The truth refutes Republicans’ claims

Like most all Americans, I was raised to believe lying is wrong, a sin even. “Honesty is the best policy.” Of course like most all Americans I sometimes exaggerated, fibbed, or even outright lied. But I felt guilty about it. And when I saw someone tell huge lies over and over, I thought it was shameful and tried to avoid him. That’s normal.

So how can a man be a serious candidate for president if he tells huge obvious lies, over and over? Such as:

1. The former president really won the 2020 election, not the current president. Truth: Former president lost all but one court case he filed trying to show it was

“stolen.”

2. The current president is corrupt, while the former president is not. Truth: Former president took $7.8 million from foreign governments while he was in office, $5.5 million of it from China. The current president has taken $0.

Perhaps his party accepts his lies because his party has for decades told other huge obvious lies, repeated over and over, such as:

1. When the government cuts taxes on the very wealthy, government revenues go up. Truth: The 2017 tax cuts add more than $100 billion a year to our national debt.

2. More guns in the hands of citizens lead to less gun violence. Truth: For each percentage point increase in gun ownership, the firearm homicide rate increases almost 1%.

3. Humans are not making the earth’s climate dangerously worse. Truth: 97% of actively publishing climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming.

People who believe that lying is wrong, that the Ninth Commandment should be obeyed, that the truth should prevail over dishonesty, must not allow such a baldfaced serial liar to be president. That seems obvious. But is his lying party fit to govern in Washington, or Iowa?

David Russell, Ames