Trump’s supporters believe everything he says — here’s my response to the craziest ones
They can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true, right?
This letter was originally written for the Barnesville Record Review. It was never published because the editor wanted me to shorten it to one page because they “didn’t have the room.” I could not get all of this information into one page, so I’m sharing it here instead.
This letter is in response to Dennis Sobtzak’s oblivious and out of touch letters to the editor written in the months of October, November, and December 2020. His baseless claims and lack of sources in his letters urged me to respond to curb the spread of misinformation that unfortunately runs rampant in this country. I’ve read most of Dennis’s letters, and they’re very concerning.
2020 was not an easy year for anybody. The pandemic has put a strain on almost everyone’s life in one way or another. We’ve had to cancel travel plans with friends and loved ones, miss family and holiday gatherings, and adjust to a new way of life. It’s pushed me to my limits, too. Keep your heads up. We’re going to get through this.
The other major 2020 events were the elections. Regardless of what side you’re on (or even in the middle), we all are voting on what we believe is right in our hearts. I spent countless hours researching various candidates on my ballot, what they were setting out to accomplish, and which ones best aligned with my views.
But I have seen friends and family members become divided because of their political views and candidates they’re supporting. They’ve blocked one another on Facebook, severed relationships, and even refused to be in the same place with one another. It has taken such a toll on families and friends across the country, even though we’re all trying to do the right thing by using our fundamental right to vote for what we believe to be right. We’re the most divided we’ve been as a nation in decades.
One of the root causes for these divisive issues has been the constant spread of misinformation and “fake news.” In a world where nearly everyone carries a mobile device, we can simply look anything up to check if it’s true or not. Some people have not seemed to figure that out just yet and continue to share things without even checking its validity. This is why I found Dennis’s letters very concerning. They’re chock-full of dangerous misinformation that are easily invalidated with a simple Google search with those handy dandy mobile devices.
I’ve been a journalist for nearly four years and have written more than 2,000 articles on a number of high profile and respected electronic music industry publications, including EDM.com, Dancing Astronaut, Digital Music News, Noiseporn, EARMILK, and many others. My articles have been read by tens of millions of people around the world. My experience with the aforementioned publications has led me to found my own online electronic music publication. I know a few things about fact checking.
In Mr. Sobtzak’s letter to the editor on Monday, December 7, 2020, he makes numerous false claims.
False claim #1: “Plus, several states have used the Venezuelan software known as Dominion [Voting Systems] in counting their votes. That can not be good or secure.”
This software is not Venezuelan, and they have no ties to Venezuela. According to the Washington Post, “Trump’s advisers also claim Dominion’s software was created at the behest of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to win that country’s elections.”
This is a conspiracy theory that is pushed by the Trump campaign. Dominion Voting Systems is a Canadian company that was founded in 2003 and is now incorporated in the United States. They have headquarters in Denver, Colorado and Toronto, Canada.
Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made the following statement on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Features” on November 15:
“It’s way beyond what people think, including a very, very dangerous foreign company that did the votes in 27 states, a company that’s not American, a company that’s foreign, a company that has close, close ties with Venezuela and, therefore, China and uses a Venezuelan company software that’s been used to steal elections in other countries.”
Dominion Voting Systems is a nonpartisan company and works with just over half of the states in the US. The Washington Post states, “Jurisdictions across the United States have used the company’s products, some for years. Dominion says it serves more than 40 percent of American voters and that its products are used in 28 states.”
Furthermore, “Dominion has no company ownership relationships with any member of the Pelosi family, the Feinstein family, or the Clinton Global Initiative, Smartmatic, Scytl, or any ties to Venezuela,” Dominion says on their website. “Dominion works with all political parties; our customer base and our government outreach practices reflect this nonpartisan approach.”
And now a top employee at Dominion is suing the Trump campaign for defamation, according to NPR. The Trump campaign has made baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, which has now caused the top Dominion employee, Eric Coomer, to go into hiding for his safety.
“Coomer’s suit, filed Tuesday in Colorado state district court in Denver, accuses those responsible of spreading the falsehoods of intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy,” according to NPR.
Additionally, NPR states, “Biden’s victory has been certified in the states by officials of both parties with no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities.”
New York Times, CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, Associated Press, and others have reported that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Former Attorney General William Barr has also stated there’s no evidence of voter fraud.
False claim #2: “The massive mail-in-ballots (not the legal absentee ballots) that the democrats have been harvesting are not legal. One man was caught in the Twin Cities with over 300 ballots in his car. He said, ‘it’s easy, I give them money, they give me votes!’”
I couldn’t find the exact quote Dennis is referring to: “It’s easy, I give them money, they give me votes!” I am, however, finding numerous articles on a man that claimed he had 300 absentee ballots in his car for his brother’s, Jamal Osman, special election race in Minneapolis’ Sixth Ward. This seems to align with what Dennis is referring to, so I’m going to assume it is.
According to the Star Tribune, “[Liban] Mohamed is heard in the video saying: ‘Money is everything, money is the king of this world. If you don’t have money you should not be here period.’ Republicans say that could be evidence of a cash-for-ballot scheme, though there’s no direct evidence in the videos of money being exchanged for ballots.”
A spokesperson for Osman’s campaign did confirm that Mohamed was Osman’s brother but said he “had never heard of any efforts to force or pay Sixth Ward residents to vote for Osman,” according to the Star Tribune article.
