James Buckley disputes points made by a lifelong Republican who wrote to cite lies by former President Donald Trump.
The first rule in reporting is to “check your facts.”
In relating the incident in which Mr. Trump mocked a disabled Washington Post reporter, Mr. Buckley defends Mr. Trump’s denial he had done this, claiming the man was “groveling,” and adding, “I do not know what he looks like.” The Washington Post version cites the reporter himself as having said, “Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years.”
As for Mr. Buckley’s claim that Mr. Trump “has shown much respect for military families,” he must not recall the furor over the well-documented statement by Mr. Trump that members of the military were “suckers” and “losers.” Are not soldiers members of these “military families?” My husband served during the Korean War and he is not a “loser.” He was a patriot who stepped forth in the service of his country.
Again, Mr. Buckley should do his research before defending Mr. Trump against claims of his lies.
As for his refusal to call John McCain a “hero” because he’d been a POW for five years during the Vietnam War, I would say that the many medals Sen. McCain earned before being shot down gave him the status of “hero,” as would the description “4F draft dodger” fit Donald Trump. Valor versus cowardice.
Mr. Buckley’s puzzling refusal to accept that Mr. Trump is a man who lies is a serious flaw in his own thinking. Where is his objectivity? He seems to think that Mr. Trump is “right,”no matter what Mr. Trump does that is clearly “wrong.”
Mr. Buckley’s defense of Mr. Trump’s attacks on our hallowed institutions — whether the intelligence community, the Justice Department, our carefully-structured voting system that protects the vote of all of us as American citizens, the integrity of the Fourth Estate through his “Fake News” claims — as well as Trump’s attempts to dismantle and disrupt these bulwarks of our democracy — make me wonder if Mr. Buckley is thinking clearly about these crucial challenges to our Republican system of government.
A question I have for Mr. Buckley is, “Do you stand with Donald Trump in his embrace of QAnon theory as espoused in his rally in Ohio?”
Where is his breaking point in his blind loyalty to the worst man to ever inhabit the presidency?
Joanne O’Roark
Santa Barbara
