Monthly Archives: September 2024

State Officials Join Amtrak CEO to Break Ground in Old Lyme for New CT River Bridge

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From left to right, Operating Engineers Local 478 President Nate Brown, DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, Gov. Ned Lamont, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, Rep. Joe Courtney, and Deputy US Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg break ground on the new Connecticut River Bridge at Ferry Landing State Park in Old Lyme on Thursday, Sept. 5. Photo courtesy of CTNewsJunkie.com Photo credit: Screengrab / CT-N

OLD LYME – Yesterday Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner joined U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D), Senators Richard Blumenthal (D) and Chris Murphy (D), Representative Joe Courtney (D), Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, and other state and local officials to celebrate the start of construction for Amtrak’s new Connecticut River Bridge between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, Connecticut.

The existing Connecticut River Bridge, which opens for maritime traffic several times a day in peak boating season, was completed in 1907 and today serves more than 50 daily Amtrak Northeast Regional and Acela trains, CTrail Shore Line East commuter service trains and freight trains. The aging bridge’s failure to open and close consistently can result in cascading delays to rail and maritime traffic.

The modern, more resilient, moveable bridge now being constructed by Amtrak will feature a trunnion bascule span design with modern track, signal, catenary, power, communication and other supporting rail infrastructure. It will support a maximum train operating speed of 70 mph, a 55 percent increase from today’s maximum speed of 45 mph. Maritime navigation and safety will also improve due to the increased vertical clearance of the new bridge compared to the existing bridge.

This investment will ensure continued connectivity along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) – America’s busiest passenger rail corridor – while enabling plans to expand intercity passenger rail service in the region and across the nation.

Earlier this summer, Amtrak awarded a construction contract for the new bridge and held a pre-construction public meeting to educate community members about the upcoming work. Rail traffic will remain in service throughout the project, which is expected to conclude by 2031.

This $1.3 billion project is supported by a $826.64 million Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail grant from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL.) The remaining portion will be funded by Amtrak and the State of Connecticut.

“Amtrak is thrilled to join our partners to break ground on the new Connecticut River Bridge, a project decades in the making,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “When completed, this modern bridge will improve the customer experience by eliminating delays, providing faster journeys and modernizing another critical infrastructure asset in Connecticut that benefits the entire Northeast Corridor.”

He continued, “Today’s milestone would not be possible without funding from the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act and continued support from the Biden-Harris Administration along with Connecticut’s champions of rail in Governor Lamont, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Murphy, Congressman Courtney, Commissioner Eucalitto and so many others.”

“Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration—and the largest investment in passenger rail since Amtrak was founded—we’re replacing the century-old Connecticut River Bridge with a safer, more reliable structure,” said U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg. “This bridge is a critical point for freight and passenger rail and maritime traffic along the Northeast, and the new bridge will deliver the faster, more reliable service Americans deserve.”

“The Northeast Corridor is the busiest rail line in the nation, and improvements here mean more jobs, continued economic growth, and improved quality of life,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. “The Connecticut River Bridge is more than 100 years old, and this major modernization project will ensure that trains can operate with higher speeds and fewer disruptions well into the future. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues delivering for Connecticut and the entire region.”

“Today marks the beginning of faster rail travel for commuters and other rail passengers,” said U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. “The Connecticut River Bridge is in desperate need of upgrades, and I am thrilled that work is underway to replace it. I am proud Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dollars are at work improving aging infrastructure in Connecticut, and I will continue fighting to deliver more of this critical funding to our state.”

Rendering of the new Connecticut River Amtrak Bridge. Photo courtesy of Amtrak MediaCenter.

“The Connecticut River Bridge is one of the most critical sections of northeast rail corridor, but its aging infrastructure has led to disruptions, slower travel times, and delays, creating massive headaches for the thousands of commuters who travel across it,” said U.S. Senator Chris Murphy. This project has been years in the making, and it is only happening because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Now, thanks to President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are finally starting a project to improve reliability, reduce traffic, and make life easier for travelers and commuters in our state.”

“Ever since the determination was made in 2006 that the bridge was structurally deficient, my office has been leading federal efforts to support construction of a safer and faster rail line for passengers and freight. Importantly, even before the federal infrastructure law, which is funding the new bridge, became law, my office secured a commitment from Amtrak that the bridge would be built under a Project Labor Agreement that guarantees our local workforce will execute construction,” said U.S. Representative Joe Courtney. “This means Connecticut’s workers will benefit from the highest safety standards, good wages, and high quality job training.”

