Ed Johnston is one of an estimated 3 million American service members “sprayed and betrayed” with Agent Orange in Vietnam. The Pentagon knew the chemical defoliant could cause cancer, birth defects and other dire health consequences, but exposed American troops to the toxic spray anyway.
For decades after, the government denied responsibility and the benefits owed to poisoned veterans.
Ed is 77 and 80% disabled. He has suffered severe neuropathy in his hands and feet for decades. As a patriotic young man, he eagerly volunteered to serve in Vietnam as a Navy Seabee. Despite his disability, Ed has never regretted answering his nation’s call.
On Thursday, Ed was prepping to answer that call again, eager to stand up against an orange agent of chaos, a draft dodger who sprays hate and betrays the American ideals and institutions Ed went to war to defend. Ed sees President Donald Trump for what he is — a toxic tyrant desecrating American ideals and demolishing all barriers to him ruling like a divine-right king.
Chris Kelly (TIMES-TRIBUNE FILE)
“There are no kings in America,” Ed said as we chatted in the backyard of the Glenburn Twp. home he shares with “Mimi,” his wife of 49 years.
“Kings haven’t been welcome here since 1776.”
Unofficially, kings have been persona non grata here since June 14, 1775, when the Army was mustered to life. June 14 is also Trump’s birthday. Ed scoffed at the notion that the draft dodger’s Soviet-style military parade Saturday was meant to honor the Army’s 250th birthday.
“It’s all about him, just like everything else he does,” Ed said. “Is he going to have a parade for the Navy’s 250th anniversary (Oct. 13)? Is he going to have a parade for the Marine Corps’ 250th (Nov. 10)? I doubt it.”
Me too. Seeding doubt is an essential element of Trump’s hostile takeover of America. Ed pointed to masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sweeping people off the streets and into unmarked vans as an infuriating example.
“My wife made a point the other day,” Ed said. “She said, ‘You see all these so-called ICE agents? Why are they wearing masks? Why is law enforcement wearing masks?’ And they wear outfits you could buy at any surplus store. Are they really ICE agents or could they be Proud Boys?
“They could be anyone. You don’t know. Whether they’re ICE agents or not, wearing masks and taking people off the street into unmarked vans is not anything a legitimate government does.”
Ironically, Ed said Trump’s stubborn repetition of the Big Lie that he won the 2020 election actually calls the legitimacy of his current term into question.
“Trump still insists that he won the 2020 election,” Ed said. “Well, the Constitution says you can only be elected twice, so if he won the 2020 election, that means that this presidency is illegitimate, because he’s unqualified to serve.”
Lord, let us count the ways. I last visited Ed in November, to see the pro-democracy, anti-Trump signs he posted in the front yard of the Johnstons’ tidy ranch home, which faces the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail. The signs quickly became a hot topic among neighbors and passersby. Ed’s messages were not subtle.
“INSTEAD OF DODGING THE DRAFT IN NINETEEN SIXTY SEVEN, I VOLUNTEERED FOR VIETNAM TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST AN AUTOCRAT AND PROMOTE FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY. SADLY, FIVE AND A HALF DECADES LATER, I MUST DO IT NOW FOR MY OWN COUNTRY. PROTECT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, DEFEND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, DEFEAT DONALD TRUMP AND HIS MINIONS.”
At the time, Ed and I were confident Vice President Kamala Harris would defeat Trump handily. A lifelong conservative Republican, Ed was eager to vote for Anyone But Trump. He had always resented “’60s liberals who radicalized the Democratic party,” but seeing the GOP devolve “into a cult” made it “impossible” for him “to vote for any Republican.”
Ed was disappointed by Trump’s victory, but soon shook it off and went back to making signs and penning letters to the editor. The sign Ed planned to carry to a “No Kings” protest Saturday was characteristically blunt:
“DRAFT DODGERS DO NOT DESERVE A MILITARY PARADE.”
Organized by Indivisible and other grassroots progressive groups, “No Kings” protests were expected to draw millions of Americans into the streets across the nation. Protests in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Tunkhannock were expected to attract large crowds. (My deadline precluded a live report, but please read Staff Writer Geri Gibbons’ coverage in The Sunday Times.)
In our Thursday conversation, Ed pointed out that Trump’s childlike desire for a military parade is not new.
“He was talking about doing this in his first term, but some saner heads told him we don’t do that here,” Ed said. “This is Kim Jong Un (bleep).”
And Vladimir Putin (bleep). Trump’s puppy love of dictators is well documented. His clumsy crusade to join their rancid ranks is evident in his invasion of Los Angeles with the Army National Guard and 700 Marines.
“Sending in the Marines, that’s a very intimidating thing,” Ed said. “That sends a message. I was a Seabee. I went through ITR (Infantry Training Regiment) with the Marines. Marines are trained to be assault troops. Marines are trained to kill people and break things. That’s what they were created for. That’s their job, and they’re very good at it.”
Ed said Trump’s deployment of Marines in America’s second-largest city is a deliberate attempt to incite protesters to violence.
“I don’t wish for it, but I think there’s going to be an overreaction,” he said. “Trump is pushing for another Kent State, and it’s going to end with a tragedy. I really think that’s what’s going to happen.”
For those who didn’t pay attention in junior high history class, the “Kent State Massacre” happened May 4, 1970. Ohio Army National Guard soldiers opened fire on students peacefully protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War, killing four and wounding nine. The shootings sparked riots on college campuses across the country.
A similar tragedy could give Trump an excuse to declare martial law, but Ed said such a power grab would only inflame more Americans who refuse to be ruled by a king. The military has 1.3 million active-duty troops and about 760,000 in reserve. If Trump brought all deployed service members home and called up all Guard and reserves, he could only muster about 2,060,000 personnel to police roughly 340 million people — or one soldier for every 165 Americans.
Trump would also have to convince our professional, all-volunteer military to do his bidding. Our service members swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic — not to any president or political party.
“There aren’t enough members of the standing army right now to come in and cover everything,” Ed said. “Go ahead, call in all the National Guards. They aren’t enough. You’re not just going to subdue this country. Outside of Trump’s cult, everybody else is going to come out in the streets and give you this (a middle finger).”
Saturday’s “No Kings” protests were intended as a collective middle finger to an orange agent of chaos and anyone else who wants to reinvent Our Republic as a monarchist oligarchy. Ed Johnston was eager to answer the call and stand in solidarity with other disgusted conservatives and surviving ’60s liberals he once resented.
In that sense, Trump might be a uniter after all.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, thanks and salutes Ed Johnston for his continued service to Our Republic. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.