Let’s return to reasonable conservatism where discourse is both practiced and honored.
To my fellow patriotic Americans, are you not tired of all the lies and myths put out by Trump and his fascistic MAGA cult followers? Yes, I meant fascist. Look at the definition. It has three components: 1) ultra conservatism 2) disdain for the rule of law 3) the use of violence to support their view. Jan. 6, 2021, was a perfect example. Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen with zero evidence, calling 10,000 of his conservative followers to the Ellipse, stoking the flames of a riot with more lies, and then sending them to the capital to use any force necessary to take over the Capitol and force Congress to return him to power. This included attacking the Capitol Police, injuring many, and killing others.
In his four years as president, he told more than 30,000 documented lies. In every rally or debate, he spews out a firehose of lies. In a recent rally at Mar-a-Lago, he spoke for 62 minutes and told more than 124 lies. That’s two lies per minute. This flood of lies is called a Gish gallop after a debate technique that attempts to overwhelm their opponent by presenting so many lies that the opponent can’t possibly refute in the allotted time.
In the Sept. 12 issue of the Sun was a letter by David Puro (“The right and the left live in different realities”). I sat down with a highlighter to mark what became his Gish gallop. By the time I finished, almost the entire 2 1/2 columns were highlighted. Don’t they know we have Google? We can fact-check you. You rely on the fact that it would take up several pages in the Sun to go through all of them. So let me cover at least a few of the most fallacious.
He says the 2020 election was rigged. There is zero evidence of this. Instead, there is overwhelming evidence that it was fair. Trump recently admitted he lost “by a whisker,” as if 7 million votes was a “whisker.” He claimed his N.Y. fraud trial was political and N.Y. had no jurisdiction. It’s true the feds declined to prosecute, but the crimes took place in N.Y. so they had jurisdiction. It was a trial by a jury of his peers. His lawyer agreed to the jurors.
Now the biggie. Mr. Puro claims there is no right to abortion, yet the Constitution says that all rights belong to the citizens unless ceded to the government. So SCOTUS had no right to overturn Row.
SCOTUS, under the Constitution, can only call balls and strikes. They can’t make law. But that is exactly what they are doing. With Dobbs, they were only asked if the 15-week abortion ban was constitutional. They instead decided to overturn Row, not based on law but on their Catholic religious beliefs. Biden has the right idea to put some teeth in the ethics rules to keep Justices Thomas and Alito from taking millions in bribes (which they prefer to call “tips”), and to put term limits on them.
The next big lie states our economy was better under Trump. This is easy to fact-check. The GDP (gross domestic product ) is the measure of how well the overall economy is doing. Just Google the GDP from 2004 to 2024. It shows the big dip in 2008 (often called the Great Recession) and the amazing comeback. When Trump took over, the GDP slowly declined until COVID hit. It then dropped off the page, made worse by Trump’s totally inept handling of the pandemic. Much worse than any other industrialized country except China.
Mr. Puro touts what a great businessman Trump is. His dad gave him $400 million to get him started. He squandered all that money and went bankrupt. When his dad died, he left Trump another $250 million, and he blew that too. He went bankrupt six times, including a casino where the No. 1 rule is “the house always wins.” It’s only Trump who says he is a great businessman.
Trump’s international relations were a disaster. He insulted the democratic leaders while cozying up to dictators. He doesn’t understand that the required 2 percent of GDP countries contribute is not paid to the U.S. but rather to their own national defense.
He doesn’t understand that tariffs end up as an extra sales tax on the consumer. He stupidly believes the exporting country has to pay the tariff. His idiotic plan to put tariffs on all imports (including 60 percent on China), would cost the average American an extra $5,000 per year and cause a deep recession or depression.
Trump has no plan or policy for America. He wants to get rid of Obama Care and throw 30 million Americans off that health care. After nine years, he has nothing but a “concept of a plan.” All he has to offer is hate, fear, anger, and vengeance. That, and his torrent of lies. Trump and his fascist MAGA cult followers are bad for the country.
First, we have to make Trump lose badly in November. Then, we have to help rebuild the Republican Party with patriots like John McCain, Liz Cheney, Reagan, and others. We may not agree with their policies, but at least they are reasonable and will support our country and not try to destroy democracy like Trump.
Dan Dennis writes to the Sun from Orcutt. Send a letter for publication to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 24 – Nov 3, 2024.