President is quick to blame others and not take responsibility

Editor:

I’ve followed the recent submission of letters, as I normally do, and find myself unsurprised by the influx of regular voices disavowing the “radical left,” socialist, Marxist Biden-Harris ticket and praising the overwhelming policy “successes” of President Trump.

As is to be expected, the regurgitation of right-wing talking points is the best that these readers can provide; “greatest level” of economic success in history, love for the Constitution, LAW AND ORDER! (great show by the way) and a man who does what he says he is going to do.

The President is campaigning on the success of the last four years, which is nothing more than babbling about the alleged failures of his predecessor and, for some reason Hillary Clinton, who was not even involved in this round of campaigning.

In 2016, the RNC released a 66-page platform that promoted American competitiveness, reduction on the Federal debt, “a new era in energy,” “saving Social Security,” and “honest elections” among other policy proposals.

In 2020, the RNC refused to adopt a new platform and instead readopted, without amendment, the previous platform. Logically speaking, the GOP seemed to willingly acknowledge that the President’s agenda was unsuccessful, or they were just plain lazy. Perhaps they banked on short attention spans and a willingness to rally around bumper-sticker slogans like “Make America Great Again, Again,” or Kimberly Guilfoyle screaming at everyone, “The best is yet to come!”

I took the advice of one writer and perused the 91 pages of the DNC platform for 2020. Raising wages, massive infrastructure projects, eliminating health inequalities, investing in health science and research, and reforming elections provide a window into the improvements that the Biden-Harris ticket has planned.

A whole section of the platform committed to protecting the rights of women, the LGBTQ+ community, combating gun violence, supporting the freedom of the press, and expanding arts and culture seem quite appealing. I will not waste valuable space attempting to synthesize the platform here, but I would echo that writer and encourage you to read it for yourself. If you can barely sleep after reading it, there might be deeper issues at play.

Another contributor wrote that Trump is the “John Wayne of our times.” I would argue that Donald Trump has more in common with John Wayne Gacy, right down to the orange make-up, but I digress. As the right proclaims the Democratic-led effort to systematically dismantle and bankrupt the nation in an effort to discredit the President, the leader of the free world continues to spew hate and complain about the “tough questions” he gets during TV interviews (and we Millennials are snowflakes?).

In January of 1953, President Harry S. Truman said during his farewell address that, “The President – whoever he is – has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

During the most recent debate, Trump was confronted about his March 2020 “I don’t take responsibility at all” statement regarding the Covid-19 response. He responded, “I take full responsibility. It’s not my fault that it came here.” You either shoulder the responsibility, or don’t, but you can’t have it both ways.

This, of course, placed in the context of the President’s past Twitter critiques of the Ebola response (to which “Obama should apologize to the American people & resign”) and his criticism of the H1N1 response paints a picture of a petty narcissist, with a silver spoon in hand and no concern for anyone but himself. A man who has more in common with the swamp creatures than anyone cares to admit.

I will close by reminding everyone that there is more at stake during this election than at any other point in our Nation’s history. Historians and political scientists have noted that we are closer to destabilizing political violence than ever before. If you truly value the Constitution and hope for a better America, vote out the despot.

Matthew Ballard

Statesville, NC