Brunswick Beacon, 08.03.23
Week after week and month after month, we are subjected to the hypocrisy and trumped-up outrage that defines the MAGA Republican Party. Mr. Alan Klug penned a letter to the editor in the July 27th Beacon. After decrying the statements of Biden supporters as “untrue,” he unleashed a torrent of blatant falsehoods. A couple are particularly noteworthy.
Falsehood #1: “This [Biden’s] is the most corrupt administration to ever occupy the White House.” Here are the facts. Donald Trump has been impeached twice and indicted twice. A third indictment is expected soon. Trump is the first president in American history to face criminal charges (Forbes): over two dozen lawsuits and investigations involving stealing classified documents; attempting to overturn a presidential election; election interference; trying to destroy presidential records; obstruction of justice; falsifying business records, violating the Voting Rights Act; fraud; and racketeering.
Eleven Trump associates have been arrested, convicted of crimes, and/or pled guilty; many advised him in the White House (Reuters, Washington Post). A twelfth, Rudy Guiliani, recently conceded that he made false statements about election workers in Georgia in a defamation lawsuit (Fox Atlanta). In addition, while working in Trump’s White House, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner grifted upwards of $640 million according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Falsehood #2: “90% of shooters were registered Democrats.” According to Politifact (2018), “Mass shootings are often perpetrated by young men who are socially isolated or have a mental illness, experience a trauma or conflict that sends them reeling emotionally, and have easy access to guns.… Their motives are almost always, without exception, nonpolitical.” In 2022, the FBI reported that white supremacists “pose the primary threat” of committing domestic terrorism. The Buffalo mass shooting in a black neighborhood supermarket that left 10 people dead is a prime example. Mr. Klug clearly pulled his “90%” claim out of thin air.
The deflection, projection, hypocrisy, and propaganda-induced outrage are exhausting.
Larry Widman
Leland