Readers Write: It’s no time to give Trump a pass

The Island Now

I may be obtuse or lacking in a sense of humor, but I am not sure how to interpret Dr. Ferraro’s column in the Jan. 20 issue of the Manhasset Times, about the dawning of the age of Donald Trump.

Dr. F. starts by saying that society may be undergoing a revolution centered on his diminution of the Presidency, with predictions that big changes are afoot.

I started to agree with that opinion, with all its implications, but it quickly shifted to an apparent disconnect.

Dr. Tom then wrote at length about the normality of our lives in this area, the comfort, the prosperity in evidence as he pursues his daily tasks.

Does he really believe that we have nothing to fear when political power could undermine the legacy begun by his predecessor and not completely fulfilled because of strong opposition by his determined Congress?

A shallow, greedy, unscrupulous, foulmouthed entertainer has chosen to criticize the problems we see in our beloved, generous land, for his own purposes.

We have always, with few exceptions, offered the promise to people of the world that we are a beacon of hope and brotherhood.

Is Dr. Ferraro willing to give him a pass because he is “amusing and unpredictable.”

Trump is inexcusably a liar, a cheat.

President Obama has expressed so eloquently that the slant of history is upward and we must pledge to protect that momentum.

I apologize profusely to the doctor if I have misinterpreted his levity, but I am very worried about the tendency to minimize the problems we have the obligation to remedy with empathy and understanding as a model for the rest of the world.

In his inauguration speech, our new Chief Executive exaggerated the problems we admit to in the harshest, most insulting and grotesque terms. Ironically, for example, he wants to ruin our health-care system, may be sued for various unscrupulous business practices, has nominated as a candidate to head the Department of Education a woman who does not believe in or has ever attended a public school, and who belongs to a family that have contributed $200 million to promote the destruction of our historical dedication to it.

Incidentally, Trump is about to visit the president of Mexico after promising to build his wall, but is already late in building said wall, in order to keep Mexicans out, at a time when an improved economy in their country has resulted in a reverse migration.

Now tell me that Trump should be regarded as a legitimate occupant of our presidency!

I fervently hope that the amazing protest movement worldwide, which greatly exceeded the attendance on his inauguration day, builds on the momentum to pursue resistance to the dangerous ideas of this man.

 

Esther Confino

New Hyde Park

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