Use the Tea Party Hoopleheads like Trump exploits the Red Hats

The Flag-Shirt Mayor: Patriot in Costume Only

What kind of person runs for mayor on a wave of manufactured outrage, spreads lies like confetti, and bends the knee to the Tea Party as if it’s the Holy Roman Empire? The kind who wraps himself in a red-white-and-blue shirt hoping no one notices he’s selling out the very values that flag stands for.

That’s who currently sits in the mayor’s chair in Payson, Arizona.

Mayor Steve Otto loves to brandish symbols of patriotism — a cowboy hat here, a flashy flag shirt there. But real patriotism isn’t a costume. It isn’t something you wear to impress the right-wing crowd at KMOG or to signal loyalty to the local Tea Party influencers who truly pull the strings.

Real patriotism is honesty. Service. Respecting the community you represent.

Instead, our mayor freely lies about residents who dare to hold him accountable. He uses his radio appearances not to inform Payson citizens but to smear them. Then, when someone draws a harmless cartoon of him? Suddenly he’s the victim. The poor man can dish it out, but one sketch and he starts clutching his pearls like the Republic is under attack.

Let’s be clear: being mayor is supposed to be about improving the town — its infrastructure, pools, parks, libraries, and future. But the priorities of the current administration seem to be:

• Punish critics

• Reward loyalists

• Perform patriotism instead of practicing it

Meanwhile, the grandstanding continues. The attacks on the library — a political stunt. The attempts to hijack the 1% sales tax passed by better leaders — a hustle. The refusal to listen to the broader community — a failure of leadership.

Payson deserves better than theatrics and chest-thumping nationalism.

The flag isn’t a costume. It’s a commitment to truth and shared responsibility.

If the mayor wants to wrap himself in something, maybe he could try wrapping himself in integrity for a change.

Because this town is full of real patriots — the volunteers, the taxpayers, the teachers, the workers — who show up every day without needing a flag-patterned outfit to prove it.

And they are paying attention.

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