Bruce Jenket: Media used to tell us the facts; now they tell us how to 'feel'

To The Daily Sun,

The first presidential “debate” was anything but. It should have been billed as the first presidential “slap down.” The lack of actual facts and vision for America by both candidates was disturbing. There were two questions asked that could have been easily resolved with facts but still remain unanswered. It set the tone for the night.

First, did president Trump only pay $750 in income taxes in 2016 and 2017 as reported in this article by the N.Y. times? (https://nyti.ms/34cffwN) That article was over 10,000 words long but didn’t provide tax returns (i.e. source data). President Trump refuted that claim saying he paid “millions” in taxes those years. Which is true? Certified copies of his two-page 1040’s would answer that question.

Second, did Hunter Biden receive $3.5 million from the wife of the former mayor of Moscow as alleged by the U.S. Senate in this referral to the FBI. (https://bit.ly/2Gbzd2W) The referral also included business transactions with the Ukraine and China. VP Biden claimed his son “did nothing wrong”. Not actually a refutal!

A government built on lies is corrupt. I have been researching claims by Democrats and the left-leaning media for over three years and my trust in them is zero. The same is true of V.P. Biden. He repeated the same false narratives the media has been pushing. Here are a few examples:

— President Obama handed president Trump a booming economy. That is just false. The Obama/Biden administration oversaw the largest Work Force Participation rate (WFPR) decline since records have been kept. (Well, until Covid-19). Here is the source data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. (https://bit.ly/30pe3oU). WFPR declined 2.9 percet under Obama/Biden over 8 years and increased .8 percent under Trump/Pence over their first three years.

— The tax cuts benefited the rich. They benefited the middle and low-income tax payers! If the tax cuts are repealed, as V.P. Biden promises, a married couple making $60,000/year will see an increase of over $1,800 in taxes the following year. Do the math.

— Covid-19 is president Trump’s fault and could have been avoided. China unleashed this pandemic and it couldn’t be avoided. To suggest V.P. Biden would have done better is baseless.

— When V.P. Biden was asked how he will pay for his $2 trillion investment in green energy, he said it will pay for itself. Wind and solar require large capital investments and the energy they produce will take decades to offset that initial investment. Its why home owners don’t put a $30,000 solar system on their homes to save $120/month on electricity.

A debate requires facts. No one in the media is holding the candidates accountable for providing them. Instead they waste time on unsubstantiated allegations to tear down the opposing candidate. It used to be the media would report the “truth” and we would decide how we “felt?” When did it change to the media telling us how to “feel” and us having to decide if what they reported was “true?” It should worry all Americans.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough