NEWS TAKING LIBERTIES
THIS REALLY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIME By Joel McNally
I
t’s become a political cliché to call every presidential election the most important election of our lifetime. But what else can you call an election in the midst of the worst multiple crises in American history totally mishandled by a clueless amateur president who has made every crisis worse? Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing their lives, tens of millions of jobs have been destroyed, and our daily lives have been transformed by concerns for our safety and economic futures. It didn’t have to be this way with competent national leadership.
PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH No, Donald Trump didn’t create the deadly, international coronavirus pandemic. But,
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for months, he dismissed expert warnings, claiming the virus would disappear magically in warm weather. We now know from journalist Bob Woodward that Trump knew how deadly and wildly contagious coronavirus was. He deliberately lied to the American people. Millions foolishly believed him and failed to protect themselves, resulting in tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. Trump never developed any national strategy to combat the virus so he could blame governors when it raged out of control. And, of course, without adequate national testing or protective equipment, it did spiral out of control. The University of Washington’s scientific health model predicts a likely U.S. death toll that might exceed 400,000 by year’s end, ranging between 288,000 and 620,000.
KILLING AMERICANS DESTROYED OUR ECONOMY Trump irresponsibly sacrificed American lives trying to artificially boost the economy before Election Day. That did just the opposite, permanently killing more jobs and small businesses, as well as more Americans. Republican governors rushed to reopen businesses, spreading death and economic devastation far and wide. Joe Biden correctly links economic recovery to controlling the pandemic. Trump equates economic success with a rising stock market benefitting the wealthy. Biden ties it directly to creating more jobs for working Americans. Voters know which matters most to their families.