“I am thrilled to see the Connecticut River Bridge project begin this week!” said Connecticut State Senator Christine Cohen (D—District 12), Chair of the Transportation Committee. “This project is a great example of collaboration between the private sector and the federal and state governments to invest into public transportation in the Northeast Corridor. Once completed, this project will improve reliability, train speeds and connectivity in our region and I’m committed to continuing to work together with our partners to make our rails more accessible for riders across the region.”

“This bridge represents a great leap forward for our local public transportation,” said Connecticut State Senator and Deputy Majority Leader Martha Marx (D—District 20). “People can trust that their trains will arrive on time and get them where they need to go at a faster pace than ever before. Rail travel is a vital connection point in our community, as well as in New England and throughout the nation. I’m very pleased to see Amtrak making such admirable improvements to their services.”

“Rebuilding the Connecticut River Bridge is a transformational investment for the future of passenger rail service in the Northeast Corridor,” said Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto. “With modern engineering and design, the new bridge will accommodate growing ridership demand, faster and more reliable travel times, and stimulate the local and regional economy. Thank you to the FRA for investing in Connecticut through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We look forward to working closely with our partners at Amtrak as this project moves forward.”

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has enabled long overdue transportation upgrades like the Connecticut River Bridge Project along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor,” said Transportation Trades Department (AFL-CIO) President Greg Regan. “We’re proud that this project will utilize union workers, providing an economic boost to surrounding communities, and will improve service on America’s busiest passenger rail line.”

“Chalk up another win for America’s rail passengers from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Rail Passengers Association President & CEO Jim Mathews. “Thanks to the BIL’s historic levels of capital funding, passengers on Amtrak and commuter rail on the busy Northeast Corridor can look forward to traveling faster, more safely, and more reliably over the Connecticut River than we do today.”

He added, “Replacing this 117-year-old bridge is just another example of how the BIL is helping to reverse decades of underinvestment in vital infrastructure, and our Association applauds Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Connecticut Department of Transportation for getting this vital project moving.”

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a press release issued Sept. 5, by the Amtrak MediaCenter.

Death Announced of Fleur Marguerite Lawrence of Old Lyme; Former Board Member of Lyme Academy

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OLD LYME—Fleur Marguerite Lawrence (née Hahne) of Old Lyme, CT passed away at Greenwich Hospital on September 3, 2024 at the age of 84. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, which she had bravely battled over the past year. Fleur was predeceased by her husband, Gerard (Jerry) Lawrence, who passed away in January.

Fleur is survived by her four children, Christopher (Eileen) of Killingworth, Kirsten (Sander) of Greenwich, Melissa (Marc) of Barcelona, and James (Rebecca) of Charleston, S.C., as well as 13 beloved grandchildren …

Fleur was born in Stockholm on November 30, 1939 …

… As chair of the board of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Fleur headed up the museum’s effort to become independent from the college. Fleur also served on the board of the Old Lyme Art Academy.

… Relatives and friends are invited to attend calling hours from 5 until 7 p.m. Thursday, September 5, at the Robinson Wright & Weymer Funeral Home, 34 Main Street, Centerbrook. Funeral Services will take place at 11:00a.m. Friday, September 6, at The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, Lyme Street, Old Lyme. Burial will follow at the Duck River Cemetery in Old Lyme. In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to the Fleur and Jerry Lawrence Endowed Scholarship at the University of Connecticut or to the Florence Griswold Museum.

Visit this link to read the full obituary published by Legacy.com.

A View From My Porch: A 2024 Election Epic—Part One: Why I Vote (Section 3 of 3)

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Editor’s Notes: i) We have divided Part One of Thomas Gotowka’s essay into three parts. This is the third and final Section. Read Section 1 at this link and Section 2 at this link.
ii) This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

Tom Gotowka

“I Have a Dream”

Bizarrely, during a press conference on Aug. 8 at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump lashed out at claims that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech had a larger crowd than his “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.

“If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people. “If not, we had more.” And “they said he had a million people, but I had 25,000 people.” “And I’m OK with it because I liked Dr. Martin Luther King.”

The House Select Committee that investigated the events of Jan. 6, 2021 actually estimated that 53,000 people attended Trump’s speech at the White House Ellipse.

In contrast, MLK, Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech  from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial  in front of a crowd of nearly 250,000 people spread across the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Trump expanded his remarks on his Jan. 6 crowd in response to a reporter’s question regarding the peaceful transfer of power. “If you look at January 6th, which a lot of people aren’t talking about very much;” “I think those people were treated very harshly when you compare them to other things that took place in this country, where a lot of people were killed.”

