Re: “Trump returns to Washington, repeating election lies” (July 27, Page A3):

Welcome to Twilight Zone 2022: the story by Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin in Wednesday’s Press Herald about Donald Trump’s July 26 speech in Washington, D.C.

Trump’s key talking points, repeating his lie that he won the 2020 election:

• The election was a catastrophe, a disgrace.

• America’s survival is at stake.

• The country is in imminent danger of crime.

• Thousands of criminals are pouring into the country.

Keep in mind that Trump created an alternative to Twitter, which kicked him off that platform because of the incessant lies that issue from his mouth. The name of Trump’s Twitter alternative: Truth Social.

The foregoing brings the term gaslighting to mind. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim’s mind. Typically, gaslighters seek to gain power and control over others by distorting reality and forcing them to question their own judgment and intuition.

The majority of the voting-age population of this country view Trump’s legions of diehard supporters as remarkably uninformed or ignorant, some even criminal. This is borne out in numerous polls, and the criminal element is verified by the Justice Department’s ongoing Jan. 6 court cases and convictions.

None of this should surprise anybody. After all, Trump is arguably the most uninformed, ignorant former U.S. president in history. And he may yet be proven, in several state and federal courts, to be the most corrupt and criminal U.S. president in history, too.

Rick Kelley
North Yarmouth

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