Over the years I have received many comments from readers. They are largely from people right of center. Not because I write for them. It is because whenever I have tried to entice left-of-center readers, they promptly depart not wanting to hear anything other than views that validate their existing perceptions. The few that I recently engaged confirmed Mr. Trump’s belief the Left has created a danger level for him.
As you know, this issue came to the forefront with the second assassination attempt on the former President. Yes, Trump is guilty of saying things I and many others would never say. Calling someone by a distasteful nickname is different from oft-repeated statements such as Trump is a “danger to democracy,” a “tyrant,” “Mussolini” or worse — the most reviled person in history, Hitler. My recent experiences substantiate this vile commentary regarding Trump.
I sent out my column entitled “The Joy Campaign.” As I try to do, I stuck to addressing Ms. Harris’ policies and experience as an elected official. I received the following from one reader. This is a college educated person who doesn’t generally delve into politics. Here is what was stated:
“Trump is a disgusting, dangerous, lying, deceitful, pig, who is losing again and won’t concede or accept the result. The man is a sick and narcissistic asshole who acts like a rebellious out of control teenager. Vote for Kamala even if you don’t agree with her policies. Our country will be far better off if she wins.”
This came from someone with whom I have had a 45-year relationship. Notice he states I should abandon my political beliefs because he believes Trump is such a danger it is more important than any public policy decision.
In my seventeen years of writing a weekly column, I have never received a commentary sent to me remotely close to this about a Democrat candidate from anyone on the right. I think a lot of people had a grave distaste for Hillary Clinton. Never heard anything like that about her or Obama. A lot of people on the right consider Harris a shallow and unqualified person with leftist views she is temporarily disavowing to win the election and will revert back to after winning. But not a single person ever responded to me with that type of name calling for Ms. Harris or anyone in her party.
Next, I sent out a Wall Street Journal editorial written about Chief Justice Roberts from the New York Times. I received this back from a friend of over 50 years who has been involved in the political arena all of his adult life:
“Is there anything that will dissuade you from supporting this human excrement? What happened to country over party? Trump threatens to jail foes if he regains the presidency.”
Other than the fact that he is referring to someone who has been attacked with multiple lawsuits (which at best are of a dubious nature), look at how he refers to Trump.
I have previously questioned the political ethics of this person, and we had a back and forth. The issue at hand is regarding leaks from the U.S. Supreme Court about Roberts unlike we have never seen. When I questioned his position he replied, “I responded to what you said: ‘They will do anything to get back control of this branch of government that they cannot handle is not beholden to them. If the tables were turned, you would love any leaks.’”
I was deeply offended by his commentary because I would never support such behavior. My response was, “No you don’t get it. I would not. Actually, I used you in a column and your argument that they all do it. No, they don’t. It may give you comfort in your doing disreputable actions. I find it distasteful.” More accurately, I find it anti-American.
There was another person who called Trump an “authoritarian” which is the most frequent nomenclature for him. I asked this person on four separate occasions to define how he believed Trump is an authoritarian. Finally, he gave me a multiple-point answer with the following being the first point.
“Despite his denials, one would have to have his head in the sand to believe that Trump is not familiar with “Project 2025,” which is based upon placing a predominance of power in the Executive Branch of government. Two of the major contributors to Project 2025 are two of Trump’s major advisors, Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. The introduction was written by none other than JD Vance. While there are aspects of Project 2025 where I am in agreement, centering a preponderance of power in the Executive Branch would be devastating to the checks and balances that have served this nation.”
Other than the inherent fact that every recent Democrat Administration centers a preponderance of power in the Executive branch – not least the current one — there is so much wrong here.
I asked him if he had read Project 2025. Are you aware The Heritage Foundation (author of Project 2025) has authored similar reports since the 1980 elections? Then I wrote him:
Just to show how little you know about Project 2025:
1. JD Vance wrote the forward to a book by Dr. Kevin Roberts. Dr. Roberts is the head of the Heritage Foundation who wrote the forward to Project 2025. Mr. Vance had nothing to do with Project 2025.
2. Bannon and Miller are not the authors. There are 30 authors. They are not among them.
3. There is a laundry list of contributors, I would say 300-400. Bannon and Miller are not listed there either.
You know nothing about this document. Therefore, you really should not comment on it.
These comments by three educated people are validation of what we have said for years – anything goes regarding Mr. Trump because he is ………
It speaks volumes about the quality of a college education in today’s world. There certainly is no sense of propriety taught. It also might define the fact that so many “educated” are now affiliated with the Democrats. It has not raised the bar for the values of the party.
Does one really find it surprising that a couple of unstable people attempted to assassinate Mr. Trump after years of vitriol from everyday citizens, elected officials, former elected officials, etc. I think not. It is surprising based on how his political opponents refer to him that more have not tried.
And they consider Trump the “danger to our democracy.”
