I read a letter to the editor in the Bozeman Chronicle this morning that is a perfect example of how polarized this nation is, in large part due to the spin put on stories by conservative media. Keep in my mind that Fox News ‘news programming’ has shrunk significantly over the last four years and been replaced by ‘opinion’ programming. Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and others do not purport to be journalists nor does Fox News represent them as such. They are ‘entertainment and opinion’ programs and, as such, they can pretty much say anything they want. Although, Fox News sobered up a bit after the events of January 6th when they got slapped with a defamation lawsuit from Dominion, one of the companies that manufactures voting machines. And, oh by the way, Lou Dobbs lost his job for the exact same reason. Unfortunately, a lot of people believe that the information being broadcast by these opinion programs is, in fact, news. The letter I read this morning seems to be an example of that. It states:
“My Liberal fellow citizens seem to be still obsessed with former President Trump. Perhaps it’s because the former president accomplished so much.
The action that affected me most was fixing the VA. I have never been so happy with the level of care and the communication from the VA. Additionally, Trump repaired our military, formed the Space Force, opened a dialogue with North Korea, sponsored Middle East peace with Israel, executed Operation Warp Speed, conducted historic prison reform, put intense pressure on China and Iran, built hundreds of miles of border wall, oil and gas independence for the first time in 70 years and, prior to the pandemic, had the US economy humming on all cylinders. Most liberals do not know any of this because it is not covered on the ‘Legacy’ Media.”
So, let’s go through this piece by piece. I would agree that things seemed to have improved in the VA so that is a good thing. I’m not sure what ‘Trump repaired the military’ means. There were stories that were propagated on Fox and other conservative media that when Trump came into office the military had ‘no bullets’, etc. All of those stories were completely debunked. In addition, he pulled troops out of Syria and abandoned our Kurdish allies against the recommendations of the senior military leadership. He ordered pulling our troops out of Germany, against the advice of the military leadership, solely because he was mad at Angela Merkel. He did form the Space Force and that is a good think.
He “opened dialogue with North Korea”. The only thing this accomplished was to give Kim Jong-Un an elevated platform on the world stage. The US received nothing from this effort and recent intelligence reports indicate that North Korea’s nuclear program is moving full steam ahead.
He “sponsored Middle East peace with Israel”. He did move the US Embassy to Jerusalem – amid much controversy. However, the Palestinian issue is still festering and not resolved. In fact, it has probably worsened because the Trump administration policies essentially killed anything resembling a ‘two state’ solution that would give the Palestinians their own homeland. The other countries that have ‘made nice’ with Israel appeared to have done so with the incentive of receiving advanced weapon systems from the US – against the wishes of Congress.
He “executed Operation Warp Speed”. That is true. However, there was essentially no plan for national distribution of the vaccines. If you develop a vaccine but have no plan as to how to get that into people’s arms, it cannot be considered a success. As anyone who works in the defense industry understands, 80 percent of the cost of a system is in the tail end – the logistics, maintenance and support. If you ignore that part of the problem, you basically end up with a very expensive paperweight.
Historic prison reform did take place under Trump but the fact is, the US still incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. There is nothing in the actions from the Trump administration to address this issue or the whole ‘prison for profit’ system that only contributes to the mass incarceration in this country.
He “put intense pressure on China and Iran”. As I have stated in previous posts, the US consumer and farmers paid for Trump’s trade war with China. China’s economy started recovering before ours and is percolating along just fine. As far as Iran, they have resumed their nuclear program so Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement did nothing but accelerate their march toward developing a nuclear weapon.
He “built hundreds of miles of border wall.” That is just patently false. There were some sections of the wall that were repaired but the amount of new wall that was built is minimal. Secondly, the money for the wall was taken from already Congressionally allocated military funding and was sure as hell not paid for my Mexico.
The US was pretty much energy independent but given the repeal of many existing environmental regulations, you have to wonder at what cost. The repeal of these regulations and the withdrawal from the Paris Accords, demonstrated that the Trump administration was doing nothing to address the existential crisis of climate change. It demonstrates a huge lack of irresponsibly and disregard for future generations.
And when the author talks about the economy humming along on all cylinders, I guess he forgets the part of the Trump administration that resulted in a skyrocketing national debt even before the pandemic hit. Or the fact that the Trump administration policies contributed significantly to the wealth disparity already affecting this country. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer and the middle class continued to shrink. That hardly seems like sound economic policy to me.
The letter that I read this morning is just another example of why I am less than optimistic about the future of this country. I just don’t see how we can overcome this polarization. And now, we have Trump on the loose again, continuing to spew falsehoods and plot revenge against any who opposed him. And when you add in to this mix, a Republican party that is hell bent to oppose any and all legislation proposed by the Biden administration no matter how popular, it is just a recipe for many more years of turmoil.
For me, I just received the latest copy of my subscription to “International Living,” so I guess I’ll sit down with a cup of coffee and let my mind do a little wandering. Stay safe out there.