Porterville Recorder

Words from Steve Schmidt

- By FRED MENDOZA

Rather than my opinion, I would like our community readers to hear comments from Steve Schmidt, a Repulican strategist, when describing Donald Trump’s actions throughout the pandemic outbreak and the national response to the horrific strangulat­ion of George Floyd:

“There has never been a leader who has failed more spectacula­rly than Donald Trump. When we look at the year 2020, that is when it all unraveled. The country elected by the lowest of margins a realty TV host, a New York City real estate con man and tragedy has ensued. The United States is the epicenter of a virus which has killed over 107,000 people and has infected millions with millions unemployed. This week we saw Attorney General Barr as an interior minister from a thugocracy position with secreit police and the U.S. Military ordering an attack on peaceful protesters violating their First Amendment rights to speak outside the White House. They were beaten, trampled and pepper sprayed as Donald Trump walked from his bunker across the street to St. Johns, the church of presidents. Trump didn’t go there to pray or to signal to our country humility or talk about forgivenes­s or unity, but was there to hold a Bible upside down for a photo.

“It’s a ship of fools running the White House in this deadly moment. It’s just extraordin­ary to see an American president attacking political foes, attacking senior Democrats in the House, to attacking governors who are on the front lines in their states addressing the pandemic and protesters. And we now remember the consequenc­es of elections. It’s not a moment for politiciza­tion where people use the virus to elevate themselves in our politics. We see his vacillatio­ns. We see the misinforma­tion. We see the deadly missteps accumulati­ng now for a month. In a month and a half from now the consquence of the virus will see a lot more dead Americans than otherwise would be.

“At a news conference on June 5 to address May employment, what Trump said about George Floyd could only have come out of a psychopath. Trump has no respect for the sensitivit­y of human life. A man was murdered on national TV. A horrific 8 minutes and 45 second of pain and suffering, but Donald Trump said that hopefully George was looking down and saying that this was a great thing happening for our country. Never has a leader failed history’s test more than Donald Trump.”

Many honest and caring citizens have felt the stress and pain of a great nation never so divided since the Civil War. I truly believe that in our hearts, our country and U.S. Constituti­on comes first. Help us heal our nation’s wounds. VOTE! VOTE!

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