I can’t help myself: If we’re watching an Orioles game at the Swallow at the Hollow tavern, and some guy says Earl Weaver was the last manager to take the team to the World Series, I’d say sorry, pal, that was Joe Altobelli in 1983, and you can Google to confirm.
I like facts. And I like correcting “alternative facts.”
These days, I hear from people who, in defending Donald Trump and bashing President Joe Biden, assert things that are not true. I try to help them. I send them links to credible news stories and reports from fact-checkers. They rarely express thanks because — I’m guessing here — they don’t like being told what they heard on Fox & Friends or read on some crackpot’s website is garbage.
So, you ask, what’s the point of all this fact-checking if Trump supporters think the findings are all fake? And why am I about to use this column to respond to the assertions of an 87-year-old reader and Trump fan named Betty?
It’s like when I’m in the Swallow: I can’t help myself.
Betty wrote a four-page letter, making a series of statements that begged for responses. Mine are based on news stories, congressional testimony and government reports. Here we go:
On Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, “people who broke into the Capitol were stationed there before Trump spoke.”
Betty’s suggestion seems to be that some people acted on their own, without hearing Trump’s mob-inciting words. While true that a few people were near the Capitol before the attack started, they were soon joined by protesters who came from Trump’s stop-the-steal rally near the White House. That’s where Trump had addressed them for close to an hour, saying, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Who was where and when doesn’t seem to matter because they all ended up at the Capitol and for the same purpose — to protest or stop congressional certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
“Nancy Pelosi and her GOP counterpart were responsible to protect the Capitol. They refused to have National Guard troops stand by in case of trouble.”
If by “GOP counterpart,” Betty means Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, then she’s being ironic. It was McCarthy who joined Trump and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio in accusing Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, of rejecting National Guard protection. That claim has been debunked; congressional testimony showed that Pelosi had no involvement in discussions of Capitol security in the days leading up to the attack. The Associated Press found that “as the Capitol came under attack, she and the Senate Majority leader [Chuck Schumer] called for military assistance, including the National Guard.”
“I like a lot of what Trump did in office. He reminded me to be proud of the U.S. He gave us a tax break.”
It depends on who “us” is, Betty. Most Americans got a modest bump in take-home pay, but the lion’s share of tax savings went to those well up the ladder. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the 2017 tax package mostly benefited the wealthy and corporations. Most of the tax cuts went to Americans already at the top of the income scale. Trump and the Republicans cut the corporate tax rate by 40%. As always with trickle-down economics, the cuts did little to advance growth, and the Tax Policy Center expects the resulting deficits to add between $1 trillion and $2 trillion to the national debt. That would be on top of the $7.8 trillion that was added during the Trump administration.
“I have been a part of many good years until Barack Obama was put into office with Joe Biden as VP. America has gone downhill fast after that. Trump slowed down their progress toward socialism/communism.”
Obama and Biden came into office in January 2009, following a financial meltdown and midst a recession, the worst such crisis since the Great Recession. The unemployment rate hit 10% in October of Obama’s first year. But, during his two terms, the nation netted 11.6 million jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.1%. Trump inherited a strong economy from Obama. Also, since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, some 35 million more Americans gained health insurance coverage, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. There would be even more if not for governors and legislators in 12 states that refuse the law’s Medicaid expansion. So, you can call it “socialism,” but the ACA has made a huge difference for thousands of American families. Trump and the Republicans tried to kill it, but they failed, and Republicans have pretty much given up those efforts. And Betty, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say you’re probably insured through Medicare. If so, be careful what you wish for — stopping the “progress toward socialism/communism” could mean the end of that benefit. Also, I don’t know if you have grandchildren, but Biden’s student loan relief has been labeled “socialism” too. It might be time to rethink some of your views, or maybe watch a different channel.
“We had a president with an honorable family; five children without a hint of scandal.”
Wait. Which president with five kids are we talking about, Van Buren or Adams?
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