Trump-praising letter left out one huge flaw

DEAR EDITOR:

I read, with interest, Garry Rayner’s postulation of the accomplishments of one Donald Trump. (Elect leaders for accomplishments, letter to the editor, Feb. 13.)

True, there has been much ado re: Donald Trump and his presidency. Fortunately, that era is now over. To look for issues that made Trump look good one would have to do considerable research to overshadow things that were detrimental to the United States during his tenure.

Granted, we in Canada have our political problems and will be saddled with them for some time to come, irrespective of what political persuasion group is driving the political bus.

Rayner listed a few points that might show as accomplishments. However, he seems to have forgotten about one major point that “The Donald” chose to downplay, no, totally diminish — the pandemic.

The Trump administration failed to take the coronavirus outbreak seriously.

In late February 2020, while other highincome countries were ramping up testing and developing tracing procedures, President Donald Trump stated that “the coronavirus (was) very much under control.”

Somehow Rayner didn’t report this. Maybe, unimportant?

Trump’s handling of the coronavirus led to a huge spike in the unemployment rate. Economists pointed to this as failure to retain jobs. Millions more Americans might still have their jobs if the Trump administration had acted sooner.

Trump’s tenure led to failure to help small businesses. When Trump assumed office, he and his administration made it clear that one of their primary policy goals consisted of dismantling safety nets and laws meant to protect workers.

In December 2019, just as news of the coronavirus outbreak was starting to circulate widely, the Trump administration issued a new ruling that limited states’ ability to account for local unemployment rates in determining whether and how long someone would be able to receive benefits under the executive Supplemental Nutrition Order.

As for Nobel Peace Prize, the question here might be “for what?” I have yet to see anyone receive such a prestigious award for causing as much of a furor as Donald Trump did. One can only hope that the likes of Trump will not ever again set foot in the White House as president.

Ron Barillaro, Penticton