Trump masterfully uses false fears
To the Editor:
I’m writing in response to the “Democrats try to scare voters” letter in the May 8 edition of your paper. That idea is totally preposterous considering that the standard bearer of the Republican Party is a fear master.
Rolling Stone reporter Neil Strauss described Trump’s tactics well in a 2016 article entitled “Donald Trump: Fearmonger in Chief.” Strauss wrote: “Pick a fear. Spread misinformation to turn it into outrage. Then, turn that outrage into passionate support for your own agenda.” That’s Donald Trump in a nutshell.
Trump is the one who repeatedly said (without evidence) before the 2018 midterm election that “migrant caravans” full of hardened criminals from Central America and “unknown Middle Easterners” were headed to the southern border. Then, there was the following ABC News report on May 20, 2020: “ABC News finds 54 cases invoking ‘Trump’ in connection with violence, threats and alleged assaults.” At a March 2024 rally in Ohio, Trump vowed there will be a “bloodbath for the country” if he doesn’t win in November.
In a speech he delivered near the Mexican border on February 29, Trump described recent migrants as “entire columns of fighting-age men and said, ‘they look like warriors to me; something’s going on and it’s bad.’” The CNN report continued to say, “some of his words were too conspiratorially vague to definitely fact check.”
In contrast, the fears that President Biden and other Democratic candidates discuss — like losing health care, Social Security and Medicare — are legitimate. Trump entered office in 2017 promising to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare). In March 2017, Time magazine reported that the U.S. House had voted more than 50 times to repeal the ACA. With his “thumbs down” vote in July 2017, Sen. John McCain cast the deciding no vote and essentially killed GOP repeal efforts.
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As of March 25, approximately 40 million people are enrolled in coverage under the ACA marketplaces and Medicaid expansion. They have every reason to be afraid if Trump is elected in November 2024. In a March 25 interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Trump acknowledged that he is open to cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
In summary, the fears Democrats express regarding Trump’s return to the White House are based on factual information. The fears Trump evokes are fabricated and based on misinformation.
Myrna Campbell
Waynesville
