For years Republicans have attempted to misdirect the American people. They have used fear tactics and the threat of ISIS to obtain votes. Meanwhile, they ignore the facts, and hope that most Americans will remain uninformed. For the last two years our nation has experienced more mass shootings than days on the calendar. A ‘mass shooting’ is defined as three or more individuals wounded or killed by a weapon of mass destruction. These attacks are less likely to emanate from a Muslim radical; most of them are executed by right wing, Christian, domestic terrorists. The 58 men and women who were slaughtered, and 500 injured in Las Vegas were not attacked by a foreign terrorist. When 26 churchgoers were murdered in a small Texas church, their deaths were the result of a deranged former member of our nation’s military, not from the actions of a man loyal to ISIS or Al Qaeda.

Republicans have removed virtually all restrictions related to the purchase of guns, including military style weapons whose only purpose is to kill multiple individuals in a short period of time. They have approved the sale of weapons of mass destruction to Americans who are mentally challenged, and to men and women who are on Homeland Security’s ‘no-fly list.’

A report reveals that of the 197 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil between 2008 and 2016, 115 were executed by right wing extremists, white supremacists to militias to “sovereign citizens”, 63 by Islamic terrorists and 19 by ecoterrorist groups and extreme animal rights organizations.

What is Trump doing to alleviate the problem? He has lunch with NRA leaders on the fifth anniversary of the slaughter of 20 children and 6 educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. He protects the profits of gun manufacturers and gun sellers.

Last year 52,000 Americans lost their lives due to a drug overdose. To put this in perspective, 58,220 American lives were lost in the 10 years of the war in Vietnam. McKesson and other major pharmaceutical companies literally increased production of opioid to satisfy the demand, knowing that they were extremely addictive. Doctors across the United States freely prescribed these pain killers without researching the side effects. When opioids became less available and the cost increased, millions of Americans turned to the less expensive and easy to access heroin.

This is a national crisis. What is Trump’s solution? It wasn’t to employ the services of a qualified addiction expert who understands all possible solutions to the epidemic; that would have been the intelligent thing to do. He placed his “paid liar,” Kellyanne Conway in control of the problem. Really?

Trump is serious about only one thing; increasing his personal wealth and continuing to live a life of luxury at taxpayer expense.

This will be his legacy. He will be remembered as an incompetent failure who lacked compassion and concern for the American people.

Sources from the White House claim that they encourage Trump to approach each day as a television reality show. If this is true, I have a title; “Trump’s Folly.”

Please re-post; thank you.

Op-ed by James Turnage

SOURCE

Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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