What Rep. Hillary Scholten and Gerald R. Ford really have in common, which is omitted from a recent Scholten political ad

There is a fairly recent Hillary Scholten ad, which uses imagery from previous ads, where she touts how much public federal money she has brought back to the district. 

However, the main thing about this political ad is that the audio is an excerpt from a Gerald R. Ford speech. Rep. Hillary Scholten has aligned herself with the person of Gerald R Ford since she first started to campaign in 2020 for the 3rd Congressional District. 

What I believe Rep. Scholten is attempting to do by aligning herself with the former Grand Rapids politician, is to tap into what many might perceive as a more honest time in politics. In addition, Scholten wants to compare herself to Ford, since he is often viewed with a folksy sort of disposition, a man who “saved the country” by pardoning Richard Nixon.

Campaign optics aside, there is one major commonality between Rep. Scholten and former President Gerald R Ford. The most common theme with these two Grand Rapids politicians is that they both supported genocide.

In late 1975, Ford and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger flew to Indonesia to meet with the Indonesian President Suharto. Here is what we know happened, based upon declassified documents from the National Security Archives.

Much has been written about what took place in the meeting between Ford, Henry Kissinger, and Indonesian President Suharto on December 5th and 6th in 1975, but it wasn’t until December of 2001 when the National Security Archives finally obtained declassified documentation of what took place. What we now know is that Ford and Kissinger not only knew of the Indonesian plans to invade East Timor, but that they offered diplomatic and military support for the invasion, which became a multi-year and bloody genocidal campaign. In fact, the US role in the murderous campaign by the Indonesia military against the East Timorese people was one of the proportionately worst genocides of the 20th Century.

Additional documents from the National Security Archives demonstrate that Ford and Kissinger Gave Green Light to Indonesia’s Invasion of East Timor. In a Press Release from the National Security Archives, they provide an instructive summary based on evidence from the declassified documents:

• When Suharto told Ford and Kissinger that he was about to order an invasion, the response was only to caution that “it would be better it it were done after we returned” (the invasion began the next day).
• Kissinger told Suharto that the use of U.S.-supplied arms in the invasion—equipment that under U.S. law could not be used for offensive military operations—“could create problems,” but indicated that they might be able to “construe” the invasion as self-defense.
• On 12 August 1975, a few days after a coup attempt in East Timor, Kissinger observed that an Indonesian takeover would take place “sooner or later”.
• Six months into the occupation of East Timor, Kissinger acknowledged to senior State Department officials that U.S. military aid had been used “illegally” and hinted at his own doubts about the invasion: Washington had “not very willingly” resumed normal relations with Jakarta.

Since Rep. Hillary Scholten became a member of Congress in 2023, she has consistently defended US policy and US relations with Israel. In July of 2023, Rep. Scholten and the majority of Congress voted to adopt a resolution stating that Israel was not a racist state and it did not have an Apartheid system. In August of 2023, Rep. Scholten went to Israel on an AIPAC funded tour, which I wrote about, where Scholten gushed about standing where Jesus supposedly gave his Sermon on the Mount.

More importantly, Rep. Scholten has supported every Congressional decision since October 7, 2023, voting with the Biden administration for general US military, weaponry and special appropriations. According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs: 

U.S. spending on Israel’s military operations and related U.S operations in the region total at least $22.76 billion and counting. This estimate is conservative; while it includes approved security assistance funding since October 7, 2023, supplemental funding for regional operations, and an estimated additional cost of operations, it does not include any other economic costs.

This means that Rep. Scholten has voted to send $22.76 billion to Israel, where Israel is currently engaged in a genocidal campaign against the Palestinians. This makes the most sense, considering that Ford himself provided military and diplomatic support for Indonesia’s genocidal campaign against the East Timorese. Rep. Scholten and former President Gerald Ford do have one thing in common, they both supported genocide while being in Washington.

In the above images used, the picture of Rep. Scholten is taken from an AIPAC video while she was in Israel, which you can watch here.  The image of Gerald R Ford is from his meeting with Indonesian President Suharto, which is from the National Security Archives link here.