And he argued that no one was “injured” on Jan. 6. “The biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken to, and I said peacefully and patriotically, which nobody wants to say, but I said peacefully and patriotically, the biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken to.” “I don’t know who’s ever had a bigger crowd than I have, but I had it many times… Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me.”

His weird obsession with crowd size continues. Trump is very frustrated that Harris has been drawing large and enthusiastic rally crowds.  In response to her airport rally in Michigan he posted “Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A-I’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!” Note that “A-I” is Artificial Intelligence. He also “freaked” out about the crowd at her rally in Atlanta; versus his; citing Harris’ unfair advantage from participating entertainers.(Trump’s caps)

Trump’s Bedminster, NJ Golf Club

In an Aug. 15 speech at his golf club attended by some of his most prominent Jewish supporters, Trump said, “Jews are facing a climate akin to the run-up to the Holocaust due to the actions of anti-Israel forces.” He ludicrously placed the blame on Harris, while failing to mention antisemitism from his far-right supporters.

He went further and said, “Instead of aggressively confronting these venomous antisemites in her party, Kamala Harris has maneuvered for their support.” 

Disgracefully, his speech also included a moment in which he denigrated the appearance of decorated military veterans, while praising Miriam Adelson, the Republican megadonor who, with her husband, has pledged up to $90 million to his reelection; and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from him in 2018.

Trump said, “The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, was much better than the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration; because soldiers who receive the latter had to be severely injured or killed to receive it.” 

He did not stop there, but went on and said that “Adelson looked better than some of the wounded veterans who received the Congressional Medal of Honor.” Trump’s remarks  were condemned by many, including his former chief of staff John Kelly, purple heart recipient Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. 

Note that the Adelsons are also supporters of medical research and healthcare delivery organizations.

Helicopter Landings

Along with challenging the size of the crowd at MLK, Jr,’s “I have a Dream” speech during the Aug. 8 press conference at his Florida property, (see “Size” above), Trump also told a story to reporters about being involved in a helicopter emergency landing with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. “I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him.” We thought maybe this is the end.” Trump also said that Brown, who is a Democrat, “… told me terrible things” about Kamala Harris. 

However, Brown rejected Trump’s account as “obviously wrong” during a phone call later that evening with CNN, saying: “I’ve never been in a helicopter with him in my life.” Asked about Willie Brown’s rebuttal of Trump’s narrative, spokesman Steven Cheung only responded, “Slick Willie!” 

Trump may have confused Willie Brown with Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, with whom he did travel by helicopter in 2018, while surveying wildfire damage in the state. Trump attacked the New York Times for its coverage of the press conference, and insisted he had flight records to prove it, despite Mr. Brown’s denial. He threatened a lawsuit, but has yet to provide the evidence.

Gaffe-ing Candidates

Remember how Democrats agonized over Biden’s occasional gaffes? Well, the Republicans have not yet done so with Trump’s.

Although I am certain that each of Trump’s speeches may have had a planned topic, Trump usually veers into disconnected and confusing digressions and tangents that are nearly impossible to follow. He has a few pet themes or paragraphs that he uses over and over and from rally to rally. Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger have become his “super-villains.” 

He frequently portrayed Biden as confused and mentally unfit for office. However, Trump has bewildered his audience and his allies during his speeches. In September, Trump confused Biden with former President Barack Obama, saying “with Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn’t be won.”

During the same speech, Trump also said, “We would be in World War II very quickly if we’re going to be relying on” Biden.

I think more troubling for we voting citizens of the United States are the memory lapses and repeated use of a word or phrase during and within a single speech, by a man who wants to again try his hand at POTUS The following illustrates both. 

Trump  appeared to mistakenly refer to his-then GOP rival, Nikki Haley, instead of Nancy Pelosi when discussing Jan. 6 at a Concord NH campaign rally in early January, where he spoke for 90 minutes and repeatedly bashed Haley on her smaller crowds. 

He suddenly changed tack and appeared to blame her for the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by his own supporters;  “By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6. You know Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, did you know they destroyed all the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it? All of it. Because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want.” They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people.”

Note that then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was not in charge of Capitol security, and there was no evidence that Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for Jan. 6.

Author’s Comments: Trump flourishes on insults, lies, shocking rhetoric, and conflict to keep himself and his campaign in the media. Remember when his apologists labeled his “shock-jock” antics as just “Donald being Donald”? 

I want to remind readers that there is more at stake on Nov. 5 than the Presidential election. These are the “down ballot” or “down ticket” races that will appear below the presidential election line; and can include Senate and House seats and contests for state and local offices. Those races are particularly important this election because the Republican-controlled House is inept and a mess—voting 749 times this year, but passing just 27 bills into law, thus making this Congress the least productive in decades.

