It’s exhausting trying to beat back the deliberate misinformation from Trumpsters nowadays. However, Bill Botts letter from Aug. 11 must be rebutted with facts and condemnation.
Firstly, Mr. Botts is a resident of Maui. Why is he writing to The Garden Island about large national issues of right versus left? Tend to your own garden, sir. We’ll manage ours here.
He states that “leftism” should be our greatest fear. As far as I can tell in America, the biggest places “leftism” has manifested are the Postal Service, Social Security and Medicare. Yes, many of us want to be inclusive and get along but we learned that in preschool, not some “leftism training manual.”
Next, he states that the Democratic Party is running America. Really? Last I noticed, GOP controls the presidency, both houses of Congress, most of the judiciary at a federal level and most recent SCOTUS rulings have leaned to the right.
Thirty-three of 50 state governorships are Republican and most of those have state houses that also veer right. How are the Democrats running America?
The “leftist media and education system” is something he rants about. Let’s look at the right-wing media complex: InfoWars, Breitbart, Fox News, and about 16,000 conservative leaning radio stations that feature Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and more throughout the country.
The left has a couple evening shows on MSNBC, a couple winks per week from NPR and a few notable bloggers and podcasters. It is true that more educated people become, the more likely they are to vote Democratic. You could look at that and say it’s evidence of a leftist education system. You could also dig further and realize that often facts happen to have a liberal bias.
Then Mr. Botts talks about the “left’s obstruction.” In all these state houses and our Congress, bills from Democrats don’t even make it to a vote. If the GOP could organize their caucus, they could pass nationally anything they’ve ever wanted right now.
Instead, their focus has been a tax bill for the wealthiest and covering for a corrupt president and his administration.
Mr. Botts ends with two ridiculous claims. One is that we’re just “blaming Trump” for our “unhappiness.” Many of us were a lot happier when his administration wasn’t bowing to Russia or child snatching.
He bears a little responsibility. Also, the #walkaway hashtag he promotes had been proven to be a tool of Russian bots looking to influence the midterms. Good work, Comrade Botts!
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Jason Blake is a resident of Puhi.
