By V. Susan Hutchinson
Dear Trump Supporters:
It’s been almost 2 years since I last wrote to you. A lot has happened since the 2018 mid-term elections hasn’t it? I feel it’s time to catch up, what with the November 3 General Election coming up. Or, as I like to call it, The Big Showdown. Let’s review the contestants in this match up.
There’s your boy, Donald J. Trump, who had never held an elected office before becoming President of the United States so he has had to prove himself worthy since his inauguration on January 20, 2017. I’m sure you think he has succeeded beyond your wildest dreams.
Unfortunately, he has succeeded beyond our wildest nightmares.
The Democratic competitor is Joseph R. Biden, former Vice President, for eight years, under Barack Obama. He has served the American people since 1973 when he was elected Senator from Delaware. He also chaired several committees while serving in Congress. You will notice I keep saying “served”. I say it because that is what elected officials are supposed to do – serve the people of the United States for the greater good of the country not just the people who voted for them.
Can’t say that about old Donnie; he has only ever served his own self interests.
Trump Accomplishments? More Like Bait and Switch.
Let’s catch up on some of Trump’s touted “accomplishments” while in office. He keeps saying he is the greatest president of all time so let’s go over a few of these.
There’s that tax cut thing for the wealthy he did that was supposed to trickle down to you. Last time I checked you weren’t getting anything trickling down. Well, not money anyway.
Then there’s the repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) promise Trump made on the campaign trail in 2016. In 2020 there are 11,409,447 people enrolled in the ACA across the country. He hasn’t repealed or replaced it.
Why do you think that is? Could it be that it is popular, warts and all, and even his own party wasn’t willing to repeal it when they held both the House and Senate for the first two years he was in office? In fact, your boy has now taken it all the way to the Supreme Court, which is set to hear the case on November 10, after the election. So, no repeal in his first term.
And as far as replacing the ACA with something “terrific”? Well, the subject keeps coming up, five times this year alone, and then fades away. Donnie’s a real tease, isn’t he? Unfortunately, he has no intention of following through on it, just like everything else he proposes. It’s the old “I haven’t done it in my first four years, but re-elect me and I’ll get it done in my second term” lure.
Ah, you have more faith than I do. You really believe a replacement plan exists. How quaint.
I wonder how many of those almost 11.5 million people covered under the ACA are Republican voters. Do you think they will cheer if he gets it repealed and they no longer have an option for affordable healthcare because he has no replacement plan? How many of them will be thankful when they won’t be able to afford insulin or life-saving surgery and they have to go bankrupt?
Doesn’t it sound more like he has no replacement so he can keep those ACA subsidies? Maybe he’ll have “saved” so much money he can give the wealthy more tax cuts and then raise taxes on American workers when the coffers start getting low.
What’s that? He knows more about this than I do so I should just shut up and trust him? Let me tell you, the one thing I have figured out during Trump’s time in office is that this is the first time I have ever been smarter than the President of the United States.
Maybe it’s because I know how to read and rely on facts, not “alternative facts”.
I’d talk about more of his “accomplishments”, but let’s face it, anything you would call an accomplishment I would call a failure for the American people so there is no point in itemizing.
A Monumental Failure
Now let’s get to the biggest failure of Donnie’s presidency – his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic this year. I’m sure you see it as a success story, probably because he told you it was. You can’t really believe that a pandemic with almost 6 million cases and over 176,000 deaths is a success story, now can you?
Oh, you think the media is overinflating the numbers and it isn’t as bad as they say it is? Click that link in the paragraph above and you’ll see those numbers come from the CDC, a government agency.
But Trump has told you to only believe what he says so I’m sure you still aren’t convinced. Your failure to acknowledge the seriousness of this pandemic and take the necessary steps to control it as it threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans is the reason it is still with us. It should have been under control months ago.
The pandemic has proven beyond a doubt Donnie has no leadership skills and is willing to let hundreds of thousands of Americans die because he was out of his depth and refuses to admit it.
The fact that Joe Biden has a plan to manage the COVID-19 pandemic says it will be with us for many more months. Joe, you see, has been listening to the scientists and trusting their judgement instead of hoping it will all go away. He is prepared to step up and do what needs to be done when the time comes.
And he hasn’t even been elected yet.
Your boy Donnie, on the other hand, thinks he has the cure (take your pick hydroxychloroquine or plasma infusion – both high risk), that scientists are just trying to scare people and Democrats are using it to make him look bad so he won’t get re-elected.
If Trump’s absolute failure to lead our country during a crisis doesn’t shake your confidence in him, then you are lost beyond hope. Or maybe all you care about is the economy and you choose to ignore anything else he has said or done.
What about the economy then? Last I checked it isn’t doing so well because of how Donnie ignored the COVID-19 pandemic. But even without the economic downturn from the pandemic, President Obama had a roaring economy that was handed off to Trump in 2017.
Trump claims that Joe Biden isn’t up to the challenge of making the economy great again and promises if he gets re-elected it will soar to great heights. He wants people like you to forget that he was the one who crashed it this year due to his mismanagement of the pandemic.
Trump, once again, is counting on your short-term memory loss to get re-elected and your continued fealty.
He’s Suppressing Your Vote Too
In addition to the usual GOP tactics of purging voter rolls and gerrymandering, Trump is now trying to keep people from mailing in their votes for the November 3 election. He claims voting by mail is rife with fraud, even though he votes by mail.
Trump’s new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has been in front of the House and Senate within the last few days to answer questions about shutting down sorting machines and removing mailboxes across the country, especially in key states Trump needs to win the election. The result of his actions was a significant slowdown in mail delivery, which affects Republicans and Democrats alike who rely on the U.S. Postal Service for such things as medication and social security checks. By the way, Republicans as well as Democrats vote by mail in all states.
What was that? It’s just a coincidence that DeJoy is restructuring the postal service in an election year? If you say so, maybe it’s true.
But how do you explain DeJoy’s appointment after closed door meetings between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the Postal Service Board of Governors? Also explain how DeJoy says these cost cutting measures were needed because they are underfunded. If that is the case, why is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump saying they won’t pass a House bill allocating $25 billion to help the postal service? Something, as they say, is rotten in Denmark. Or in this case Washington, D.C.
I see, it’s all part of Donnie’s master plan to Keep America Great.
Well, I think it’s time for Joe Biden to Build Back Better when your boy is removed from office both by Americans going to the polls November 3 and physically if necessary.
See you on the flip side,
Susan
