To the editor:
I was at the Women's March in Nashville on Saturday. The crowd was estimated by aerial photographs at 15,000. With my own eyes I saw the pedestrian bridge from a distance and it was completely packed with people from one end to the other and down into the park. That's a fact.
A conservative estimate of turnout for The Women's March in DC is 470,000 people. More than a million Metro trips were taken that day – second only in history to Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. That's a fact.
Across the country and around the world over 2 million people turned out to say no to the racist, sexist, authoritarian Trump administration. Demonstrations were peaceful as most all anti-Trump demonstrations have been - despite the graphic coverage of a few isolated incidents Fox News had on repeat.
The Administration largely ignored the most massive outpouring of protest the world has seen in a long time. Instead of responding to the demonstrators unified and very clear demands for access to women’s health care, equal pay, and an end to racist, sexist government policies, Mr. Trump tweeted "Why didn't these people vote?".
Responses like this are known as gaslighting, a form of manipulation through persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying in an attempt to destabilize and delegitimize someone.
We did vote. I voted. My friends voted. In fact, the majority of Americans, 65,844,610 of us voted for Hillary Clinton - and against Mr. Trump. To suggest that we didn't is a blatant denial of fact.
Facts are something that happened. It seems that if a fact hurts Mr. Trump's fragile ego, like the photos of his inauguration crowds, he decides it didn't happen and starts blasting anyone who disagrees with his made up opinions. He never gives any proof to back up his wild statements. He just repeats them until at least some people start to believe it.
When asked about Press Secretary Spicer's lie that Mr. Trump had the largest inaugural crowd ever Kellyanne Conway had this to say. "You're saying it’s a falsehood...Sean Spicer...gave alternative facts".
I am appalled by the massive outpouring of "alternative facts", otherwise known as bald faced lies, that our President thinks he can brainwash us with. Beyond trying to convince us that he has the biggest everything - which is so gross and unprofessional I can't even comprehend his lack of embarrassment - he lies about things that are actually important.
Please, don’t be fooled by the Trump administration’s "alternative facts". There is no such thing. A lie is a lie is a lie. Instead of getting all your information from one news source, compare and contrast several of the major news networks and real print newspapers that have been around for a long time and have high standards of journalism. Ask questions and seek the truth. It’s more important now than ever.
Krista Eickmann
