U.S. should be worried with Trump in charge
Few things are more frightening as a weapon than infectious diseases, and frighteningly, we know that stockpiles of these bio-weapons exist in many military arsenals. Bioweapons are small, easy to transport, highly contagious, and some have mortality rates over 50% (compared with COVID’s mortality rate of 2%).
Donald Trump’s failed response to COVID-19 has broadcast to the world that the United States – as compared with most developed countries — is vastly underprepared, and possibly incapable of dealing with a bioweapons attack. Should bioweapons fall into the hands of terrorists, Trump’s criminal incompetence has set the stage for apocalypse.
We are still experiencing shortages of masks and gowns, and we lack domestic manufacturing capability to produce what we need – despite Trump’s promise to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Likewise, a vast number of our pharmaceuticals are made in China. Trump’s response? It’s Obama’s fault!
Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic should make all Americans shudder. COVID presented Trump with the first real challenge of his presidency, and he has utterly failed, first through denial (“we have it totally under control”), then using hope, rather than science, as a plan (“it will go away by itself ”), and finally in abandoning any federal response (“let the states handle it”).
So now, in addition to tax cuts for billionaires, gutting environmental regulations, and ruining our relationships with long-time allies, Trump has clearly shown our adversaries that the United States is demonstrably unable to protect itself from a bioweapons attack. He is unfit to lead. He has made us weaker, and more vulnerable.
Americans should be very worried as long as the incompetent, ignorant, and blame-shifting Donald J.Trump is in charge. God help the USA.
Glenn Monahan, Bozeman
Republicans: Follow Brown, find principles
Bob Brown’s announcement that he is leaving the Republican Party — “The party that supports Trump no longer palatable,” Chronicle, July 9 — is welcome news. Could I again vote Republican? Only if the candidate were like Bob Brown. Brown is like the heroes in each of the late Jim Moore’s books: gentlemen, scholars, ranchers, conservative, sensitive to their roots and their enironment. People like Jim and Bob who went to Helena to solve problems. They would not scoff at the term: good government. Good legislators and governors work to better our common conditions. The hero in each of Jim’s novels could have been Jim himself, or Bob Brown.
Gianforte and Daines and the other Republicans running for high offices are running under the Trump flag. Brown and Moore probably could not get elected running as what passes now for a Republican.
Trump’s team causes us to suffer a level of corruption that I have seen only in foreign countries. I am not accusing Gianforte or Daines of corruption, but for sure they are complicit in their failure to confront Trump. Have some pride, Republicans. Rediscover your principles. Bob Brown can help you find them again.
Verne W. House, Bozeman
Don’t buy the bunk that Rosendale is trying to sell
Matt Rosendale wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without offering any suitable plan to replace it. There’s a reason he favors cheap plans: They fail to offer the entire suite of health benefits that are considered “essential” under the ACA. Cheap plans are a cruel hoax. You think you are saving money on lower premiums, but when a health crisis occurs, you may be slammed with huge deductibles and worse, you may not get any coverage for the treatment you need.
Rosendale refused to admit that those cheap plans he’s hawking are not good enough for members of his own family. He thinks those cheap plans are good enough for us, but not for his own loved ones!
Kathleen Williams understands “essential” health benefits guaranteed under the ACA plan are just that: essential. She will fight to protect those benefits and to make the ACA more affordable and available to all. If you want affordable high quality health care for you and your family, reject Rosendale’s hokum and cast your vote for Kathleen Williams in November.
Barbara Prager, Clyde Park
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 7/17/20