in previous presidential elections. This is laughable, given President Trump’s own proclivity for calling names. Trump is well known for labeling people he dislikes, frequently using derogatory nicknames and insults. This is a consistent pattern throughout his political career. He has labeled his courtroom opponents “scum,” judges “corrupt,” and the prosecutors who investigated him “deranged.” He has called his political opponents’ lawbreakers and said others should be sent to prison. Need more examples?
- Crooked Hillary (Hillary Clinton)
- Pocahontas (Senator Elizabeth Warren)
- Cryin’ Chuck (Senator Chuck Schumer)
- Sleepy Joe (President Joe Biden)
- Horseface (Stormy Daniels)
- Psycho Joe (Joe Scarborough)
- Fake News (media stories)
- The Enemy of the People (the press)
- Animals (undocumented immigrants)
- Vermin (political opponents)
- Marxists and Communists (Democrats)
- Shithole countries (certain African nations and Haiti)
And most recently, the president of the United States threatened Democratic lawmakers, calling for their arrest, and accusing them of engaging in “seditious behavior, punishable by death”. “Lock them up.” And “Hang them George Washington would.”
In his column, Mr. Kramer spoke about Trump rallies, where thousands of Americans waited in lines to attend. Yes, they were motivated and active and were chasing their version of the American dream. Mr. Kramer fondly recalls the experiences he has had when electioneering – being supported and encouraged by friendly crowds who cheer on the candidates, policies and positions that he supports.
I would argue that the No Kings protest – really, any protest – is just the same sort of event that Mr. Kramer enjoyed: crowds of Americans cheering each other on, exercising their right to free speech, demonstrating support for their beliefs and ideals, chasing their version of the American Dream. That’s the heart of America.
And yet, the Trump team and its allies suggested that the No Kings protests would essentially be chock full of antifa, terrorist sympathizers, and even terrorists themselves. House Speaker Mike Johnson called them “hate America” rallies and said it’s “all the pro-Hamas wing and, you know, the antifa people.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued perhaps the most extreme comments: “The Democrat Party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.”
In his column, Mr. Kramer goes on to extol the virtues of Charlie Kirk. Yes, the assassination of Charlie Kirk was tragic and shocking. However, I beg to differ–Kirk does not represent the heart of America. In Kirk’s own words, here are examples of his racist, bigoted, homophobic, and misogynist statements:
- If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.
- If you’re a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get treated better than a United States marine?
- Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.
- If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?
- We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.
- I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.
- America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that.
- The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.
- The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.
- America has freedom of religion, of course, but we should be frank: large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America.
- We’ve been warning about the rise of Islam on the show, to great amount of backlash. We don’t care, that’s what we do here. And we said that Islam is not compatible with western civilization.
- Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.
These are horrifying, un-American statements and no one should laud a person who makes such statements, especially the “Christians across America” that Mr. Kramer alludes to. I shudder to think that anyone could believe that Charlie Kirk represented the heart of America.
A speech by Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah) about Kirk’s death rightfully did not advocate for retribution or violence. However, once again, look to the behavior and words of the president of the United States. In 2023, Trump told the crowd, “I am your justice…I am your retribution” and went on to vow to “totally obliterate” the so-called deep state.
With the country reeling from Kirk’s death through an act of political violence, Trump excused extremism originating from the right while heaping blame on the left. When asked what his administration was doing to curb extremism emanating from the political left and right in light of the murder, Trump said “I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less…The radicals on the left are the problem. They’re vicious, and they’re horrible.”
Surely this is not the heart of America.
In conclusion, I agree with a statement from Gov. Cox’s speech: “History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country.” Indeed. It is up to us to define the heart of America – for all Americans.
Susan Dollar is the past president of the Boerne Area Democrats and the Chair of Precinct 1110.
References:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/14/trump-doj-speech-prison-opponents-00231438
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-violent-rhetoric-timeline/680403
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/18/politics/gop-rhetoric-no-kings-protests-analysis
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/charlie-kirk-quotes-beliefs
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/20/trump-news-at-a-glance-democrats
