To the Editor:
It was March of this year that I first penned for this site that Trump was a clear and present danger to Villagers related to COVID-19, and, subsequently, that Villages officials were slow to undertake measures to combat the virus.
Comments flowed in, particularly to the former, some pummeling me as if I was writing that the first born grandchild of every Villager be taken (don’t worry, I wasn’t). Well, if proof is in the pudding about Trump and his handling of the pandemic in its early days-certainly for the largest community of seniors in the world as is this community-let’s fast forward to today when media outlets are now reporting on Bob Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” and his release of audio tapes with Trump admitting as of Jan. 28 that he was told by Robert O’Brien, his national security guru, the Coronavirus was a very high national security risk; then on Feb. 7, in speaking with China’s President Xi, that the virus was “deadly stuff”; and in a March 19 interview with Woodward, said, “To be honest with you, I always wanted to downplay it.”
All the while, Trump was lying to the public by saying just the opposite. So, indeed, Trump as of early March not only was a clear and present danger to Villagers, but lied to the public about what he was told and knew about the virus weeks earlier. Sure, each and every resident will decide who he or she will vote for come election day, but any rational person should seriously consider whether keeping in office a person that lies about protecting the life of an electorate from the early days of the pandemic is really worth it any more.
And this warning is besides mentioning that on Nov. 10, Trump will be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down in its entirety the Affordable Care Act, a law that provides over 20 million Americans with health care insurance that they could neither access nor afford before the law was passed in March 2010. And this law also provides coverage for pre-existing conditions as well as for expanding Medicaid on the state level—and during Trump’s tenure, the citizens of seven states have voted to allow for this, Oklahoma and Missouri being the latest and two states that Trump carried in 2016. However one wants to cut it, the only folks to protect our healthcare is we ourselves!
Miles Zaremski
Village of Dunedin
