LETTERS TO THE

E DITOR True leaders work to unite, not divide, people

To the editor: Donald Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 and became heavily involved in Trump Management, his father’s real estate company.

By 1969, he was being sued by an African American couple in Cincinnati for refusing to rent them a home. By 1973, the U.S. Justice Department brought a federal Fair Housing lawsuit against Trump Management, naming Donald as president of the organization and accusing him of discriminating against blacks in 39 buildings in Manhattan. Trump Management agreed to terms set by the Justice Department, but Donald said it was not an admission of guilt.

Trump’s history of discrimination against minorities goes back a long way so it was not a surprise to see him as president eliminate a 2015 initiative known as Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing last June. Earlier in the month, he had re-tweeted a video of one of his supporters yelling, “White power!”

In July, he vigorously defended the Confederate flag and the use of racially offensive names for professional sports teams. Trump openly displayed his bigotry in 2018 by referring to several African and Caribbean nations as “s—t hole” countries during a discussion on immigration. Many were dismayed to hear our president admonish four congresswomen of color, three of which were born in the United States, to “go back” to the countries they came from.

The American people are accustomed to having a leader who works to unite the nation under the umbrella of universal equality. American presidents typically reference other countries with some degree of respect.

Trump makes no effort to bring people together, preferring to use force and divisive, insulting language. He has the international reputation of an arrogant “bully.” Domestically we know him to be a divider, not a uniter. Neither term describes a leader.

Maxine Luchterhand

Unity

Trump’s executive order is all show, no substance

To the editor: President Trump’s recent executive order is typical “Trump,” lots of fanfare and mostly hot air. We need Ronald Reagan to ask, “Where’s the beef?”

Trump claims to provide payroll tax relief, but it would only postpone payment of the tax until January, if he could legally postpone it, and he cannot. He claims it provides a $400 supplement to unemployment benefits, but even if he could legally order the payments, which he cannot do, the relief would only be $300. The order asks the states to kick in the other $100.

Trump claims his order will provide a moratorium from evictions for people unable to pay their rent or mortgage, but the order does not mention a moratorium. His order does not mention help for small businesses or local governments, or help for low and moderate income families, and for good reason. The president cannot allocate funds by executive order.

Congress controls the nation’s purse strings. Trump is unable to express empathy for people facing hardship or to deal in hard facts. That is why he never talks about the 30 million people drawing unemployment, or the 50 million people who have lost their jobs in the last 20 weeks, or the 167,000 people who have died, in large part due to his failed leadership.

When a reporter challenged the veracity of one of his claims, he simply turned and walked away, but that is what we have come to expect; numbers with no basis, statements he cannot support, and a persistent failure to recognize there are three branches of government. With a seemingly innate inability to work with others for a common good and the country in chaos, Trump’s latest executive order can best be described as a loudly touted, but very feeble attempt, to bolster the image of a failed leader.

Peter Hellios Granton