Tag / TRUMP

by Ed Achorn

Don’t let COVID-19 dominate your life

By Edward Achorn

I was happy to hear President Trump speak out against fear Monday. Panic has been the worst thing about our response to deadly COVID-19.

As he was preparing to leave the Walter Reed Medical Center after being treated for a COVID-19 infection, the president tweeted this: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.”

Back at the White House, he put out a video message: “I learned so much about coronavirus. And one thing that’s for certain: Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.”

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by Ed Achorn

Two presidents accused of disrespect

By Edward Achorn

Does this sound familiar? A Republican president is attacked relentlessly by the Democratic press for four years as a crass, crude man — and a tyrant and bully unworthy of his high office.

When his re-election becomes a distinct possibility after months of expectations that he is headed for defeat, a pro-Democrat publication — without naming its sources — unleashes a brutal new assault on his character. It reports that the president displayed disdain for the nation’s dead soldiers.

Donald Trump, right?

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by Ed Achorn

The COVID-19 misinformation campaign

By Edward Achorn

A new Franklin Templeton-Gallup research project bears out what I have been reporting for months: the media have misinformed Americans about COVID-19. While the disease is both nasty and deadly, a daily panic narrative has led people to grossly overrate its dangers.

That has powerful, and perhaps frightening, economic and political consequences.

Sonai Desai, chief investment officer for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, wrote about the survey on July 28 (“They Blinded Us From Science”). (A cautionary note about the survey: Franklin Templeton pushes mutual funds, so it has a stake in promoting economic activity.)

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by Ed Achorn

Is it divisive to celebrate America?

By Edward Achorn

Has it become “dark” and “divisive” to celebrate America and honor such icons of freedom as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln?

According to elements of the American news media it has — at least if a politician they detest is doing the celebrating.

“Trump pushes racial division, flouts virus rules at Rushmore,” the Associated Press headlined its coverage of an ostensibly patriotic speech the president delivered at Mount Rushmore Friday night.

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by Ed Achorn

China, censorship and Twitter

By Edward Achorn

There are good reasons for Americans to be concerned about the increasing efforts of social media giants to censor or curate political speech.

Along with the First Amendment implications, there is this big concern: These global companies, quite naturally, have financial interests. Those interests do not necessarily coincide with the safety and security of America and its people.

Notably, these corporations have a stake in the massive, expanding market of China. They could conceivably have powerful financial motivations to please that regime.

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by Ed Achorn

Trump, tweets and the truth

By Edward Achorn

President Trump is crude and obnoxious, especially on the Twitter platform. Like many politicians, he says many things that are patently untrue. His propensity for bullying and insulting others disgusts many decent Americans.

But his enemies have turned off people, too.

Their actions have caused Mr. Trump’s base to rally around him, arguably strengthening him politically rather than weakening him. I have often thought Democrats would have been much better off just letting him hang himself.

Now these adversaries are seeking to blunt one of his political weapons, his Twitter account, which has 80.4 million followers.

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by Ed Achorn

The press vs. the president

By Edward Achorn

It takes a sizeable ego for any president to compare himself with Abraham Lincoln. But President Trump may have had a point in doing so at his recent “town hall” at the Lincoln Memorial.

“I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “The closest will be that gentleman up there.”

He gestured to Daniel Chester French’s colossal statue of Abraham Lincoln in the memorial. “They say nobody got treated worse than Lincoln… I believe I am treated worse.”

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