To the Editor:
As election day nears, we are faced with an existential decision about who we are and who we want to become—a decision as serious and grave as the colonists were asked to make in the American Revolution.
Who we were, who we thought we were, and who the world thought we were at our best is over. It ended the second time we elected Trump, whether we intended it or not. His administration betrays our friends. Supports our adversaries. Damages the economy, hurts our farmers with counterproductive tariffs, an ill-advised and unnecessary war. Food and gas prices through the roof. Cut access to medical care for many —so vital to our security as a nation. Communities have been disrupted with shockingly inhumane treatment of human beings. The price for all of this will be high and enduring. Who will want to lend us money for our skyrocketing debt or come to our defense if we find ourselves in an hour of need?
There are three directions people are proposing. If it were up to the editor, we’d become a theocracy. His particular brand of Catholicism—one I have to say bears no resemblance to the Catholicism I grew up in. In his version, what happened to the Sermon on the Mount? To the Beatitudes? To mercy? He seems stuck in the Old Testament and with a belief in the Marian apparitions that even the church considers optional.
The second direction is led by Musk, Thiel and their tech brethren. Their version of our future is that we give them all the money and get out of their way. Give them our farmland for data centers. Turn over public information—Musk already took that with Doge. They know best so just let them do what they want to do. No taxes, no regulations. No humans need apply. Trust them.
Then there’s a third group. Those of us who think our founders got a whole lot right. That democracy matters. That people should choose their leaders. That the press should be free—even when the president doesn’t like it. That the rule of law should apply to everyone. In checks and balance in our government. That the president is not a king who can grab our national treasure with both hands and hide the crimes of the wealthy. That our neighbors are not evil because we don’t always agree. That we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This won’t be an ordinary election day. It takes place against threats of disruption and to refuse to accept the results. We’ve seen what that can look like. Whatever they do, this is the day when we tell ourselves and the world who we are, what we are becoming. What future do you want to see?
Pat Collins,
Fillmore, Ca.
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To the Editor:
Got it. Religion and objective truth will henceforth be unaddressed as discrete subjects, when possible. I did not intend to ridicule your “personally refined beliefs,” but was perhaps inartful in observing that you have a doctrinaire but misguided belief in a hybrid Old/New Testament theology wherein the generally vengeful and legalistic Yahweh is parasitically attached to the Love over Law of Christ come to fulfill the ancient scriptures
As an “Inquisition Catholic”, your political views and judgments are similarly disposed toward authoritarianism. So, while I don’t anticipate changing your mind, I do think it important to state facts, especially in fanciful TrumpWorld (“take Trump seriously, not literally,“ and “you tend to take my remarks literally”). I personally think that it is optimal, in human communications, to default to a literal standard unless otherwise indicated.
Members of the Republican Senate twirled and exposed their unseemly knickers to the nation once again. The Judiciary Committee heard testimony for the third time from former Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, hoping to catch him in a perjurious statement related to prosecution of Trump’s alleged federal crimes. They were like baying hounds after a fox that appeared both:
1. amused, at Senator Jubilation T. Cornpone AKA John Kennedy (R-LA) who tried to insult him, Q: “Mr. Smith, do you believe in the Easter Bunny?” A: “No, Senator, I no longer believe in the Easter Bunny”, and
2. confused, when he had to check before testifying to Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) that he “was not in Atlanta on February 3, 2024” but in Maryland. Schmitt, intent on proving that Smith had “perhaps” gone to Atlanta to confer with Lani Willis who was prosecuting Trump for 2020 GA election violations, arrogantly retorted, “You are lying! You have already perjured yourself! You didn’t know that we have information…that you went to a [NBA] Hawk’s game in Atlanta on that date! You are a villain…You are a dirtbag!” hollered Schmitt.
It was left to Midwest sports fan and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to suggest that Smith had indeed been in Maryland (there’s film), not Atlanta on that date, for a WBA game between the U of Maryland and Iowa “Hawkeyes” to watch Caitlin Clark play. Schmitt had completely screwed up his non-existent facts, later revealed as a series of bonkers, unvetted assumptions including mixing up team names and leagues. The face plant complete, and the Schmitt spittle-fest over, he would not apologize, defended his defamatory mistake, and refused responsibility for his errors.
It was a notable demonstration of the depths to which the docile and co-dependent Republican Congress has sunk in defending Trump as “above the law,” as entitled to foreign hostilities without Constitutional limits, and exempt from blame for the swift and tragic diminishment of America’s world status. It chose to ignore pressing, serious issues, including war and threatened economy, healthcare, food recalls, fate of our farmers, consideration of the vast taxpayer money being spent on volitional building projects, or his grifts from Americans and foreign nations.
It was far more important to again try to discredit Smith, whose opening statement outlined evidence of Trump’s federal criminality discovered in the Special Prosecutor’s investigation of the January 6, 2021, subsequent related events including his misappropriation, and obstruction of legal retrieval, of classified National Archives documents. Smith’s opening statement is at:
www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters 9/29/26
Trump knows that he won’t be prosecuted for any of those acts, courtesy of SCOTUS. But, as always, he demands acknowledgement of his “persecution” and “innocence” despite extensive contrary evidence. Now that Trump’s true character has had more exposure, it’s indisputable that he is an inveterate liar, a 34-count fraud felon, adjudicated sex abuser, a self-absorbed man/child who cares nothing about ordinary Americans. But, he is also a performative genius at convincing some people otherwise, a tireless self-promoter and grifter, pedophile protector, and lover of despots.
What is the persuasive argument that Jack Smith and AG Garland had to resort to a political “witch hunt” to investigate Trump?
Kelly Scoles,
Filmore, Ca