Coover decries chaos

Neosho County’s Don Coover notes an ineffective Congress has done little to limit the chaos spread by President Trump’s approach to tariffs, immigration enforcement and the war in Iran, leading to worsening inflation, sky-high diesel prices and a general sense of malaise across Kansas’ Second Congressional District. Coover is seeking a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When Don Coover hosted a customer at his veterinarian clinic in Neosho County, the farmer had a gripe.

It had cost more than $400 to fill his diesel tank, about 80 gallons worth.

“I said, ‘Good God, how do you do that?’” Coover said.

Not very well, the farmer replied.

Fast forward a few months — and diesel costs another dollar a gallon more — and those input costs for farmers have only worsened.

It’s one of many comments Coover hears repeatedly during his first-ever bid for Congress.

Coover, of Galesburg, is challenging Rep. Derek Schmidt for the Republican’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday’s general election.

Coover is a vet in both senses — on top of owning SEK Genetics, a cattle breeding business in rural Galesmore — the veterinarian also is a West Point graduate and Army veteran. He switched party affiliations from Republican to Democrat on Jan. 6, 2021, the date hundreds stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of President Trump.

Coover said his campaign stops meet a similar refrain from voters.

“People see things are going to hell in a handbasket,” Coover said, “and apparently, nobody is interested in addressing the issues.”

Coover points to two big culprits — tariffs, and the ongoing war in Iran.

“The tariffs are ridiculous,” Coover said. “And as for the war in Iran, we should not even be there. It’s a war that was capriciously entered into, with no thought about what we were doing, or what we were trying to accomplish. It was a total lack of planning, a total lack of awareness.”

American forces started their blitz in late February, for what Trump said was a necessary venture to ensure Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon.

“But months before that, we were told we had totally obliterated their nuclear program,” he continued. “Now, all of a sudden, we’re back. And nobody can explain why.”

What’s more, Coover said the United States did so without input from its allies.

“We are easily the strongest military in the world,” he said. “Nobody is going to defeat us. But we’ve wasted billions of dollars. They’ve killed several dozens people, wounded hundreds more, and nobody can show us a positive benefit.”

Those decisions are made possible because of little pushback from Congress.

“We have a secretary of defense who depends upon people like Derek to ignore everything he does,” Coover said.

AMERICA’S tariff policy followed a similar, chaotic path, Coover said.

“These tariffs were capriciously, randomly, chaotically applied, to places like Canada, for God’s sakes,” Coover said. “We slapped tariffs on China, and then we’re surprised that they slapped reciprocal tariffs on us, which destroys our markets overseas. The ripple effect on these bad decisions are legion. 

“It’s impacted everything,” he continued. “The cost of goods, the cost of services are all up. These tariffs are taxes that we’ve imposed on ourselves.”

As with the war with Iran, Coover noted Schmidt has voted in lock-step with the president on every bill.

COOVER remains harshly critical of the federal government’s blanket approach to immigration enforcement.

“The idea that ICE can walk into a business in Scott City, carrying a shotgun into a place of business, and being ordered to leave unless they have a warrant is not the America I want to live in,” Coover said “That’s not the America my dad fought for in World War II. It’s not the America I served.”

MOSTLY, Coover said he hears frequently from Kansans increasingly unhappy with what’s going on in Washington.

“There is a pretty deep-seated disappointment with the perception that, regardless of the issue at hand, they can’t get anyone to pay attention to them,” Coover said. “They’re disappointed in the fact that they see all these problems, up close and personal, and that’s impacting their lives and the lives of their family.”

One thing he quickly identified. Politicians, far too often, focus on things that don’t matter at the cost of ignoring the things that do, he said.

“I literally have never met a single client, or a single person who said, ‘I woke up last night worried about the gender put on somebody’s driver’s license,’” Coover said. “It’s ridiculous. They’re waking up worried about whether they can afford fuel, whether they can afford to plant their next crop, can they afford fertilizer, or can they buy groceries for their kids.”

He promises a level-headed approach, if he’s elected, especially if Democrats take control of either the House or the Senate..

“Reasonable, rational individuals, regardless of whether they’ve got an R or a D behind their name, are gonna work for solutions that they think are  in the best interest of the people they represent,” he said. “And I’d like to believe that that’s what’s gonna happen, and I’m certainly very interested in, you know, pursuing this kind of activity.

“That said, I’m kind of shocked you see this lack of interest in even trying to make a difference when it’s so obvious to the most casual observer that it isn’t the action, or the environment, that we want.”