To the editor:
We have come to a dangerous place. The consequences of a Trump presidency could be permanent damage to our democracy. Congress and Trump will try to rip up laws protecting endangered species, public lands, clean air and water, and a healthy environment.
If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, millions of Americans will be, once again, uninsured.
Meanwhile, coal ash will be allowed to flow freely into the air we breathe and pipelines will be everywhere. (Perhaps the pipelines will run through your property.)
Monsanto is likely to be totally free to marinate our food supply in toxic chemicals. You might not need to worry about your children and grandchildren, however, because they will likely have reduced lifespans. That should free you from worry about costs for higher education, since they might not live that long, or will be too ill to attend if they do.
There will be no women in the Trump administration unless they are “10s” in his view. So no worries about having to see normal-looking women on the news. This will be convenient for Trump, because they will be close enough for him to grab whenever (and wherever) he wants.
Trump knows how to deal with the immigrants he doesn’t marry. He used undocumented workers to work on Trump Tower and threatened to deport them if they complained about poor working conditions.
He has had experience with the Department of Justice, too. In New York, he was charged with discrimination when he tried to evict tenants for being black.
He does know how to stretch a dollar. He used charitable donations to buy a 6-foot portrait of himself. What a good deal for the donors!
There are currently 30 lawsuits pending against him for nonpayment and fraud. It also appears he hasn’t paid federal income taxes for 20 years. What a genius he must be!
If one opposes him they get a cute nickname, such as “Lying Ted,” “Little Marco,” “Low-energy Jeb,” or the oft-repeated “Crooked Hillary.”
As a bonus, Indiana’s new governor intends to continue Mike Pence’s policies of logging a huge percentage of our forests here at home. The good news is we won’t have to rake leaves anymore and won’t have to deal with any pesky wildlife once we destroy their habitat. Plus, you’ll be able to see for miles and miles without those trees blocking your view.
Trump has used bigotry, xenophobia, racism, sexism and paranoia to energize those susceptible. He has maintained that Obama was not an American, until it became too inconvenient. He blamed him for the deaths of troops who were killed during the Bush administration. ISIS was born out of the invasion of Iraq, based on lies used by the Bush administration to invade. Obama was the one who had to deal with the mess of the war and the trashed economy. Trump repeated so many lies so often that people who wanted to believe it did so.
A quote often attributed to Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, follows. Perhaps we need to keep this in mind when Trump or other politicians speak: “If you tell a big lie often enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
Patricia Fleetwood, Brown County
Send letters to [email protected] by noon Thursday before the date of intended publication (noon Wednesday on holiday weeks).
Letters are the opinions of the writer.
Letters must be signed by the author and include the writer’s town of residence and a contact number in case of questions. Only one letter every two weeks, per writer, to allow for diversity of voices in the opinions section.
Please be considerate of sharing space with other letter-writers and keep your comments concise and to the point.
Avoid name-calling, accusations of criminal activity and second- and third-hand statements of “fact.”
