Plenty of spin coming from Washington as dissatisfaction and prices increase

To the editor,

“In Trump’s world, Democratic-led cities are war zones, prices are down, inflation is down, he has personally ended an ever-increasing number of wars, nobody cares about the Jeffrey Epstein files, his approval ratings are skyrocketing, and the country is ‘hotter’ and more unified than ever.

In the real world, there are no cities burning to the ground, prices are up, Trump’s approval ratings are down, and Gallup recently found that only 29% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the country.”

That’s the opening statement in an opinion piece in the newspaper USA Today on Oct. 19, 2025, by Rex Huppke. Is he wrong?

In a recent speech to military commanders, the president said that American cities, especially Democratic cities, were “very unsafe places.” President Trump’s mobilization of the National Guard in several U.S. cities in recent months is a departure from its historic role.

“The National Guard is a state-based military force whose troops wear uniforms and rank, operate military vehicles and weapons, and have often been called upon to serve alongside regular active-duty units in war. But when deployed domestically, the Guard has traditionally been asked to provide humanitarian assistance, not to act as a partisan strike force at the whim of the president”, according to an article in the New York Times Oct 16, 2025.

According to “The Global Statistics Team” all violent crime has decreased substantially in the past few years. In 42 major cities, violent crime, property crime, sex assaults, robbery and several other crimes have dramatically decreased, especially in Portland, Ore. And yet that’s exactly where the Trump administration has sent our national guard troops.

Many consumer prices from Oct. 2024 compared to Oct 2025 have increased as anyone buying groceries knows. Eggs, chicken breast, ground beef, OJ, bacon and bread are up 1.3% to 17.7% according to CNBC, JP Morgan, and Yale studies.

On Oct. 16, Trump held an event at the White House where he said, “Drug prices are coming down 400%, 200%, 600%, numbers that nobody’s ever seen before.” Have your prescription drugs decreased in price? Mine haven’t.”

On Sept. 2, Trump claimed that “a little child” gets pumped full of “a vat of 80 different vaccines.” Not true. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ vaccine schedule recommends a total of 12 vaccines.

Meanwhile farmers are unhappy with the Trump administration. Soybean farmers are feeling frustrated after Argentina sold 2 million tons of soybeans to China. This move came shortly after Trump stated we would provide a $20 billion aid package to Argentina to strengthen its economy. Recently Trump announced the US “would buy some beef from Argentina. “If we do that, it would bring our beef prices down.”

Cattlemen’s groups, farmers’ unions and lawmakers immediately condemned the idea. Farm organizations and agriculture officials in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota issued statements urging Trump to reconsider.

Meanwhile, our congress does nothing and shuts down our government services and Republicans refuse to negotiate with Democrats. Both parties are at fault.

Danny C. Saunders

Monticello