TRUMP’S DANGEROUS LYING MUST BE CALLED OUT
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
Without a treatment or vaccine, the WHO says that truth is the best tool we have to protect ourselves. But Trumpcontinues to lie. And that causes panic, as we have seen in the stock market and empty grocery shelves. Please use your public platform to constantly call out Trump’s lies and make sure people have the truth. We have to defend the truth now more than ever. As historian John M. Barry, an expert on the Spanish flu, said: “I think the No. 1 lesson that came out of the experience is that if you want to prevent panic, you tell the truth.”
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
Without a treatment or vaccine, the WHO says that truth is the best tool we have to protect ourselves. But Trump continues to lie. And that causes panic, as we have seen in the stock market and empty grocery shelves. Please use your public platform to constantly call out Trump’s lies and make sure people have the truth. We have to defend the truth now more than ever. As historian John M. Barry, an expert on the Spanish flu, said: “I think the No. 1 lesson that came out of the experience is that if you want to prevent panic, you tell the truth.”
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: WRITE LETTERS TO VOTERS
Indivisible Oregon is supporting letter-writing actions using Swing Left tools to contact voters in “super states.” Find out how you can do this from home: https://swingleft.org/.
BACKGROUND:
Threatened by a pandemic with no treatment or vaccine, truth is nearly all we have to protect ourselves. But truth has been taking a beating.
President Trump has been at war with truth since he was sworn in. That was 16,000-plus Presidential lies ago. But in the pandemic, his lies can kill.
Trump called the pandemic a Democrat “hoax” used “to inflame” the public.
These lies are not harmless. Months were lost and with them the chance of containing the pandemic and rebuilding the stockpile of protective gear for health workers.
His false reassurances leave the public confused. That confusion isreflected in the stock market averages and on grocery store shelves.
Trump lies continually. He’s begun rewriting history by shifting blame and stocking racism instead of taking responsibility for what he has done.
It’s working. In every poll, Trump supporters are less worried about the virus than others.
Our democracy is crumbling under a landslide of organized lying.
In this difficult time, it is somehow easier to see the value of truth. Factual truth is essential to individual health and to our democracy.
Individuals and our public officials need to verify facts and call out lies.
Otherwise we are lost, individually and as a democracy.
SOURCES:
New Yorker, March 15, 2020: “Trump, Truth, and the Mishandling of the Coronavirus Crisis” https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trump-truth-and-the-mishandling-of-the-coronavirus-crisis
NY Times, March 18, 2020: “The President is Lying About Coronavirus” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/opinion/trump-lies-about-coronavirus.html
Washington Post, Feb. 2, 2020: “Trump is ignoring the lessons of 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions, historian says” https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/29/1918-flu-coronavirus-trump/
New Yorker, Feb. 25, 1967: “Reflections: Truth and Politics” https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1967-02-25/flipbook/048/
NY Times, June 20, 2018: “The Illuminations of Hannah Arnedt” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/opinion/why-read-hannah-arendt-now.html
NY Times, March 15, 2020: “A Complete List of Trump’s Attempts to Play Down Coronavirus” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/trump-coronavirus.html
Slate, March 17, 2020: “There’s a New Potential Risk Group for Spreading the Coronavirus” https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/polls-republicans-coronavirus-spread.html
Politico, Feb. 28, 2020: “Trump rallies his base to treat coronavirus as a ‘hoax’” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/28/trump-south-carolina-rally-coronavirus-118269
Defense One, March 17, 2020: “What Trump’s Coronavirus Lie Reveals about the Commander in Chief” https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/03/what-trumps-coronavirus-lie-reveals-about-commander-chief/163867/?oref=d-river
March 19, 2020, Tweets by NY Times columnist Charles Blow and James Fallows of The Atlantic: “These press conferences are worthless. They give more disinformation than information.“ https://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow/status/1240748569386237952
