To the editor:

In this fourth year of his presidency, I wish I could adopt Donald Trump’s fantastic ability to create his own reality.

I might wish away COVID-19 as a hoax and forward anti-vax conspiracies about our top health experts or more simply, imagine that it will “all magically disappear.” I might be able to lie to my children and students and tell them climate change is a hoax and that several decades of increasing temperatures are not already baked into our atmosphere no matter how much longer we burn fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow.

I might even join our president in his illusion that whites are killed at the hands of police at greater rates than blacks or believe that “there were good people on both sides.” I might, but I can’t.

Even though they say ignorance is bliss, I just can’t drink the Trump Kool-Aid. In May, I watched my mother die of COVID-19 in CRH, and I will always remember my mom’s stiff upper lip as the hospitalist in his alien-looking PPE had to practically shout that they could not save her life. Her sober bravery at facing her own death is the kind of bravery I hope to pass on to my children.

Life hands us harsh realities to face and real consequences for our actions. To avoid hard truths and avoid making hard choices is childish, selfish and short-sighted. Whether it’s COVID-19, climate change or ending systemic racism, avoiding the truth can be deadly.

Like our president, voters may wish to avoid troubling realities, twist science and call any reporting we don’t like “fake news.” They may think that in a free country, no one should have to sacrifice anything for the good of others. How did we let ourselves sink so low? Lord help us if we let this hoax of a president have a second term.

Steve Plasse, Crothersville