LETTER: In response to Dave Ball
As the Trump reelection bid went up in smoke, I thought about prolific extreme right-wing Trump sycophant, essayist Dave Ball, wondering how he could stand the defeat, how despondent and angry he must be, given that he has spent months engaging in distortion and lies in an effort to smear and destroy an honorable and well-liked man, President-elect Joe Biden.
We did not have to wait long to learn his emotional state as he weighed in with “Dark Days Ahead for America,” published in the Nov. 11 edition of this newspaper.
Mr. Ball shamefully parrots the Trump line, that the election was stolen from him – this without a shred of evidence and in the face of secretaries of state, Republican and Democrat, saying that there is no evidence of fraud. A Republican strategist stated that the voters have taken away the baby’s toys, and now the baby is acting out: a proper characterization.
Ball refers to the “Russian hoax,” but if one read the Mueller Report rather than the sanitized version offered by Trump sycophant, Attorney General Wlliam Barr, one knows that it was no hoax and that the president’s conduct was disgraceful, if not unlawful. What accounts for Trump’s softball approach to Russia and Vladimir Putin, the dictator before whom Trump bows? Ball accuses the opposing side of engaging in “childish retribution” while failing to mention Trump’s Twitter firings of individuals who are not “yes men,” his call for his opponents to be indicted, and suggesting that those who testified to his corruption are guilty of treason, deserving of execution.
Mr. Ball somehow knows that Joe Biden will be removed from office before Jan. 20, 2025, through a sinister plot to install Kamala Harris as our president: uh-huh.
He criticizes the “terrible Iran nuclear deal,” a pact which was by no means perfect, but was less terrible than the alternative, allowing Iran to fortify its nuclear capability without oversight or limit.
He asserts that Biden and former President Barack Obama tolerated human rights abuses. If Mr. Ball is concerned about human rights, why does he make no mention of Trump’s “falling in love” with one of the most ruthless dictators in the world, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and admiring other killers, including pal Vladimir and the Saudi Crown Prince, who bears responsibility for the oppression of his people and the slaughter of an American resident and renowned journalist. Trump boasts of instances in which we have rescued hostages, but he holds harmless the Saudi prince because business dealings with the Saudis come first.
Contrary to Mr. Ball’s assertion, Biden will not reimpose all of the taxes that Trump cut through legislation which favored those at the top. The president-elect has promised not to raise taxes on anyone earning $400,000 per year or less. If the Republicans continue to control the Senate as appears likely, the prospect of calling upon any one individual or corporation to pay more in taxes than they are now becomes remote. A president does not have complete control over national policies.
Mr. Ball, come to grips with the fact that a majority of the American people (Biden currently leads by more than five million in the popular vote) voted for an end to the chaos, civil war, racism, hatred, intolerance, and misogyny of the past four years. You can continue to attempt to undermine and perpetuate our division, but the carping will not change the reality.
Our country did not fail us this time. I am again proud to identify as an American.
Oren Spiegler
Peters Township