On Tuesday, Aug. 20, at the DNC, Barack Obama said, “We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos; we have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” He reminded us that the upcoming election will be a “tight race in a closely divided country.”

He described Donald Trump as “a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago. It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala. There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, and his weird obsession with crowd sizes.“

In closing, May God bless America and may God protect our troops.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.

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One Dead, Two Missing After Old Saybrook Boat Accident Monday Night

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OLD SAYBROOK—Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation Police (EnCon Police) along with multiple agencies, responded to a boating accident in Old Saybrook around 9:15 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 2.

A single motorboat was found floating, half-submerged, near the Harbor One Marina in Old Saybrook. There was significant damage to the boat, which hit the east-facing jetty at the mouth of the CT River.

A total of nine people were on the boat. An adult male was recovered deceased, and six people were transported to the hospital. As of 1 a.m., two people were still being searched for. The search was suspended for the night shortly after 1 a.m., and resumed in the morning as, most likely, a recovery operation.

In addition to EnCon Police, several agencies assisted in the response to this incident, including- Old Lyme FD, Middletown FD, Middlesex Health (EMTs), Essex FD, Goshen Fire, Old Saybrook FD and PD, Clinton Fire, the Coast Guard, and the State Police Dive Unit.

Editor’s Note: This article is based on a press release issued by DEEP.com at 1:27 a.m. today.

A View From My Porch: A 2024 Election Epic—Part One: Why I Vote (Section 2 of 3)

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Editor’s Notes: i) We have divided Part One of Thomas Gotowka’s essay into three parts. This is Section 2—we will publish Section 3 on Thursday, Sept. 5. Read Section 1 at this link.
ii) This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

Tom Gotowka

“Mein Kampf” at the Claremont, NH Rally

In a nearly two-hour rambling speech on Saturday, Nov.11, 2023, Trump addressed a rally crowd in Claremont, NH and promised that “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

He accused these groups of doing ‘anything’ “to destroy America and to destroy the American dream;” and he then went on to repeat his old and baseless claims of election fraud.

Trump spoke at length about his criminal indictments. “I am being indicted for you. Never forget, our enemies want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom. In the end, they’re not after me, they’re after you; I’m just standing in their way.” He said, “The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within.”

Trump’s dystopian rhetoric has drawn significant criticism and concern from historians and political analysts, who noted the dangerous parallels between Trump’s language and the antisemitic propaganda of Nazi Germany. Historian Jon Meacham said. “To call your opponent ‘vermin,’ to dehumanize them, is to not only open the door but to walk through the door toward the most ghastly kinds of crimes.” 

Yale University professor Jason Stanley, author of “How Fascism Works,” said “It doesn’t echo ‘Mein Kampf.’ This is textbook ‘Mein Kampf.'” 

Huyen “Steven” Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, responded with threats to the criticism. Cheung rejected the critics as “’snowflakes’ suffering from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome, and threatened that their sad, miserable existence would be crushed when Trump returns to the White House.”

In keeping with the rally’s theme, Cheung may have been mirroring Josef Goebbels, chief propagandist for Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Party with his threatening language. Cheung also worked in communications for “The Ultimate Fighting Championship” organization.

In addition, Trump faced outcry from critics after an interview with “The National Pulse,” a right-wing political news publication, when he said that immigrants, who are in the country without authorization, are “poisoning the blood” of America. He also repeated his longstanding claim that terrorists, criminals, and those with mental illness are coming in through the borders. Trump went on to say his criticism is of immigrants from all over the world, including Asia and Africa.

“Birther” Redux at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference

At this July 31 Conference, Trump released a volley of vicious attacks on Kamala Harris, absurdly questioning her Black identity.  “She changed her identity from Indian to Black for political gain.” His ridiculous claim is reminiscent of the birther nonsense he unsuccessfully attempted on President Obama in 2011 (see Part 2)

Trump said, “I’ve known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much; and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage;” After being asked whether he thought Harris was only on the Democratic ticket because she was Black, he responded, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black,” he continued. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

To set the record straight, Harris’ mother, born and raised in India, was a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene stimulated advances in breast biology and oncology. Her father, Jamaican-born Donald Harris, was a professor of economics at Stanford University, joining the faculty in 1972, retiring in 1998. He also served as an economic consultant to Jamaica’s government. 

Trump bragged that he had been “the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.” He repeatedly targeted one of the moderators, ABC News’ Rachel Scott, calling her “nasty” for her line of questioning, a word he usually reserves for women.

