Trump critics are answered
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor: One of my dad’s favorite sayings was, “Everyone in this world is nuts, except me and you……and I have my doubts about you.” Reader Janice Soczka reminded me of this in her recent letter to The Record Review. She wrote a lengthy diatribe about the president’s “Narcissistic Personality Disorder.” This is not a new thought, I read this argument months ago. I doubt Janice has personally psychoanalyzed Donald Trump, much like those who have presented pop psychology pieces on Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and the like (No, I’m not saying Mr. Trump is necessarily in their league). They didn’t know their subject personally, and it was their opinion, regardless of their expertise. I am saying your attack on Trump, at best, this is a cheap shot, and worst, borders on hate speech.
The week prior, the Bucheger’s wrote about Trump “abolishing” the Pandemic Response Team. According to Reuters Fact Check, this is not true. The team was reorganized and streamlined. That, fortunately or unfortunately, is what new administrations do. We can argue salient points, but let’s not lie about reality. Defending the World Health Organization (WHO), the leader whose country happens to be deeply in debt to Communist China (look it up), is a sweet sentiment of “One World Kumbaya.” On Jan. 14, 2020, a WHO tweet said, “no evidence of human to human transmission.” On Jan. 23 WHO issued a statement that coronavirus “did not constitute a public health emergency of International Concern.” New evidence indicates China was well aware of a novel respiratory disease outbreak in mid-November (and perhaps, well before) that could not have been due to some exotic, street-slaughtered animal passing on virus to humans. We contributed 10 times more money to the WHO budget than China did and look what we got for our investment.
Then there are the ramblings of Bryce Luchterhand, praising South Korea’s COVID response over President Trump’s. Quit comparing apples to raisins. South Korea has a population one-sixth the United States with an economy one tenth the size. South Korea’s population is nearly homogenous and it has been a democracy (kind of) only since 1997. It was a kingdom, off and on, prior to World War II and a military dictatorship (more or less) for 50 years after. It recently had a president who was the daughter of a former military dictator and she was deposed after scandal. South Korea has a real distrust of Communist China because of its vulnerable geographic position and the fact China supported and fueled the North Korean invasion in 1950. Why should they trust anything China says? I would expect them to mount a response to COVID, as they did, even to the point of GPS surveillance on every citizen. Bryce, do you want your government knowing your every move for months? That was a big part of their “test and trace.” Other countries have been “praised” for their COVID response in an effort to take a “dig” at Trump. New Zealand was one of those that put “science over politics.” Guess what? They are locking down again after new cases emerged.
On Jan. 29, 2020, six days after WHO said COVID was no big deal, Trump put together the COVID task force and declared the disease a public health emergency, quarantining travelers from China, a week before the first known American died from it. On Feb. 2, the administration banned travel from China, and in March, from Europe. Dr. Fauci testified, in a congressional hearing, this saved lives (science, folks). Yet, on March 12 (you can find it on YouTube) Joe Biden said travel bans were unnecessary, showing a continuous pattern of “xenophobia” by Trump. Biden must have been using science.
Finally, I would like to address Gary Fergot. Your glib remark about Gilligan’s Island needs some clarification. This is not new (I saw it over a month ago on Facebook). If you did your homework, in the 1964-67 series, you would know they never made it off the island. So much for the professor’s expertise.
Dr. Peter Schreiner Stratford
