Taking the mis out of misinformation [Maynard and Lewis letters, Village News, 5/11/23]

Maynard: He went to San Francisco. My question: whatever for? It’s been a tourism dud going on three years now. It’s yesterday’s news that San Fran’s economy was ravaged by the pandemic, and the big boost expected from the hi-tech boom in the Bay area was another blow as that glut of high paid techs ran housing prices and rents out of reach for the locals. Locals who could, left, those who couldn’t became largely unemployed. Anyway, it was newsworthy back in 2021 and 2022.

There are only two reasons to vacation in San Francisco today: to make a charitable contribution or for the schadenfreude. Schadenfreude: a German word meaning the joy in observing someone else’s misfortune. Perhaps Maynard enjoyed his vacation.

Lewis: He says Dr. Fauci contradicted Trump’s factual information about the pandemic. That would be laughable except for the thousands of American lives lost needlessly because of Trump’s failure to take immediate action to stem the pandemic. On Feb. 7, 2020, Trump told Bob Woodward that intelligence reported Covid-19 was on its way, and severe: but the pandemic wasn’t formally declared until March 11, 2020; precious time and lives lost. Trump never addressed the pandemic seriously. Thirty-eight times, in one wording or another, he said that the pandemic would just disappear: poof, just like that.

I was being deliberately provocative when I dubbed Trump: “Don the Con.” I wanted to make a point. Trump has a penchant for giving demeaning nicknames to his opponents. Just another way to promote a lie.

Lewis says that on Insurrection Day (1/6/20) Trump said, “be peaceful.” Actually, he said; “stay peaceful” which they couldn’t do because they hadn’t been in the first place. Also, in his address earlier that day, Trump said: “And we fight. We fight like hell And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." Rolling Stone (12/11/21)

I previously listed 17 pending lawsuits against Trump. Make that one down and 16 to go as E. Jean Carroll won her battery and defamation suit, with Trump to pay $5 million in damages.

John H. Terrell