Aug. 20, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: Remember back in January of 2017 when Donald Trump claimed that 1.5 million people attended his inauguration? Or “Sharpiegate” of 2019? Or his 2020 statement that we should cut down on reported Covid 19 cases by doing less testing? We could go on, not even mentioning his insistence, with no credible evidence, that the 2024 election was rigged. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that he continues to ignore, reject, even manipulate any data he finds personally or politically inconvenient.
The revised job report by the BLS (whose data is supported by even conservative economists) showing a sharp drop in employment? Fire the director and replace her with an unqualified lackey who will only publish flattering numbers!
Violent crime is down to a 30 year low in a city whose population is majority-minority and 90% Democratic? Claim it is surging and call in the National Guard to occupy D.C.!
His donors in the fossil fuel industry are unhappy with government data showing the causes and impacts of “climate change”? Wipe the term from the EPA and other websites, withdraw funding from climate research and alternative energy (fulfilling a campaign promise to those donors), and just pretend it isn’t happening!
These are just a few examples of Trump continuing to pull directly from the authoritarian playbook: If the data makes you look bad, create your own set of facts. Other autocratic governments, such as those in Greece and Argentina, have tried this with disastrous results for the well-being of their countries. Without reliable data how can we recognize and address our needs? When citizens lose trust in the manufactured “facts” we are given, our nation is endangered.
How long will Ben Cline and the GOP Congress allow us to go down this road before standing up to a president who puts his own agenda above reality? ANNETTE GREEN Rockbridge County