Harris summarized Trump’s remarks very concisely at a campaign event a few hours after Trump’s appearance at the Conference, and said “It was the same old show.”  

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, once a Trump ally, said that Trump is retreating to his “greatest hits” by attacking Vice President Harris on her race; “and as the presidential race gets tighter, he may revert to more personal attacks.”

Burning Bridges in Atlanta — “I just want to find 11,780 votes”

At an Aug. 3 rally in Atlanta, Trump spent 10 minutes ranting about Brian Kemp, Georgia’s popular governor, blaming him for his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, and for not stopping the district attorney from prosecuting him and several associates for his efforts to overturn Georgia’s election results. 

Trump was already fuming over Kemp, offended by the Governor’s absence from campaign events and fundraisers, and probably other perceived slights. After all, Trump had “helped him get elected.” Kemp had skipped a fundraiser and a Georgia rally weeks earlier; and his wife, Marty, had told a local television reporter that she planned to write in her husband’s name for president, rather than vote for Trump. 

In addition, Kamala Harris had a very successful and enthusiastic rally just a few days before at a packed Georgia State Convocation Center, where she told the crowd “The path to the White House runs right through this state, and you all helped us win in 2020 and we are going to do it again in 2024.” Trump claimed that Harris had an unfair advantage from participating entertainers.

Earlier in the day, Trump took to social media to blast the governor, who he referred to as “Little Brian Kemp. Bad guy;” and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan for being disloyal to the GOP, after Duncan announced that he was endorsing Harris, despite his party threatening to ban him from running for office as a Republican. Remember when Trump reserved “Little” for Senator Marco Rubio?

Trump continued to falsely claim victory in Georgia, stating that he won the state twice. He also attacked Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who had refused to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump suggested, without evidence, that they were working against him in the 2024 election.

At the rally, Trump said “Your Governor, Brian Kemp, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, they’re doing everything possible to make 2024 difficult for Republicans to win.”. “What are they doing? I don’t know. They’ve got something in mind, you know, they’ve got a little something in mind. Kemp is very bad for the Republican Party.”

He continued, “They don’t want the vote to be honest. In my opinion, they want us to lose. That’s my opinion. And we can’t let that happen because if we lose Georgia, we lose the whole thing and our country goes to hell.”

Harris did admit that she wants Trump to lose.

Trump also tried to paint Harris as an extreme leftist, attacking her positions on the southern border, guns and public safety.

“She was the worst border czar, she was the worst czar in history,” he said, repetitively referring to an informal and unofficial title. “Kamala’s radical ideas belong in a San Francisco commune filled with far left freaks, but they do not belong in the White House. They do not belong in the United States of America. This November, Georgia is going to tell Kamala that we will not let her turn America into a communist country.”

Back Story

On Jan. 2, 2021, a panicking and flailing Trump initiated an hourlong phone call with Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who included his office’s General Counsel Ryan Germany and Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs. Trump was joined by several lawyers and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

“We won Georgia easily,” Trump said. “We won it by hundreds of thousands of votes.” He listed a litany of phony fraud allegations: e.g., close to 5,000 dead people voted; there were 18,000 secretly counted ballots for Biden; criminal removal of election machinery or machine parts; and dumped ballots, unsigned ballots, forgeries, and shredded ballots in totally corrupt Fulton County. Trump asked the Georgia officials to investigate his allegations about voter fraud. He framed his requests to state officials as a mission to ferret out criminal wrongdoing.

“And you can’t let it happen, and you are letting it happen,” Trump said. “You know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen. So, look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”

Finally, Trump asked Raffensperger, “What are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this. And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to re-examine it, and you can re-examine it, but re-examine it with people that want to find answers, not people that don’t want to find answers.”

Raffensperger replied, “We have to stand by our numbers. We believe our numbers are right.”

Size Matters

On January 21, 2017, the first full day of Trump’s presidency, hundreds of thousands of people crowded into the Nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington, aimed largely at the Trump administration and the threat it represented to reproductive, civil, and human rights.

Trump was already upset with what he felt were undercounts of his inauguration the day before, and falsely accused the media of lying about the size of the crowds at his inauguration, saying that when he looked out from his podium, “it looked like a million, a million and a half people,” and that the area “all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.” 

Crowd counting experts said the Women’s March in Washington was about three times the size of the audience at Trump’s inauguration, and drew over 470,000 people in the Capital; and between 3,267,134 and 5,246,670 people in marches across the U.S.

A few benchmarks: The annual Lollapalooza 4-day music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park draws 400,00 each July; as did Woodstock in August, 1969.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.