My mother taught me not to believe everything on television. That advice from simpler times is still valid and extends to current technology. There are voices misleading voters with outrageous claims to distract us from policy questions and decisions important to our state and nation. When a candidate for office relies on sources of “they,” or “people say” or “TV reported,” then we really need to ask whether their assertions are accurate, or just convenient lies.
Does a candidate for N.C. governor really believe that a woman who is pregnant from being raped should be denied health care because she couldn’t keep her skirt down?
Can we trust the education of our children to a candidate who says that Hollywood celebrities drink children’s blood and that our schools are “indoctrination centers?”
Should we respect a candidate who says the award he gives to his donors is better than the Medal of Honor, given to “soldiers…hit so many times by bullets or they are dead?”
Should we trust candidates who say Haitian immigrants eat our pets, when local authorities say that is nonsense? Can we support a vice president candidate who says that lying about that is OK to get attention? Do millions of rapists, thieves and murderers released from foreign prisons choose to walk hundreds of miles to commit crimes here rather than take the easy path back into crime where they are? Are street gangs, as Venezuelan government agents, taking over cities in Ohio and Colorado and is their “massive machine gun-type equipment…beyond even military scope?”
Do Jewish space lasers start wildfires and is the devastation from Helene because “they” control the weather? Trump claimed that the bulk of FEMA relief for Helene was being diverted to illegal immigrants, that Republican areas were being short-changed on relief, that their governors were being ignored and that North Carolina was without helicopter or other rescue efforts, but Georgia Governor Kemp describes a “great relationship” and that Biden had called the day before, and South Carolina Governor McMaster said federal response had “been superb.” We all can hear the drone of helicopters overhead, helping rescue hundreds alongside everything from heavy equipment to mule trains in 53 search and rescue teams including 1,600 personnel.
Steve Bannon said that to defeat rational discussion of issues that he would “flood the zone with (feces).” He believes he can obscure informed decisions by keeping us sifting through the insanity. Our population can think with enough clarity to avoid his manipulation. So even while our adversaries are reveling in the disarray, we have an opportunity to right the ship.
Despite Bannon’s flatulent approach, there are voices worthy of our respect and attention. Those voices have nothing to gain beyond the health of our country. Some speak out directly; others write books or join collective letters to the American public. They are retired general officers and admirals, former members of Trump’s White House staff, respected conservative judges and Republican Senators, a Republican vice president, a former Republican candidate for president, ambassadors, former secretaries of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, former secretaries of the Air Force, Army, and Navy, retired directors of the CIA, DIA and many more.
Literally hundreds of well-informed voices, with direct involvement in our government and security community, have given a consistent message that Donald Trump has no place in office. Not even the only other living former Republican president will support him.
Let’s ignore Bannon’s “flood” and look at the record. How about the Republican-led, bipartisan bill for immigration reform, which Trump killed only for his ambitions, or Trump’s budgets that cut taxes for the wealthy while growing our national debt 25%; increasing the interest payments to more than the defense budget. Consider the first violent attack on our capital since 1812, or defense secrets stored in a bathroom and used as conversation starters or the deaths from Trump’s botched response to COVID and the financial straits that resulted.
When North Carolinians vote for our next governor, representatives to Congress and the state House, Superintendent of Public Education and president of the United States, let’s listen to the hundreds of well-informed voices. Let’s defeat candidates who spout insanity or brag about groping women, have six business bankruptcies, hide sex with porn stars, call servicemen “suckers” and “losers,” are convicted felons, under multiple indictments, and liable in civil cases
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Robert Taylor is retired in Weaverville after 42 years as an engineer and program manager in the defense industry.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Listen to well-informed voices instead of Trump’s lies
