Tabloid Trina Kalist - The Leader We Need

[The Storyteller]

Trina Kalist - The Leader We Need ​

Opinion: Adanna Drahar

All across the Republic, we have heard the cries and protests of its citizens. We have seen men, women and children take to the streets to decry the unjust treatment shown towards Senator Kalist - imprisoned and charged for her political beliefs. Charged by a Chancellor who would sooner break bread with a genocidal, terrorist government - one without a shred of credibility to their name. It is true that Chancellor Xerxes had brought temporary peace to the Republic - and had achieved it by selling out the integrity and very soul of our government. By banishing the Order who had defended us, time and time again - and by striking agreements with the same people who have always been our enemy. Who attacked Byblos. Who glassed Firrerre. Who attacked Kashyyyk. Who allowed genocide to take place on Glee Anselm.

Is this the government that we trust? Is this who Chancellor Xerxes believes will keep their word, when the only people capable of fighting them effective - the Jedi - have been driven to the brink of extinction? Perhaps Senator Drast hit the nail on the head. Perhaps Chancellor Xerxes is a Sith Sympathizer. But I think not.

I think Chancellor Xerxes is a coward.

I believe our Chancellor does not have the courage to face the threat that is evident to all, but that none of us wish to address. He would rather bury his head in the sand - drag us down along with him - and wait for the Empire to come to our doorstep. Wait, until the Jedi and their allies in the FWA and Resistance are dead. Wait until their navy has swelled and their resources have skyrocketed, that they won’t even blink before declaring war upon our Republic. Do you truly believe they’ll come offering terms? Do you think they’ll be willing to negotiate with us?

Perhaps we ought to query the corpses and gravestones of Firrerre, and see how reasonable the Empire can be.

Despite her freshness to the Galactic stage, Trina Kalist represents exactly what the Republic needs. A bold, no-nonsense leader - one who is willing to look the threat in the eye and address it head first, rather than pretending it isn’t there. Someone who is willing to stand by her convictions and fight for the good of the Republic - not just when it is good for her political career. Even when it costs her career, her liberty, her life.

Chancellor Xerxes has played his hand. He has shown us exactly what he does to those who disagree with his unilateral decisions! He throws them in prison to rot while they await their ‘trial’, intimidating his fellow Senators and subordinates into submission. Have the people of this Republic so easily forgotten our history?

Have we not lived through this chapter before?

I refuse to give legitimacy to the charges that Chancellor Xerxes has cooked up to conduct this political hitjob. I refuse to twist or explain his actions as anything less than what they actually are; a repugnant abuse of power, and an attempt to eliminate his political rivals before they can challenge his authority. Chancellor Xerxes is a failure to the Republic. Chancellor Xerxes does not deserve to sit the office that he occupied.

But I believe we all know who does.