Sounding off: What if Trump had never been born?
“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a Christmas movie I enjoy every year. How all our lives are intertwined. This year as I watched, I thought … if only. If Donald Trump had never been born; therefore never president.
Let’s say the presidential winner in 2016 was either Hillary Clinton or John Kasich. I believe it’s safe to say this country would be vastly different. Vaccines would be considered lifesaving from the start by either hypothetical president. No pushing insane covid concoctions.
The constant lies would never have happened. Eliminating the misinformation may have changed attitudes. No burning of masks or attacks on school boards. Instead, working together is what patriotic Americans have always done until now.
As in the movie, one person’s life changed indifference to compassion, selfishness to kindness and disrespect to civility, I sense either of these candidates, one Democrat or one Republican, would have been decisive leaders, not insane egotists. What a difference that would make. Bringing people together with thoughtful conversation.
Staying with the storyline of Trump not being born, Americans would have heard the truth in early 2020. Some say an increase in vaccinations could have cut the death toll to less than half in 2020, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
For sure, neither candidate would have dreamed up the Big Lie. Therefore, the attempted coup by anti-American insurrectionists beating police and desecrating the Capitol would never have happened.
What a difference — if only …
Frank Flori, Hempfield
Omicron? We all saw it coming
“Nobody saw it coming.” That was President Biden’s response when asked about the omicron covid-19 surge. “Who saw it coming?” he asked, staring incredulously. Well, Joe, you did. Your administration did.
We’ve heard it for years now: If left unchecked, the virus will mutate, creating variants that could be more transmissible and/or more deadly, and that our current vaccines may not protect as well against. This isn’t in-the-know, jargon-laden scientific community discourse. This is cable television. Dr. Anthony Fauci has discussed it ad nauseam, as have the host of doctors we see discussing covid daily. And Biden asks, “Who saw it coming?”
We can’t continue to fall back on the rhetoric of “Who saw it coming?” When there’s a school shooting, no thoughtful person can ask that; there were more than 100 school shootings in the U.S. last year. A wildfire just swept through the Denver area. Was anyone surprised? They shouldn’t be. They happen all the time now.
We need to stop shrugging our shoulders every time something horrible happens. These things aren’t unthinkable — they’re very thinkable. We all saw it coming. The question the president should be asking is, “What am I going to do about it?”
Conor Demers, Penn Hills
Heed words of religious leaders on vaccines
To those who cite religious objections to vaccination for covid, I suggest that…