When the media and journalists are more interested in telling you a specific simplified narrative helping their preferred candidate vs. reporting the messy complex reality, then it is up to us to do their jobs.

I am talking about the constant barrage of insults, insinuations and lies targeted at our president. On the one hand, “anything goes” when talking about the president. On the other hand, the media has given candidate Biden a pass for his lying, misdirecting and incivility.

Here is only a short “worst-of” Biden list. A quick internet search will find you many more instances accompanied with video evidence:

1. “Very fine people” on both sides — The Charlottesville hoax is the basis for the Biden campaign. Biden kicked off his campaign on what has become the most pervasive lie of recent years about Trump: that he supposedly called the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville “very fine people.”

This is false. On Aug. 15, 2017, President Trump specifically condemned neo-Nazis and white nationalists after stating — admittedly inarticulately — that there were fine people on both sides of the debate regarding Confederate statues.

2. “Antifa is an idea” — Biden claimed Antifa is not an organization but only an idea. The many victims of violence at the hands of Antifa, such as a man who was beaten unconscious in Portland, will be relieved to hear that the fists, feet and weapons striking them are not real. They are just ideas.

But for Biden the cause seems enough to excuse ongoing lawlessness.

3. It is untrue that Biden threatened Ukraine with a billion dollars — Remember, the Democrats impeached Trump over Ukraine. But as so often, they accuse Trump of the bad thing they have done themselves.

4. Calling a young female student “Lying dog-faced pony soldier” — When Madison Moore, a 21-year-old economics student, asked Biden whether voters could remain confident in his campaign after his poor performance in the Iowa caucuses, Biden asked her if she had ever attended a caucus. When Moore said “yes,” Biden responded: “No you haven’t. You’re a lying, dog-faced pony soldier.”

I am asking you to be open and seek multiple sources for information. Be a critical thinker. I will do the same.

Juergen Kuhmann

Steamboat Springs