Dear Editor,

This is in response to a letter published in The Mountain-Ear on August 14th.

The writer acknowledged an understanding of the disappointment in the results of the 2024 election, but questioned why democrats, although there are many citizens of all political colors who share such feelings, should feel animosity toward Trump and all the Republicans (her capitalization; apparently she doesn’t believe Democrats deserve a  capital D).

 I believe that most of the animosity is aimed at the spineless Republicans in both houses of Congress. They fear speaking out against Trump will bring down his ire, and he will then choose and lend support to a challenger for the incumbent in their next primary election.

The rest of the letter is basically a scolding to those who will not willingly accept the victory by Trump along with some emotionally framed allusions to violent crimes committed by “illegal criminal immigrants.”

First let’s dispense with the idea of criminal immigrants.  According to a recent article published in Fortune magazine, 72 percent of the people detained by ICE agents had no criminal convictions.

Granted, immigrants being in this country without documentation have technically committed a crime, but one that has few if any victims and provides required labor in many industries. Many of these jobs would remain unfilled without this pool of willing labor. Think of the resulting price of domestically grown fruits and vegetables; the price of the needed labor would certainly substantially increase. The law of supply and demand works that way. There are many other reasons to support this necessary source of labor. 

Regarding the animosity towards Trump felt by many, consider these items:

Trump started this administration by appointing unqualified, and in most cases, incompetent cabinet members. Numerous members of the cabinet were chosen based on their support of Trump displayed on Fox News. He also allowed Elon Musk to run roughshod over many of the departments, giving him access to secure information. Musk recklessly fired many essential people from numerous departments, only to have to rehire a portion of them.

Among the illustrious cabinet members appointed by Trump we have a person in charge of the Department of Homeland Security who shot her dog because it misbehaved. This makes a person wonder if the detainees are being treated humanely.

Another example of stellar performance is by the Secretary of Defense in his use of social media to present details regarding an upcoming attack on a foreign nation.

Or the Secretary of the Treasury, who appears to be a stuttering robot when defending Trump’s economic policies; perhaps because prior to Trump’s election in 2016, the secretary was a liberal Democrat and has some difficulty reconciling his current professed beliefs with earlier contrary beliefs.

We have numerous conspiracy-minded people in other cabinet positions, including a Secretary of Health and Human Services who openly doubts the value of vaccines irrespective of the fact that vaccines had almost wiped out both measles and polio and probably saved a million or more lives in this country during the pandemic. In addition, he is dismantling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is really of no value unless, of course, a new disease is encountered, possibly starting a new pandemic. In that case, I certainly hope that a vaccine can be developed.

Other conspiracy believing officials include the top two people in the FBI. Each of these have expressed belief in a “deep state,” comprised of top Democrats exists.

Then, we have the Attorney General, admittedly probably the most qualified member of the cabinet, who seems to only be doing Trump’s wishes regarding investigating people on Trump’s enemy list after repeatedly declaring that no such list existed. A lie? The Department of Justice is supposed to be completely independent of the administration.

Finally, some examples of the damage that Trump is doing to our country.

By firing most, if not all, of the inspectors general, Trump removed the officials responsible for doing audit reports and inspections to ensure that no possible fraud, misconduct, corruption, or power abuse occurs in their respective departments.

By attacking specific law firms Trump is trying to punish any that have been involved in any capacity in working against him. These attacks also serve as a warning to any firms which might have any future conflict with Trump.

By attacking major universities Trump is trying to control what is taught at such schools, effectively severely limiting free speech.   

By defunding NPR and PBS he is trying to prevent views which conflict with his from being available to the citizens.

By attempting to defund Planned Parenthood he would severely limit health options for lower income women. So far, the courts have blocked such action.

By pardoning 1500 January 6th convicts he is nullifying the consequences of acts of insurrection.

The above is only a sampling of the atrocities of Trump actions.

In conclusion: By attempting to silence opposing views and trying to quell dissent, Trump is following the classic dictator playbook as updated by Project 2025.

John Clower

Denton Texas

P.S. My wife’s granddaughter died of a Fentanyl overdose, but she does not blame that on “illegal immigrants” smuggling the drug through “open borders.” It is well known that the vast majority of illegal drugs entering the country come through ordinary ports of entry.