Furthermore, these allegations of ballot harvesting were brought forth by a discredited, far-right organization called Project Veritas. “Project Veritas has tried to plant fake stories with news organizations in the past and has been accused of manipulating video footage,” according to the Star Tribune. Since they’ve already tried to plant fake stories with news organizations in the past, they’ve lost credibility. It’s clear they’re just trying to spread misinformation.
It is so easy to manipulate and edit videos nowadays to make them fit any narrative you want. Artificial intelligence is getting smarter, and it’s unfortunately being used to spread misinformation, so please be careful when sharing and quoting videos.
False claim #3: “They want to eliminate the electoral college and [want] to fund abortion at the taxpayer expense, not only in this country, but around the world. Of course they use the oxymoron of ‘women's reproductive rights.’ There is nothing reproductive about killing unborn children.”
I could discuss the topic of women's reproductive rights all day, but I’ll keep this simple: Women’s reproductive rights should be left up to women, not men. Republicans shout freedom, liberty, “stay away from my property,” “don’t take my guns,” and smaller government every day of the year, but they’re in strong favor of the government regulating women’s bodies and “protecting” the unborn babies. I can only imagine the uproar if the government even thought about regulating men’s bodies. Yikes.
I’m pro-choice. I always have been. I know people who’ve been in the position of having to choose whether to have an abortion or not. It was the hardest, most difficult decision they’ve ever had to make, and they’ll live with their decision for the rest of their lives — for better or for worse. But it was not my place to tell a woman — or anyone for that matter — that she needs to keep the baby. It was, however, my place to support her in whatever decision she chose.
She did end up having to have to an abortion because she would have died if she delivered the baby.
Women are fighting for the right to choose to have a safe abortion. Whether you like it or not, abortions are going to continue. It’s up to us to make it legal so women have places and comfort to have the procedure done safely so they do not have to rely on “back alley” abortions, which can cause irreversible damage to their bodies. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “The major life-threatening complications resulting from the least safe abortions are haemorrhage, infection, and injury to the genital tract and internal organs.”
But when an abortion is performed by a trained professional in the proper environment, they are safe. The WHO states, “Abortions are safe when they are carried out with a method that is recommended by WHO and that is appropriate to the pregnancy duration, and when the person carrying out the abortion has the necessary skills. Such abortions can be done using tablets (medical abortion) or a simple outpatient procedure.”
There are a number of additional facts on the WHO’s website, so I encourage you to look them up for yourself.
Republicans claim to be pro-life up until the baby is born. After that, the mother/father and child are on their own. No food stamps, daycare, school, WIC, healthcare, nothing. The late comedian George Carlin said it best:
“Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren’t they? They’re all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you’re born, you’re on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don’t want to know about you. They don’t want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you’re preborn, you’re fine; if you’re preschool, you’re f**ked.
Conservatives don’t give a sh*t about you until you reach ‘military age.’ Then they think you are just fine. Just what they’ve been looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers.”
It still baffles me that anyone, especially Christians, can support Donald Trump. And now after the riot he incited at the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6th while Congress was counting the Electoral College’s votes is a further proof of concept of exactly what he and his base are about: suppression, violence, and total control.
To claim that he’s a “man of God” is more mind-numbing. I have countless friends who were born and raised Christian and continue to raise their families in the Christian faith. I could count on one hand the amount of times I’ve heard them curse. They abhor Trump and find him repulsive.
A few of these quotes from this Christian president are:
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Ave [in New York] and shoot somebody and I still wouldn’t lose any voters. It’s incredible.” — Donald J. Trump, at his Sioux City, Iowa campaign on January 23rd, 2016
What is so incredible about shooting somebody? Could someone point me to the bible verse that aligns with Trump’s quote above? Furthermore, why would someone support anyone that says something like this? And his followers laugh after he makes this remark. Sickening.
This next quote comes from a tweet Trump posted on Twitter on July 19th, 2019 (which I can’t embed because he’s now banned from the platform. Finally!):
“So interesting to see the ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worse, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!”
The congresswomen Trump is referring to are Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. Three of them were born here in the United States. Ms. Omar was the only one that wasn’t born in the US.
According to the New York Times, “Ms. Omar, who is from Somalia, was born outside the United States. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx to parents of Puerto Rican descent. Ms. Pressley, who is black, was born in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago. And Ms. Tlaib was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants.”
This racist remark by a sitting president is unacceptable and disgusting, especially from a Christian man. It’s 2021. It’s time to extinguish the racism fire.
As we begin 2021, let’s really hone in on how we’re going to move forward. Let’s stop the spread of “fake news” and educate one another. And please, if you’re going to share articles, videos, and news bits on social media or with your friends and family, please research them. Please. Don’t share them because they align with your views and what you want to believe. Share them because they’re factual, even if it’s not what you want to hear or believe.
The continuous spread of misinformation by Dennis Sobtzak continues to be very misleading and dangerous. His claims are widely disputed and have no factual grounding to them whatsoever. I could elaborate on many of his other points in other letters, including his letter on December 28, 2020. As I read his letters I was scared, disturbed, and irritated. We should be encouraging and educating the younger generation to share factual information and not racist, offensive, and dangerous news pieces and rhetoric. Therefore, I couldn’t sit back and let someone continue to spread this fake news in Barnesville, a place I’ll always call home.
