President Trump is Outright Lying to Americans

You may not have noticed, but recently you have to do more and more of your own research to determine the actual facts that exist about issues impacting our country today.  As a commentary writer, who is retired, I have the time to do this, and am somewhat sensitive to quoted statistics that don’t make sense.

One recently quoted statistic by President Trump just got my full my attention. In a recent news conference celebrating the destroying of Venezuelan ships allegedly carrying drugs, the president stated that drugs “killed 300,000 in our country last year.”  Obviously, this was another swipe at the supposedly out of control societal ales which occurred under the Biden administration.

It wasn’t hard to check last year’s drug deaths since it is readily available from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. They reported the following:  “In the United States, in 2024, there were an estimated 80,391 deaths due to drug overdoses, which includes deaths from illicit drug use. This figure represents a significant decrease of about 27% from the approximately 110,037 overdose deaths estimated in 2023. The decline in overdose deaths is notable as it is projected to be the lowest annual total since 2019. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl remain the primary driver behind most of these deaths, although deaths from these substances also decreased substantially during 2024.”

Almost a quarter of million error in reporting this information to the American people.  Why do that?  Just for personal embellishment?  And how many more statistical falsehoods are being fed to Americans by the present administration for the same reason?  I have found many.

Rightfully so, most Americans simply accept these doled out statistics as factual because they are coming from the highest office in the United States government. So why would anyone in their wildest imagination assume they might be false?  And to make matters worse, the news media has been so successfully brow beaten by the ‘fake news’ label that they no longer even bother to question or correct these outlandish espoused statistics.

As someone degreed in statistical research, with a love for stats, I am abhorred at what is now taking place. But, obviously there is no end in sight to this foolishness, and it is now possibly to the point that no one should believe any statistics espoused by our government leaders.

Frightfully, I am talking about a very dangerous situation, the alteration of facts by government officials to comply with their agenda.  And we are not talking about some minor overemphasis just to prove at point, but major statistical atrocities.

So do your own fact checking if you really want to know the truth about important issues facing our country, because your research is the only one you can now trust.

It's Time to Stop the Perpetual Divisiveness

When a tragedy occurs in the magnitude of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk one should take pause and remind themselves of the reality of what occurred; a sole heinous act of violence committed by a mentally disturbed individual.

However, apparently our society has moved beyond such logic, for instead of using such an event as a time for healing and bringing folks together, it leaders have chosen to politicize it and create yet more animosity and divisiveness among us as a nation.

Here is what President Trump said after the shooting:  “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the worst mass murders and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” He then promised to find “each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone who brings order to our country.”  Trump cited the attacks on Rep. Steve Scalise, in 2017, and the attack on himself as examples of what he termed the Left radicalization against Republicans.

However, what he conveniently failed to mention were any attacks against Democrats, the most recent being the murders of Melissa Hortman, her husband, and dog.

Additionally, many conservatives have also inferred that there has been a nationwide war declared on the Republican Party and blame Democrats for Kirk's death.  Fox News host Jesse Watters called the death a "turning point," and MAGA architect Steve Bannon saying on his War Room podcast, "Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war. We are at war in this country."

Several other political commentators have echoed similar rhetoric.  For example Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, said on X: "The Left (Democrats) owns what happened yesterday." Elon Musk wrote on X: "The Left is the party of murder." Actor and conservative activist James Woods wrote on X: "It's not gun violence, it's Democrat violence."

 

For the record, the shooter had no declared political party affiliation, but did come from a family of Republicans, and the Trump shooter was a registered Republican. All of which further illustrates the foolishness and intentional divisiveness fueled by these radical comments trying to link this shooting to a political ideology.

 

Former President Barack Obama said on X:  "We don't yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie's family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children."

 

Now, of all the responses I have cited, which one is the only one that promotes a healing and bringing together of our country rather than polarizing and dividing it further?  And which one doesn’t serve as a violent call to arms?

 

Obviously some folks just need to get a grip and stop the political grandstanding foolishness, before it’s too late to bring our country back from more violence, more divisiveness and more hatred of one another.

 

Charlie Kirk was a son, a husband, and a father who was senselessly killed by a mentally disturbed individual who apparently felt distain and animosity for his political agenda.  And sadly, we now have leaders who want to further sow more distain and animosity.