Rick Wallace’s “Along the PCH” columns are great, but his guest column from March 9 about “Hate Trump Hysteria (HTH)” begs a response.
Trump opponents are not hysterical, but deeply concerned about his unsteadiness in office and fear his response to a real crisis (other than the self-inflicted ones). His reckless behavior since inauguration has not given them comfort. He appointed a rogues gallery of cabinet members who seem hell-bent on dismantling the departments they oversee. He has managed to confuse and upset our allies and, with no evidence, accused Obama of committing a felony. He doesn’t read, watches hours of television, surrounds himself with sycophants and seems to prefer breitbart.com to his daily briefing.
It’s not hysteria to push back against an administration that calls the press the enemy of the people or questions the power of the judiciary when their travel ban is stayed or sends out an aide to proclaim “that the powers of the president are very substantial and will not be questioned.” When our Constitution is ignored or abused, it is not hysterical or hurting America to point this out and come to its defense.
It’s not hysterical to be uneasy about a president who is slow to condemn David Duke or anti-Semitism.
Rick Wallace said HTH is hurting America and preventing Trump’s opponents from accepting the election results. Obama was treated shabbily after his election by Republicans who vowed to make him a one-term president. Trump questioned Obama’s citizenship for years, claiming he was born in Kenya. Rick even blames HTH for spoiling Thanksgiving for “hundreds of thousands of families.” That’s just silly.
Rick Wallace stated that Trump is motivated not by money or popularity but only to make America better. This statement is risible, given Trump’s many conflicts of interest and his obsession with his popularity, or lack thereof, which impelled him to lie about his inauguration crowd size.
Daily disclosures of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians mean it might be time for the Republicans to get hysterical.
Mike Levine