Letters: Vance’s ‘stories’ have unhappy endings; Pennsylvania needs more veterans in office
Vance’s ‘stories’ have unhappy endings
Trump’s historically unpopular running mate, JD Vance, is offering storytime sessions! Not for preschoolers, but for adults. Vance has blatantly stated that creating “stories,” is an acceptable way to focus media attention on a problem. Alas, his storytimes are all fiction, including problems that don’t even exist! These are not your typical tales with happy endings.
Vance and Trump have spread gross falsehoods about the legal immigrants living, working and contributing to Springfield, Ohio. Immigrants and non-immigrants alike have had to endure the costly fallout, both emotionally and financially, from those lies. More than 30 bomb threats have forced schools, hospitals, universities and community centers to close.
The Trump-Vance lies are classic white nationalist propaganda. The Proud Boys and other KKK-affiliated groups have marched through Springfield distributing hate-filled fliers, ratcheting up the tensions. Trump and Vance aren’t focusing attention on a problem, they’re creating a problem — for political gain. They don’t care who gets hurt in the process. Worse yet, Trump has promised mass deportation of Springfield’s legal, contributing and respected immigrant community members.
Do we really want to hear these stories? Do you believe these fictions? Do we want Donald Trump and JD Vance leading our country? It’s a very unhappy ending for all of us, when we accept lies as truth, and jeopardize our country’s decency and democracy.
Pennsylvania needs more veterans in office
As a veteran and a lifelong Pennsylvanian, I’ve never felt more underrepresented than I do now. Pennsylvania has the fourth largest veteran population, yet we have two Senators who never put on the uniform. Military service shouldn’t be a requirement for public office, but the skills and leadership qualities many veterans have are sorely needed in Congress right now.
Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate this year, would be a welcome change. McCormick went to West Point, served in the 82nd Airborne, and fought during the Gulf War.
McCormick’s made veterans issues a priority of his campaign from day one and listening to him speak, it is evident that the values of “duty, honor, country” still guide him to this day. His perspective would be a welcome change from our current landscape of career politicians. It was Joe Biden’s disgraceful withdrawal from Afghanistan that encouraged McCormick to step into the ring in the first place.
I know Dave would not only fight for our current service members but be a leading voice for all veterans. For a state that has nearly 800,000 veterans, having a veteran like Dave McCormick represent us in Washington would have an immeasurable impact.
Prioritize competence
As another pivotal election approaches, you should reflect on the implications of re-electing Donald Trump. Now a felon convicted on 34 counts and also fined over $83M for defaming E. Jean Carroll, Trump demonstrated while President a callous disregard for democratic norms. His administration witnessed 30 indictments and over 200 criminal charges against his associates, a stark reminder of the corruption that permeated his leadership. His January 6, 2021 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol led to the death of five police officers and four members of the crowd. Consider that 24 of Trump’s former aides and allies have opposed his reelection.
Trump’s tax cuts disproportionately benefited only the wealthiest 1%. During his term the economy lost 2.7 million jobs and the deficit grew by $7.8 trillion. The unemployment rate increased by 1.7 percentage points to 6.4%. Despite Trump’s promises to revitalize manufacturing, the U.S. lost 182,000 manufacturing jobs by the end of his term.
Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic led to a devastating human toll. Over 400,000 Americans died from the virus by January 2021 as Trump undermined public health experts and pushed misinformation such as bleach injections and opposition to vaccinations.
Trump’s alienation of key allies weakened America’s global standing. His withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal jeopardized critical diplomatic progress.
We must prioritize competence. The past has shown dramatically that Trump’s presidency fostered division. America deserves a leader like Kamala Harris who will elevate the nation.
Repeating lies
Can you prove there are no martians stealing our Amazon packages from our front door? Then, I guess they are. At least that’s how Trump and Vance figure things out. Trump also continues to attack mail-in ballots and early voting, insisting they help Democrats commit fraud. Trump stated, “Our primary focus is not to get out the vote, it is to make sure they don’t cheat.”
Vance claimed that Haitian migrants were barbecuing their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. The city manager denied it. But, Vance repeated it the next day, and that night, Trump declared the “story” to be fact, during his debate with Harris.
While Trump repeats lies (“many people are saying,” is his usual dodge) Vance argues that the facts are beyond the point because spreading the claims has a higher purpose: “if I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention ... then that’s what I’m going to do” (CNN).
OK, enough said.