To the editor:

Thursday night, Aug. 27, during the legally questionable Republican address on the White House lawn, the president mentioned he never wants the country to be like it is today. Hearkening back to Ronald Reagan’s question to the public during his presidential campaign, “Are you better off today than four years ago?” I pose this question: Are you better off than on Jan. 22 when President Trump stated that we have the coronavirus “totally under control” and again on Feb. 29: “We have it under control and it will magically go away.”

Well,the death toll is at 180,000 and climbing, and we are still in the middle of a pandemic that has taken away our fathers, mothers, grandparents and friends while other countries with better leaders are doing better.

And the flaunting of the presidents’s own staff’s rules of wearing a facial mask and social distancing were not followed Aug. 27 on the White House grounds, an event that broke the Hatch Act again by members of Congress and other governmental employees. It was emblematic of Trump’s entire term, and it was especially disgusting to see Mayor Rudy Giuliani sweating profusely and wiping his brow on the woman’s sleeve next to him.

The riots and damage we see on the streets are often instigated by right wing groups like the Proud Boys or QAnon cultists, not peaceful protesters.

Richard Sengpiehl,

Lawrence