Letter: The president’s lies have cost lives

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From: James Kubal

Nashville

We now have incontrovertible evidence that Donald Trump lied to the American people repeatedly about the seriousness of the coronavirus costing American lives.

In a taped interview with Bob Woodward on Feb. 7, he said he knew the virus could be transmitted through the air, it was deadly stuff and that it would be difficult to contain. He went on to admit that “you just breath it through the air, that is how it is passed.”

Yet, over the next month, he held large indoor rallies with thousands of participants — none realizing the virus could easily be passed through the air, and no one realizing they were being exposed to a deadly virus.

On Feb. 11, and many times after that, he downplayed the seriousness of the virus, telling Sean Hannity “it miraculously goes away.”

There is no doubt that a faster response to the virus would have saved thousands of lives.

As the New York Times and others have noted, “As a result, the coronavirus spread faster and sickened or killed more people in the United States than in any of its peer nations. If the United States had the same corona virus fatality rate as Canada, more than 100,000 Americans could still be alive today. “

Kristin Urquiza has recounted the sad story of the preventable death of her father from COVID-19. Her dad was an avid Trump supporter who wore a mask and avoided crowds until Trump and his supporters said that if you had no underlying health conditions you’d be fine. He made the mistake of believing the president, went to a crowded bar, caught the virus and died.

How many more have died the same we don’t know about?

In a March 19 Woodward taped interview, Trump admitted the virus was affecting both young and old people.

"Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just the old. Young people too, plenty of young people," Trump said.

Then, in August, Trump lied and told us that children are practically immune to this virus as he was encouraging parents to send children back to school. How many children have suffered?

Woodward went on to quote General Jim Mattis and our own former Senator Dan Coats. Mattis told Coats, "The president has no moral compass.” Coats reportedly responded, “True. To him, a lie is not a lie. It’s just what he thinks. He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie."

Soon we will have the opportunity to listen to the candidates outline their plan for the future of the country. Trump may seem to answer all the questions quickly, with complete and thorough answers, and you maybe tempted to conclude that surely this man has a grasp of the facts.

Please fact-check the debates. He has no grasp of the facts. Please don’t be fooled by lies, our country cannot stand four more more years of this man.

Editor’s note: This letter is paid political content