Editor, Times-Union:
Facts are provable. Opinions do not change facts; lies do not negate facts. Following are some facts that may not be obvious to folks who are busy living their lives with little or no time to follow or explore current events or in-depth daily news stories.
Donald Trump insists he had every right to take and keep all the documents he wanted when his presidency ended based on the Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978.
Fact: The PRA was amended in 2014 and established several new provisions. Specifically, the PRA “Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the (National) Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.” The Act provides “no room for debates and discussions between presidential advisors and the National Archives at the end of a presidency” about such records.
Fact: Trump has never won the majority vote of the people.
Fact: Trump did not have to appear in courts in New York or D.C. the week of January 8 despite his whining about preferring to campaign in Iowa. He chose to appear.
Fact: Trump’s fraud case in NYC had no jury because his legal team did not ask for one — not because the court denied him one.
Fact: Trump promised to build a wall across our entire southern border — and have Mexico pay for it — but only 80 miles of actual new wall was built. The rest, 452 miles of existing wall, was merely repaired. Mexico paid nothing, and Trump’s pal, Steve Bannon, was prosecuted for conning Americans out of money they contributed to his efforts to build a new wall and keeping the money for himself.
Fact: Trump promised to reduce the national debt but his tax cuts for the rich made it surge — to more than $8 trillion. Adding insult to injury, Trump once proclaimed he did not care how high the debt rose because he would not be around when it came time for future administrations to pay it off.
Fact: Trump said Covid would “go away” naturally. It did not. One million people died.
Fact: Trump often promised the imminent passage of “Infrastructure Week.” It never happened. (Biden promised it and delivered it — 37,000 projects in the works already.)
Fact: Trump often promised the imminent arrival of a bigger and better health plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. It never happened. (Biden improved and expanded the ACA which now benefits 20 million Americans.)
Fact: Trump promised he would hire only the best people for his administration. During that four-year administration there were 199 charges filed; 37 individuals charged with crimes, including his National Security Advisor, his Deputy Campaign Manager, his Campaign Manager, and his Foreign Policy Advisor — five convictions, and at least three sentenced to prison. Add to these totals Trump’s own 91 charges and four indictments. (The second highest number of indictments was under the Nixon administration with 76. Obama’s eight-year administration had zero indictments, zero convictions, zero sent to prison.)
Just a matter of facts ...
Jeanne Schutz
Winona Lake