Letter from Kathleen Taylor

We Should Be Alarmed

Although Donald Trump won the election by 1.5 percent, he and his administration have taken this razor-thin win as justification for radically changing our democracy.

On Monday, he assumed control of the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police force and he called in 800 members of the National Guard (one for every 877 people). His excuse? “[A] crisis of violent crime.” This is untrue: Violent crime numbers in D.C. are at a 30-year low, and they are down by more than 20 percent from last year. The data is there, but it is ignored.

This administration values neither reliable data nor statistics: Last Friday, Trump fired a top statistician who had reported job numbers that displeased him. He attacked the messenger (a “political appointee!”) and the message (“rigged!”). His real message is clear: Tell him what he wants to hear, or you are out.

Three days before that firing, last Tuesday, Trump’s health secretary announced he was pulling $500 million from mRNA vaccine research…the same vaccines that slowed both the spread and the death count from the recent pandemic, the same type of vaccine that offers real promise against pancreatic cancer and bird flu. RFK Jr. just doesn’t trust the mRNA vaccines. Neither did Friday’s troubled shooter, a man who fired hundreds of bullets at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, killing a police officer before killing himself. That young man with a gun believed vaccine lies and misinformation, rather than truth.

The federal takeover of D.C. police is alarming. The assault on public health science and workers is alarming. The denial of reality is alarming. The refusal to look at data, numbers and professionals is alarming. The “us against them” attitude of Trump and his supporters is alarming.

When the world is alarming, we should be alarmed. We should not ignore the alarm; we should not groan and close our eyes. I urge everyone to pay attention.

Kathleen Taylor
Cherry Valley