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Editor, News-Register:
Recently, former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump addressed his followers at campaign events and on social media. Quoting former President Ronald Reagan by asking the American people "are you better off than you were four years ago?," parroting then presidential candidate Reagan who originally had targeted President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, which Reagan won decisively with the exact same question to the electorate at that time. However, when the aforementioned question is now asked, as it has been by Mr. Trump, it's not the same.
Recall that in the spring of 2020, during the final four years of the Trump presidency, we as a nation, as was the world, were suffering from the lethal COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the unemployment of over 22 million Americans while being forced to spend much of our time being isolated in our homes from the public in an attempt to stay safe.
Sadly, more than 1 million Americans were killed by COVID-19. And it is estimated that over 400,000 of those lives could have been saved if then-President Trump had acted appropriately and promptly to combat the pandemic.
Recall that, literally for months during this period, President Trump, strictly for self-serving political interests, refused to seriously address the grave concerns brought about by COVID on our nation's people, stating that such was merely a democratic hoax, and later ridiculously claiming that the deadly effects of the COVID virus could be avoided simply with the injection of bleach into one's bloodstream.
Mr. Trump also has constantly embellished the accomplishments of his administration. The record number of jobs added under President Biden more than doubles that created under President Trump. The U.S. stock market has reached historically high numbers and the unemployment rate under President Biden has reached consistently historic lows.
My intention in writing this is an attempt to hopefully set the record straight and ultimately to maximize that the prioritization of actual undisputed facts must take precedent over inane political rhetoric and ego driven embellishments.
Richard Hord
Martins Ferry