In her first press conference, President Trump’s new press secretary Karoline Leavitt promised to be open and totally truthful. Nonetheless, she parroted many lies, which I assume were provided by her MAGA bosses. One sound bite the Trump administration would like us to take away, for example, is that they rounded up and deported a plane-load of undocumented Colombians. Columbia refused to take them and the administration prevailed. That’s not what happened. Heather Cox Richardson, a professor at Boston College, gives the following information: The Biden administration had detained these and more Colombians, and Colombia agreed to repatriate them. Our new administration put them on a military plane and demanded permission to land without prior authorization.

Imagine if a foreign government demanded that a U.S. airport allow a foreign military plane to land. Colombia refused the plane. Trump then said he’d impose tariffs on almost $10 billion in Colombian coffee, flowers and petroleum, which would raise those prices here. Columbia threatened tariffs on U.S. corn. American farmers would be hurt. This was an unnecessary mess caused by Trump not following the previously agreed-upon plan. Colombian President Gustavo Petro was willing to send a Colombian plane to pick up his citizens so the immediate crisis could be averted, but Petro also signaled that his government is open to closer ties with China. Only China stands to gain from this mishandling.

Now the Trump administration is planning to illegally delay or cut foreign aid to many nations around the world. Only Congress has the power to decide to expend or withhold, but this administration is testing the limits. China will pick up the pieces. This is dangerous and fool hardy.

And the $50 million that went out the door to pay for condoms in Gaza. Politifact says that’s purely made up.

David Erikson

Weare