Mike Barnhill
Ashland
Dear Editor:
For many Republicans and Democrats, it doesn't matter who is selected as their party's presidential candidate. If it is Howdy Doody or Ronald McDonald, it just doesn't matter because it's for the party and not a personal decision for a more qualified candidate.
However, there is one important thing that separates the winners from the losers in a presidential race. That most important ingredient is the word "trust."
Hillary Clinton did not lose the 2016 election because she was a woman. It was because of the word "trust." Whether it was her husband's fault or her misfortune to be accused of the failure in Benghazi, she lost the key states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by a narrow margin and lost the election to Donald Trump. Although winning the popular vote by about 2,000,000 votes, but lost the more important electoral vote.
President Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden because of a lack of "trust." One may or may not agree that several actions caused this mistrust. First was his inability to furnish tax records after four years of requests. He's now paying for that decision. Secondly, he suggested COVID-19 was much like the yearly flu and it would just go away come summer. His non-recorded communication with Russia's President Putin also raised some eyebrows concerning "trust." His allowing family members to indulge in the running of the nation's business also was frowned upon.
There is little doubt that the suspicions of these actions definitely did have an effect upon Trump's trust level and loss of the election. Biden's every action as president of the United States will be scrupulously analyzed by all news agencies across the nation. Many opinions will be formed as a result of these news reports. Let's hope we all do not listen to just one news source to gain our opinion. It's rather easy to imagine living as a citizen in North Korea, China, Russia or many Muslim countries and only hearing one side to every news report. Don't allow that type of news reporting to dull your senses to the truth. The truth is like beauty, it is always in the eyes of the beholder. So don't blind yourself to one news source no matter if it is the radio, TV, newspapers, magazines or common conversation at a popular gathering place.