Letters for Aug. 11, 2023

Let’s look at Trump’s ‘accomplishments’

Dave Barker’s assertions (“Vote Your Conscience,” July 30) that Donald Trump’s “accomplishments” should convince Americans to vote for him again are completely bogus in two ways: First, the so-called “accomplishments” are either lies or misrepresentations. Example, Barker claims Trump created 7 million new jobs. Data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics actually showed negative job growth for Trump’s administration compared with 12 of his predecessors. Per the bureau, Trump is the only president in the past 80 years with net job losses during his presidency. Barker’s other examples are equally questionable.

However, all that is irrelevant. Trump is a criminal – his actions and the actions of his accomplices, in defiance of the documented outcome of the 2020 election, were so clearly illegal (suborning perjury, attempting to substitute fake electors, coercing Vice President Pence and other elected officials to decertify the results, fomenting insurrection) that it takes an act of monumental, deliberate self-deception to ignore or excuse them (a fact which numerous legal, not political, authorities have recognized). His actions were, and continue to be, an attempt at a governmental coup. He and his supporters continue to perpetrate that crime.

Finally, considering all the well-documented facts to the contrary, his continuing assertions that he “won” the election are clearly delusional, which, according to the psychiatric profession, is a form of mental illness. So, he’s either clinically insane or he is a crook, or, as I believe, both – why would any rational person want to put him back in charge?

Steve Blewett

Spokane

Stop Trump before he does more damage

Can someone please explain to me why anyone with a brain still supports Trump? The man has just been indicted again. I vividly remember watching his speech on Jan. 6, 2021, and then the idiots converging on the Capitol. How can anyone still support him, let alone send him money? The man is a train wreck – one you can’t look away from. I hope and pray people of this country who still support Trump will walk away. He has done so much damage already. We don’t need anymore.

Natalie Gibb

Spokane

Vote against those with deep pockets

Want cheaper and better government? Vote for Lisa Brown.

I know. That’s the opposite of what you’d hear from the incumbent mayor, who has charged Brown with “lining her pockets” – or lining someone’s pockets? Hard to say. But these days, when you hear someone charging someone else with corruption, look out! The speaker is usually the one who is corrupt. I’m thinking of the millions that have “lined the pockets” of a local developer, who so kindly offered his empty warehouse on Trent as a homeless shelter – at premium prices.

So unhappy are the voters with the incumbent mayor that 12% voted for the guy who says that the homeless problem is “simple,” when actually the problem is complex and global.

Can a person who is competent at governing, like Lisa Brown, be elected in these trying times? She didn’t capture over 50% of the primary votes, and that’s what I was hoping she’d get. Instead, she is prey to the attack-dog tactics of the incumbent mayor. The money for the negative ads goes to the one who most pleases those with deep pockets.

Think about it, Spokane. If you want cheaper and better government, you have to vote against those with the deep pockets. The only way to dig ourselves out of the various holes that those folks have put us into is to join together. We are the basis of good government.

Kathleen Dixon

Spokane

Archer between rock, hard place

Tim Archer will ultimately endorse either remaining candidate. He has to, as he has no other choice. Because if not, he is de facto endorsing Lisa Brown. So, what concessions does he want from Mayor Woodward? Until now, it has been a personal issue with Archer. The stakes will be much higher in the general election. What was our Republican Party thinking when it put Woodward in such a precarious position? Shame on them.

Daryl Alvernaz

Spokane