Back in January, in my first column for this publication, I admitted I was scared. At the time it was because of the likelihood Donald Trump would be the GOP nominee for president and the things he said would happen if he was elected.

Since then, President Biden has dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic nominee. She has brought new life and enthusiasm and momentum to the campaign. It has been fun to watch.

I am still scared.

If the polls are to be trusted, this race between Harris and Trump is very close. Like many, even some Republicans, I have a difficult time understanding how this race could be this close. That’s because Mr. Trump is exceedingly off the wall with his claims and statements and continues to lie about everything.

He takes pride in saying he caused Roe v. Wade to be overturned by the Supreme Court by appointing enough unqualified justices to get it done. He claims he doesn’t favor a national ban on abortion but Project 2025 calls for that.

Project 2025, which is the GOP blueprint for the next Republican administration, also calls for outlawing in vitro fertilization (IVF), but Trump claims he doesn’t agree with that. He even claimed recently he is “the father of IVF.”

Huh?

At a recent meeting with the Economic Club of Chicago, Trump said he thinks the most beautiful word in the dictionary is “tariff.” He repeated his plan to, if elected, slap huge tariffs on imports from China and other countries, blowing off the belief by most economists that such tariffs would cause record deficits and high inflation.

He claimed his threat to use tariffs against Deere & Co. if it started producing tractors outside the U.S. caused the Moline-based company to cancel such plans. Deere officials responded with a statement that Trump’s claim is “fictional.”

Combine all his lies, including those told about FEMA after the past two hurricanes that almost led to violence against the agency and continuing to lie about immigrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, and you wonder why anybody listens to him anymore.

Instead, listen to and read the concerns of those who once worked for him, or to GOP leaders. Most believe he is unstable and a danger to the country.

Trumpers want to say Harris got nothing done in her three-plus years as vice president. The key there? She is vice president — vice president — and thus unable to get things done except to follow the orders of the president.

Think, please.

What did Trump accomplish in his first (and, I hope, only) term as president? If you are going to listen to everything he says he accomplished, please fact check.

With all this said, I realize many won’t see this until after the election. But on the off chance someone reads it and cares what I think, please arm yourself with facts and vote with your head.

Social Security COLA lower, but …

The annual cost of living adjustment to Social Security benefits will be 2.5 percent in January. That is lower than the 3.2 percent in January of this year, but the reason for that isn’t a bad thing.

The Social Security Administration said the COLA will be lower because inflation is lower than it was at the start of 2024.

Sure, I would like to see a bigger bump but I’m glad food and gas prices are coming down.

I wonder, though, if Trump wins and imposes higher tariffs and causes inflation to skyrocket, will the Social Security Administration give us a mid-year bump? Probably not.

Meanwhile, I’ll be glad to find other things to discuss.