To the editor,

    Beyond all the back-and-forth, the bitterness and arguments, disagreements and passionate vitriol that seem to be in play right now, there is one truth that all sides can agree on: Elections have Consequences.

    We are in the midst of an historic set of crises, any one of which could damage our society irreparably. Covid-19 has already killed more than 200,000 people in America, climate change is ravaging the weather systems of the world, multiple dictatorships are trying to manipulate our elections, and on top of it all we have a child/bully president that refuses to listen to his own scientists, won't accept responsibility for anything, with multitudes of hypnotized followers who would jump off a cliff if he told them to.

    We now know that Trump lied to the nation multiple times about the Coronavirus. Bob Woodward has presented to the world recordings of Trump, made back in February, admitting how deadly the virus is. Trump had known about the virus since early January.

    On Jan. 22, he was asked if he was concerned about the possibility of a pandemic. “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. … It’s going to be just fine.”

    On Jan. 30, Trump says of the threat: “We think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that I can assure you.”

    On Feb. 10, Trump again says, “I think the virus is going to be — it’s going to be fine.”

    On Feb. 19, Trump says: “I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus. So let’s see what happens, but I think it’s going to work out fine.”

    On Feb. 24: Trump says: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

    All this time, Trump was being warned by health scientists and his own experts that the virus was a grave threat to our country and the world,  and the Woodward tapes confirm that he knew the severity of the situation. Yet he continued to lie to the nation, insisting it would all be okay.

    This begs the question: Was he really deluding himself, thinking that things would work out fine, or was he so inept that he couldn't come up with a plan to protect the nation?  The sad truth is, in an election year, he didn't want to admit that we are in a crisis. That crisis has now exploded into a health disaster. We will never know how much better off the country would have been with a competent leader. We do know that many thousands of lives have been lost on the altar of Trump's political convenience.

    Now, in bitter irony, Trump himself has the virus, but still refuses to admit how serious it is. In one of his latest tweet/proclamations, he tells us "Don't worry about it. Don't let it control your lives." It's so easy for him to say that, surrounded by the

best doctors and medical facilities in the nation, with access to the best medicine money can buy.

    Perhaps the most galling thing of all is that he is busy at this moment trying to take away health insurance from millions of people. His latest lawsuit, already in the Supreme Court, wants to declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. And there is a real possibility that his right-wing stacked court could do this, dooming millions of people to having no insurance in the middle of a major health crisis.

    And this is the "leader" so many want for four more years??

William Davis,

Shelbyville