Posted on October 18, 2020

If you happened to watch the town hall-style interview of the president last week,¹ you undoubtedly learned that he did not know for certain if he had been tested for COVID prior to the debate with Joe Biden, an agreed-upon requirement, nor the result of the test.  Quite surprisingly, he was also unfamiliar with QAnon.

Which made me wonder.  Maybe the president does not lie.  Maybe he simply does not know.  If so, we are here to help.

For those of you with direct access to the White House, may we please ask that you forward the following letter to the president.  Our aim is to ensure that he is equipped with important facts to enable an accurate discussion of today’s most pressing issues as we enter the home stretch of the campaign.

Dear Mr. President:

I, along with millions, watched with deep interest your town hall last Thursday night from Miami.  Curiously, you did not appear fully equipped to answer many of the questions with confidence or accuracy.  As a personal service to you, and, in turn, to our nation, the editorial staff of The Monday Minute (or two) offers the following data points in response to comments you made during the town hall. We hope you find the information useful as you campaign for reelection.  All statements below are factual, having been reported and validated by professional, highly-esteemed news sources.  Some have even been reported by Fox News.  Citations for all are available upon request.

Let’s begin:

• Replacing the Affordable Care Act with something “much better and much cheaper” is weak. Details, sir, we need details.  If you have them, now is definitely the time to share them.
• Having lawyers in court attempting to eliminate the law guaranteeing health insurance for people with preexisting conditions looks for all the world as if you want to, you know, eliminate the law guaranteeing health insurance for people with preexisting conditions.
• QAnon is a right-wing conspiracy theory that alleges that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against you, Mr. President. You are seen to be an American hero battling the deep state.  And while you claim not to have heard of QAnon, you are currently supporting an individual running for the House of Representatives in Georgia who has openly embraced the theory.
• Last we checked, everyone is against pedophilia.
• Even though you contracted the coronavirus and survived, you are not immune. It doesn’t work that way.
• While it may be hard to fathom, not everyone has access to Marine One, the elite medical staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the opportunity to use the most advanced drugs to combat the virus.
• “85% of the people who wear masks” do NOT get COVID. Read the report again, this time carefully.
• Wearing a mask is about all we have to fend off the coronavirus. The University of Washington predicts that if everyone wore a mask, the number of future COVID deaths would be cut by a whopping 50%.  Why won’t you urge people to wear one?
• “99.99% plus plus” of the people who get sick do NOT recover. We are currently at 8.1 million cases with 220,000 deaths and counting.  Do the math.
• Many states are reporting record highs in new coronavirus cases. By any rational projection, COVID is not going away soon.  There were 63,500 new cases reported last Thursday, the highest since July.  Currently, 44 states and Washington, D.C. have higher caseloads than this time in mid-September.  Last Friday, ten states reported their highest number of single-day cases ever.
• While we’re on the topic: 8.1 million cases + 220,000 deaths = Failure.
• The economy is far more than the stock market. Ask anyone struggling to pay rent or feed children.
• There is absolutely no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud. Your FBI director, Christopher Wray, says so.
• When you can, please explain how overt voter suppression fits with your law and order stance. To wit:  your pal, Republican Texas governor Greg Abbot, cut mail-in ballot drop box locations to 1 per county to suppress voting, especially among lower-income people.  By comparison, San Francisco Bay Area’s Contra Costa county has 37 secure ballot drop boxes – in a county with a fraction of the square mileage and eligible voters of Texas’s massive and largely-Democratic Harris County.  You have applauded Abbot’s move.  You also tweeted your support of California’s Republican Party’s illegal placement of ‘official’ ballot drop boxes in southern California in defiance of the State’s order to remove them.
• There is no there there with your claims about Hunter Biden, President Obama and Hillary Clinton. So says the FBI and your in-house law firm, the Department of Justice.
• President Obama did not have Navy SEAL Team 6 killed, as you retweeted. The team did not kill a body double of Osama bin Laden.  Nor is bin Laden alive.  That information you retweeted came from a QAnon-linked source.  By the way, when you retweet something, that means you are agreeing with and promoting the original tweet.  You know that, right?
• It is difficult to justify your claim that you’ve done more for African Americans than any other president save, maybe, Abraham Lincoln. Maybe it’s time to provide a list of compelling accomplishments to support this far-fetched and near-incomprehensible statement.

One last point, Mr. President.  The American people are hurting.  We are struggling with unemployment, sick and dead relatives and friends, children attempting to learn from home while parents work full-time, hunger, impending eviction, loneliness, isolation and staggering racial injustice.  Many of us are afraid.  Sadly, you are not helping.  Quite the opposite, actually.  You continue to stoke fear and division.  You continue to promote outrageous conspiracy theories designed to undermine our confidence in our ability to conduct a fair election.  In this you are alone, as you are the first and only president ever to do so.  As you attempt to win at all cost, know that we are the cost.

Thank you for your attention, Mr. President.  We hope this helps.

Sincerely,

The Editorial Board of The Monday Minute (or two)

*      *      *      *      *      *

Have you voted?  If not, please consider voting at your earliest convenience.  If you are in southern California, do not under any circumstances deposit your completed ballot in one of the many GOP-placed ballot drop boxes.  They are illegitimate.  California’s secretary of state and attorney general are seeking to have them removed.  The GOP of California is resisting.  The president has voiced his strong support for the GOP’s illegal efforts.  If you use a drop box, be absolutely certain that it is an official, sanctioned repository.  That this warning needs to be broadcast is a testament to the disturbing and surreal times in which we live.  And, of course, it speaks to the ends to which the president and the Republican Party are prepared to go to ‘win’ the election.

Do not allow anyone to steal your vote.  Stand in line if you must, but be sure your voice is heard.  The future of our democracy is at stake.

¹  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5yUnUxpr_g